Page 75 of In Spades

Oh my stars. I melted.

Chase raised his eyebrows. “You sure, Zoey Bear? Luna will be okay. I don’t want to take your duck.”

She nodded adamantly and held the duck up to Luna. “His name is Quackers.”

Luna sniffed the stuffed animal, then opened her mouth wide. For a second, it looked like the dog would swallow that little duck whole. I braced for Zoey’s screams.

Thankfully, the horror never came. Instead, Luna gingerly nibbled Quackers out of Zoey’s hands and brought it between her paws.

Zoey jumped up and down, clapping. “Now she’ll sleep good!”

The kids said their goodbyes to Chase and Luna, and I shooed them into the house. It was rare that I got a Saturday off, and I had a punch list full of chores for everyone to tackle.

Chase carefully loaded Luna into the passenger’s seat of his truck. We both eyed her hesitantly, waiting for the sweet thing to freak out and bolt. But she didn’t.

Luna curled up in the seat and turned her attention to Quackers.

I grimaced. “I’m sorry you have to deal with this, Chase. Seriously, don’t feel like you have to take on a dog just because of my kids.”

Chase rubbed Luna’s head, affection in his eyes. “Nah, don’t be sorry. It might be nice to have someone else at the house with me. Is it bad that I’m kinda hoping she doesn’t have an owner?”

I smiled softly and let Luna lick my hand. “She’s a sweetheart. I can’t believe she was hiding under the house like that.”

“Probably just needs some food and a little love,” Chase said.

I nodded. “Don’t we all?”

17

KRISTIN

Broccoli. Zoey eyed her arch-nemesis suspiciously as if she expected the florets to creep across the plate and sully her chicken. It didn’t matter which seasonings I used or how I cooked it. She hated the stuff. Zoey had a complete aversion to the color green—vegetables, clothes, even M&Ms.

She was convinced that they didn’t taste as good as the other colors.

The five of us were crammed around our four-seater kitchen table, digging into dinner.

As I was pulling the chicken out of the oven, Chase texted me with a photo of Luna. She had a red bandana around her neck, Quackers the duck in her mouth, and a clean bill of health.

The vet had given Chase a special type of dog food to help her gain a little weight. After checking that there was no microchip and no reports of missing dogs, he brought his girl home.

The kids went ballistic over the good news and were already begging to go visit Chase.

Happiness certainly wasn’t something that came freely. But lately, it had been coming in spades. I, for one, wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially when it came to Will…

That man had me smiling, and he wasn’t even here.

I cleared my throat and stabbed a piece of broccoli with my fork.

“So,” I said, waiting until I had the kids’ attention. “I have to work tomorrow. You’ll be on your own in the morning. Lo and Ky are in charge. Miss Erica is going to come over after Aly wakes up from her nap. She’ll stay here until I get home.”

The only way I had weaseled a Saturday free was by promising to work overtime on Sunday. It was one of the last weekends of the busy season. Labor Day was long gone. Warm weather still lingered, though, which drew tourists to the coast for less-crowded weekend getaways.

I had a love-hate relationship with warm weather.

On the one hand, it meant tourists. I hated that. On the other hand, tourists meant more rooms to clean. More rooms meant more hours. More hours meant a bigger paycheck. I loved that.

Sure, it was exhausting, but my bank account depended on it. Making it through the leaner months of winter was a challenge. I barely squeaked by on forty hours a week.

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