Page 22 of The Love Shack

Seconds ticked by before she nodded. “The worst.”

The crack in her voice sharpened his awareness even more. “Want to talk about it?” Theworsthad to be pretty bad, considering how and where they both used to live.

“No.” She drew a slow breath and straightened, her gaze aimed out at the lake. “But I need to get it together because Hero worries.”

“Yeah, somehow he’s transformed his furry face into grandmotherly concern or something.” When her lips quirked, it felt like a gift.

She stroked a hand over the dog’s head. “He has the most amazingly expressive face.”

Looking at her did awful but incredible things to him, things he didn’t want to experience, so Lawson gave his attention to the lake. Mid-June shouldn’t be this warm, but the humidity added a degree of misery to the sunshine. “I thought it would smell better here.”

Berkley actually laughed, then nudged her shoulder playfully against his side. “Pretty sure there’s a dead fish somewhere, probably half-eaten by a gull or something.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s especially strong ifsomeonecauses you to fall into the lake.” The look she slanted his way left no doubt where she put the blame for that.

Repetitive lapping of water over rocks, mixed with the chirp of insects and the occasional trill of birds, lent a sort of peace to the day. “It’s still peaceful here.”

She turned her head to look at him. “You live on the lake. You can enjoy it anytime you want.”

You’re welcome to enjoy it with me.No, he wouldn’t say that. Right now he was slammed with work, both at the shop and on his house. Added to that were the complicated aspects of their history. The unpleasantness. So instead, he said, “Feel free to enjoy it anytime you want.”

“That’s what I’m doing.”

“No, I meant...” What the hell did he mean? If he said,You can visit it from my property, but without my participation, he’d just sound like a giant ass. He did some quick editing in his head, and came up with a more pleasant invitation. “You’re just a short walk through the woods, right? Be forewarned, though, I don’t have a sandy shoreline like this. Mine is all water weeds and the occasional snake or snapping turtle.”

She wrinkled her nose. “As enticing as that sounds, I think I’ll pass.”

He grinned with her. “Eventually I’ll add a dock, and maybe get a paddleboat or a fishing boat—something with oars.”

“Do you fish?”

“Not so far.”

“You’ve had other things to do.” She wiggled her wet toes, stared down the shoreline for the longest time before she said softly, “A dog died today.” Subtly, she swiped at her face.

It leveled him that she might be wiping away a tear, but when he glanced at her, her cheeks were dry. Didn’t matter, when all that sadness showed in her pretty blue eyes. It nearly shredded his composure.

Instinctively he knew that if he touched her again, she’d lose it, and that would upset her even more. Instead he asked, “One that you’re housing?”

She shook her head. “No. I do everything I can to make sure they’re healthy, and that they’re getting any care they need. Other shelters are overrun, though. So many people ditch their pets, as if they’re not important.”

He’d witnessed it, here in the States, and around the world. Sadly, sometimes kids and elders were ditched, too.

When she spoke again, her voice was steadier. “A driver saw a dog get hit on a busy road. No one stopped except him.”

“Not even the person who hit the dog?”

She shook her head. “The dog was still alive, but badly hurt, so he was afraid to move it. He called a sister shelter in a panic, asking what to do.”

“Were they able to help?”

“The Love Shack is closer, so they contacted me...” She took a few uneven breaths, and her voice lowered. “I went as fast as I could, but the dog had passed away before I got there.”

Damn. Lawson let his shoulder brush hers. Just that, nothing else. There were times when human contact could make a real difference because it proved you weren’t alone—no matter how it sometimes felt. Occasionally it had worked for him, even when the contact came from a stranger.

She didn’t move away, so he took that for encouragement.

“The guy who found him said he hadn’t suffered. He’d sat with him, talking softly, stroking his side...and then the dog faded away.” She blinked twice. “He was upset, but I told him that he’d done the right thing.”

So she’d not only had to face that situation, she’d had to comfort someone else. Her strength and compassion amazed him. “That was kind of you.”

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