“Why’s that?”

  “Most people probably just say it’s up to you to take care of yourself, and I have done an okay job at it.”

  “I think most people are probably assuming that you can’t take care of yourself. A lot of people, once they go through something like you’ve been through, they struggle with reality afterward. I’m certainly not criticizing them. I just know that life can become that much harder.”

  “Oh, I agree,” she stated, “and honestly, if I hadn’t been through what I’ve been through, it would have been really hard sometime to understand what I was supposed to do now. Instead I just took it as one of those lessons in life, and, well, I’ve continued on by myself in that direction since.”

  He looked at her, startled. “You haven’t had a boyfriend since?”

  She shook her head. “No, once you realize how easily that can go south …”

  “There is such a thing as birth control.”

  “I know, and that wasn’t the issue. It was more about what happened later, when the shit hit the fan.”

  “Right, so it’s not even about physical relationships. It’s more about trust.”

  It was her turn to be startled. She looked over at him and nodded. “You know what? You may be right. I never considered it.”

  “Well, that would be my take on it, but what do I know? I haven’t had any serious relationships since my wife sent me that email, telling me that we were done and that she was divorcing me. At the time, she told me that she would marry my best friend. Only, when I confronted him, I found out they weren’t planning on getting married. I don’t know who she was talking about back then because it wasn’t Curt, and maybe Silas came later.”

  “And maybe she just used Curt as an interim excuse or to deflect from her decision to marry an old rich guy.”

  “Maybe, I don’t know. I did ask Curt about it. And he said, yeah, they had an affair, which was enough of a reason for me to kick his ass into tomorrow anyway,” Jenner noted. “However, they certainly weren’t getting married, and he had not fallen for her, and he was pretty ashamed of himself. As it is, he’s no longer my friend because, well, again, trust.”

  “God, that’s terrible,” she said. “Especially when you’re overseas in the service.”

  “And, of course, that’s when most of these things happen.”

  She nodded. “I’ve heard all kinds of horror stories. It sucks.”

  “It does, especially if you’re the one getting ditched,” he admitted. “I thought we were partners for life. And apparently we were partners until she found somebody better.”

  Kellie winced at that. “And maybe she’s happy now.”

  “I hope so,” he said. “I mean, I can’t hang on to that crap. I wouldn’t even have tried to contact her, except that my boss’s wife, Kat, was of the opinion that I might need to deal with something.”

  “And was she right?” Kellie asked curiously.

  “I’m totally okay with whatever Laura does, so maybe it was the right thing to have tried to speak to her. At least this way I don’t have to even think about it anymore.”

  “I kind of like the sound of that,” Kellie admitted. “It frees you up to having a relationship.”

  “Which is something, like you, I hadn’t really worried about, specifically not in the last several years.”

  “Good,” she noted, with a cheerful smile. “That means we’re both single and available, and who knows?” She chuckled. “Maybe you’ll just stick around so we can get to know each other.”

  He flashed a grin her way. “I tell you what. Those cookies of yours alone are deadly.”

  “Aha, so you’d only be interested in my baking,” she teased, with a knowing gaze. “Well, at least I know what the exchange is upfront.”

  At that, he burst out laughing. “Wow, you know that your cookies would be tempting, but I would never enter a bargain for you so lightly.”

  She chuckled again. “Well, how about no bargain? How about we just spend a bit of time together and enjoy finding out more about each other?”

  “Oh, I’m all for that,” he agreed, looking at her in surprise. “I certainly thought that you would have had somebody else in your world.”

  “Nope. Remember that whole trust thing?” She hesitated. “Will you still be okay to stay? Even if your ex comes around again?”

  “She’s bound to,” he stated, “and so is Silas.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because I put a bug in the sheriff’s ear about Silas wanting to buy Jim’s property and trespassing while Jim was in the hospital.”

  “And is that a problem?”

