Page 102 of Starting Over

The handsome man rubbed the back of his neck and looked over at his pickup truck. Looking back at me, he hesitated.

“Is everything ok? King? Declan?”

Dropping his hand, he quickly doused my fears. “No, no, everyone’s fine. I didn’t mean to worry you. It’s just that...” He looked back at his truck again.

“Banshee, it’s cold with this door open.” I laughed.

“Sorry.”

He rushed down the porch steps, hurrying back to his truck.

“Banshee?”

I was about to close the door when I noticed he walked to the passenger side door. When he opened the door, a beautiful black dog immediately jumped down out of his truck.

“Oh my gosh,” I cried, my hands covering my mouth.

Banshee closed the door and walked back to my porch. The black dog followed closely. He didn’t have a leash in his hand, or one attached to the dog, but he didn’t run. He just followed him up the stairs.

I went down to my knees, and the dog watched me. The dog sat down, then looked up at Banshee expectantly.

“Go ahead,” he authorized, waving his hand in my direction.

The dog practically leaped at me, climbing into my lap and licking my face.

“He’s beautiful. What’s his name?” I asked, not looking at Banshee, but concentrating on the puppy in my arms. He may have been a big dog, a lab mix if I was correct, but all dogs were puppies.

“His name’s Tucker. He’s a lab/pit mix. He’s only a year old, so he might get a little bigger, but not much.”

I was only half listening, consumed by love the moment I set eyes on him.

I almost didn’t see Banshee walking back to his truck. Scrambling to my feet, I called out to him, “Banshee, where are you going?”

“Gotta get back.”

“But the dog?”

“He’s yours.”

“What? Wait, what do you mean?”

Banshee stopped his descent and turned around. “Heard the girls talking about you wanting a dog. Now you have one.” He turned away, continuing on to his truck.

“Banshee, wait!” I looked at the dog and said, “Stay!” He sat by the door, and I marveled at the fact he listened. When I turned to Banshee, he had stopped also, and I let out a giggle. I rushed over and threw my arms around the big man.

“Thank you. I’ve always wanted a dog.”

He simply shrugged like it was no big deal. My hands on his arms, I leaned up on my toes and kissed his cheek. Thanking him again.

Tucker barked, and we heard tires screech. We both turned toward the road and saw a vehicle with a familiar light bar pulling away.

“Shit.”

“You can say that again.” I sighed.

“I better get back.”

“Thank you, again,” I said, looking back at the dog that sat patiently waiting for me at my front door.

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