Page 20 of Protection for Rowan

He moved to the bar between the kitchen and den, swiping his fingers across the surface. Dust covered his fingers when he pulled them away. He would be forced to clean before he brought that woman out here. She had to see that he was serious about getting his certificate backand once again becoming an air traffic controller. The messy cabin would make him look bad. He had his job cut out for him. Tomorrow, he would open the cabin up and air it out. Then he would dust and clean. After it was clean, he would figure out how to get Doctor Kays out here and convince her he deserved to be a controller.

There wasn’t anything wrong with him. He just needed to get her to understand that whatever she saw to make him lose his job was wrong. Once everything was set for him to return to work, he would be satisfied.

Chapter 14

Shine had already gottenover the nervousness of the guys finding out he was dating someone. Now he just had to trust they would behave when they met Rowan. Apple was the one guy he was worried about, but Apple had behaved when he met Rowan on their walk.

He was on the way to pick up Thario then Rowan when his phone rang. It wasn't the regular ring, either. It was the one that meant his week or month would be spent somewhere other than the USA.

“Shine here.”

“This is Lieutenant Engler. We’re not sending you out today, but I wanted to let you know to be free tomorrow afternoon for a meeting.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll be ready.”

The call ended, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled up out front of Thario’s house, glad to see Frog already running down to his car. Thario’s dog was hilarious. The dog had accepted that Thario had good friends and remembered who they were. He got out of his car andgreeted Frog, glad the dog was happy to see him. Frog always made his day better.

“I swear my dog loves you almost as much as he loves me,” Thario called out.

Shine stood. “I think he likes me more.”

Thario rolled his eyes as he made his way out to the car. “Maybe.”

“Want me to grab your chair?”

Thario shrugged. “Probably should. I think I can last all day, but…”

“I’ll grab it and put it in the trunk.”

Thario handed him the keys, and he ran up to the front of the house, seeing that Frog had followed him inside. The dog took good care of Thario. He hoped this pup had years left him because if he didn’t, Thario would be crushed.

"Okay, Frog, let's go. I've got the chair."

Frog followed him back to the car, going to stand beside Thario. “We’re picking up Rowan before we head to the park.”

Thario’s eyebrows raised. “So I get to meet your girl?”

Shine chuckled. “Yeah, you get to meet her.”

"Cool. We'll sit in the back, and you can chauffeur us around."

Shine rolled his eyes. “Sure, I’ll chauffeur your ass.”

"Oh, nice. I'm glad you care about my ass."

He shook his head, knowing Thario had a lot of snarky comebacks. “Just get in.”

It didn't take long to get to Rowan's place. He realized his hands were a little sweaty as he ran up to her door to get her. He'd told her that he had to pick up Thario, but he hadn't told her about Frog. He guessed Thario had opened his door, and Frog had come up to meet Rowan. Sheyelped as Frog bounded toward her, his big toothy grin looking a little demented.

All Shine had to do was raise his eyebrows at the dog, and he sat. "This is Frog. He's Thario's dog."

“Oh. Hello, Frog.”

Shine swore Frog said hello, but it could have just been him whining. Frog’s tail wagged fast as he stood and moved toward the car. He jumped around like he was excited.

“He likes you.”

“You think?”

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