  “No, not necessarily. The sheriff just seemed surprised at that information though. And I also made mention that I wouldn’t take kindly to anybody hassling Jim until he had a chance to actually settle in and to decide whether or not he would stay permanently.”

  “Right, and you know Silas is the kind to hassle him.”

  “I definitely got that impression,” he murmured. “And just as I’ll be here as an advocate for the dog, I’ll definitely be an advocate for Jim.” She looked over at him. “Been there, done that. I know how hard it is to rehab a missing limb. Now he’s also dealing with the loss of his parents and his anger over the beating he just took.”

  “I don’t know what you’ve got planned for your life,” she began, “but, if you’ll become an advocate for veterans, why don’t you make it official?”

  He stared at her. “What do you mean, make it official?”

  She shrugged. “Surely there are departments or groups or, I don’t know, even private people who help people like Jim.”

  “Maybe,” Jenner agreed, with a shrug. “I don’t know either. I haven’t really looked into it.”

  “I’m not sure you’ve looked into your future at all, have you?” she asked. “Somebody asked you to come help out with the War Dog, and you came running.”

  He nodded. “I was helping Kat with the testing of some of her prosthetics, but locating these War Dogs is hardly a paying position. Although it could be. I do love the field.”

  “Nice to know you don’t have money worries,” she noted in a teasing voice.

  “Well, they’re paying for my accommodations here,” he admitted, with a shrug. “I don’t get paid for my time, but I’m fine with that. I’m doing this because I want to.”

  She nodded. “And that just adds to that whole nice-guy persona that you’re trying to keep hidden.”

  He snorted. “Don’t tell anybody, will you? You’ll ruin my image.”

  At that, she burst out laughing, liking him more with every moment that passed.

  Chapter 13

  Jenner ate another fantastic dinner prepared by Kellie, yet she didn’t seem able to accept a compliment. Once he started eating her salmon in a sauce and the roasted potatoes, he couldn’t stop. He looked at his empty plate, sorry to see it was all gone. “That was divine. Did you ever think about opening up a restaurant?”

  “Oh, good Lord, no. I would want to do things on my own timing, not on a restaurant’s clock,” she explained, with a chuckle. “But thank you. That is a compliment.”

  “Seriously, you’re a wonderful cook.” She looked pleased at the compliment, but he didn’t do it to compliment her; he meant it. If he could get a hold of this kind of food all the time, man, he would be one happy puppy. Just the thought of having somebody around who could cook like that was enough to make him smile.

  She asked, “What’ll you do now?” She rose to clean up the dishes.

  He hopped up immediately to help, ignoring her protests. “I’ll go back up the hill and take another look for Sisco,” he said, “and then I’ll come down in the dark and check on Jim’s place.” She froze and looked at him in worry. “I know. It’s not something you want me to do, but I need to make sure that nothing is going on over at Jim’s place. That man needs his home.”

  She nodded. “What if he decides to sell though?”

  “I didn’t hear anything in his voice that said he wanted to. I think it’s more a case of he feels like he can’t live on his own. That was just my impression. I’m sure that beating he took really did something to him emotionally.”

  “It’s psychological,” she agreed. “For that, I’d like to give that squatter guy a good old beating myself.”

  “Well, you just hold on to that thought,” Jenner said, smiling, “and we’ll see what we can do, if and when we ever catch this guy.”

  She chuckled. “I hope to God I never see him again.”

  “Even better because you’re right. It’s way better to not even see this guy ever again.”

  She nodded slowly. “There’s nothing nice about him. He was just kind of freaky.”

  “And you haven’t seen him since?”

  “No, not since then. I think he basically was checking to see if I had people here. And the fact that you’re here has likely chased him away.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t trust him regardless.”

  “No,” she murmured. “I wouldn’t either.”

  “Maybe we’ll get to the bottom of that too.”

  She looked at him curiously. “What? You’ll just try to solve everybody’s problems?”

  He shook his head, as he smiled at her. “Hardly, but, if I can solve a couple of them, then I’m happy to do it.”

  “You are pretty special to not only go out of your way not only to help a stranger like Jim but also to help him several steps beyond just normal everyday type of help.”

  Jenner shrugged, wondering if maybe he couldn’t take a compliment either.

  “Will Jim be in a wheelchair?”

  “For a while, yes. He still needs to get a decent prosthetic, but he’s on crutches right now. I don’t know that his amputation is good enough to handle his current prosthetic, so the easiest answer for him to start is a wheelchair. And then we’ll have to see what we can do.”

  “But his house isn’t wheelchair accessible, is it?”

  “No, and I think that’s always in the back of his mind, and I don’t know if Jim has any money to do the necessary modifications.”

  “There should be funds for veterans for that,” she stated and then frowned. “You know what? I thought the parents had some money, but I do remember how she was worried about stocks having collapsed.”

  “Right, and that would be something that Jim will have to look into, once he gets all settled. And that’ll be hard on him too.”

  “Of course it is, but it’s not impossible. Meaning that, if you are here to help him out, he can do just fine.”

  He hesitated and then said, “I guess it did sound like that, didn’t it? I didn’t mean to sound so arrogant,” he admitted. “I just know that, with support, people can do all kinds of things.”

  “And I agree with you. I just don’t know if Jim’ll get the kind of support he needs. He’s dealing with emotional and psychological traumas, as well as physical healing.”

  Jenner frowned and went really quiet.

  “And I get it. You can’t help everybody.”

  “No, but I do have a unique set of skills that maybe I can help some people. Then maybe I can do referrals for other things. I’ll have to give it some thought.”

  “You do that,” she suggested, smiling.

  He looked over at her suspiciously, but she ignored him.

  The fact that Jenner was even talking about being around a little bit longer thrilled Kellie to absolutely no end. She really liked this guy, and everything that he did or said just added to it. She smiled at him. “I was just thinking that you’re one of the real heroes.”

  “Oh, don’t even start down that pathway,” he replied in horror, staring at her. “That puts expectations out there that I might not be capable of seeing through.”

  “Good point,” she admitted, “but it still won’t change my opinion.”

  He snorted. “In that case I’m heading out there, so I can get away from you and your rosy view of life.” He chuckled. Then he stopped and frowned. “But you haven’t really had any chance to have a rosy view of life, have you?”

  “No.” Then she laughed once more. “But I wouldn’t have missed any of it.”

  “So your theory right there doesn’t work.” He rolled his eyes. “You’ll find out that I’m just like everybody else, human.”

  She nodded. “Absolutely. I’m just really glad to have met you.” She walked over, gave him a hug. “Please take care.” Then she reached up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

  He held his hand to her cheek for a long moment, just staring at her.

  “Oh, did I cross some kind of a line?” she asked, worried, as she stepped back.

  “Absolutely not, … but, if you want to give me a kiss, you need to make it a real one.”

  And, with that, he took her in his arms and laid one on her.

  Jenner stepped back, observed the glazed look in Kellie’s eyes and her lips pouting still, as if waiting for a second kiss, and he murmured, “That’s much better.”

  And, with that, he let his arms slide off her and stepped out into the growing darkness behind the house. He immediately raced toward the spot where he had left the dog food and saw that most of it was gone.

  “Good,” he noted. “And I don’t know which one of you took it, but that’s fine. Either way it would save another life tonight.” And hopefully calm some of this down. And then he moved away slightly and sat down in the darkness.

  He called out several times and then just sat here peaceably. When he heard a rustle behind him, he smiled and said, “Hey, how’s it going?”

  He wasn’t sure there would be any answer, but he was just happy to sit here and wait. When the noise turned to a growl, he swore. “Is that you eating the dog food? I was hoping I wouldn’t have to deal with you tonight. I’ve already got your buddy at the vet’s. No guarantee that it’ll be something you’re happy about though.”

  He had been waiting for Sisco. Instead he got the wild dog. He didn’t show himself, but the growls continued. He didn’t show, didn’t show, and then finally stepped forward ever-so-slightly. Jenner nodded. “Yeah, you’re not the one I was looking for, but, hey, I guess that’s what I get for putting out dog food for anybody. And you’re right. You are welcome to it,” he said in that same conversational tone. “Now where is Sisco?”

  At that, hearing his name, Sisco appeared on the far side.

  “You’re just watching this one, bud? You know that I’m glad to see you. I’m hoping you’ll keep this guy off my back.” His phone rang just then. He swore at it because, of course, he hadn’t shut it off. He pulled it from his pocket and hit Talk, without losing sight of the other dog. “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “It’s the sheriff. You find those dogs?”

  “I saw them in the distance,” he replied, swearing silently. “Why, what’s up?”

  “We haven’t found any sign of them,” he said in disgust. “It’s like all three have taken off.”

  “Well, I’m pretty sure they’ve got places to hide.” What has the alpha dog done now?

  “You mean, outside of killing chickens?”

  “Can anybody prove it was them?”

  After a moment the sheriff replied in anger, “Don’t tell me that you’ve gone all goody-goody on me now?”

  “I was always on the dogs’ side,” he murmured. “I don’t want to see any animal killed unnecessarily.”

  “Well, you heard what happened to Kellie. She got surrounded by them.”

  “Sure, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t any more dangerous than that. Yes, that’s bad enough,” he admitted, “but I’m not sure that that’s something that you should shoot them over, is it?”

  “Sure is. They don’t have any owners.”

  “Yeah, where is the hunt for that guy, by the way?”

  “No sign of him,” he announced.

  “Well, that’s crap.’

  “Besides, I don’t think Jim should be too worried about losing all that old furniture. It just saved him trying to get rid of it now.”

  “Why would he be getting rid of it?”

  “Because he’s selling the house to Silas,” the sheriff stated, a note of confusion in his voice.

  “I didn’t hear that from Jim,” Jenner stated, staring down at his phone and then immediately raising his gaze to make sure the alpha dog was keeping its distance.

  “Generally Silas gets what Silas wants.” The sheriff laughed. “The house isn’t ready for Jim anyway. So it’ll cost more money to fix up than it’s worth,” he said, with a snort.

  “Maybe, but that doesn’t mean Jim’ll get enough by selling that house to move on and to buy another house with the proceeds either.”

  “No, and Silas won’t pay top dollar for a piece-of-shit house like that either,” the sheriff replied. “Why would he?”

  “Well, I don’t know that Jim’s actually selling it. Do you?”

  “I told you. Silas gets what Silas wants.”

  “Maybe not this time,” Jenner murmured.

  “Oh really? You’ll go to bat for Jim now?” he asked, with disgust. “You’re just a regular little do-gooder, aren’t you?” And that was the second time in just the last couple minutes that the sheriff had called Jenner something like that, and not in the nice way that Kellie had said the same thing. Jenner felt some anger jarring his stomach toward this sheriff. “If ever anybody needed a hand right now, it would be Jim.”

  “Sure enough, but I mean Silas is giving him a hand, offering to buy that piece-of-shit property.”

  “It actually looks like a nice piece of property to me,” he argued. “And his parents loved it.”

  “Sure, they’ve also been there thirty years, paying basically nothing for it. Now at least Jim would get some money out of the deal.”

  “Why would Silas even want it?” Jenner asked curiously.

  “No clue. Doesn’t matter. He’s buying up all kinds of properties around town. Going to make a fortune off whatever plan it is he’s got going.” The sheriff snorted. “Doesn’t matter to me one way or another.”

  “Of course not,” Jenner noted, with a faint sigh. “I guess he contributes nicely to your votes too, doesn’t he?”