Page 13 of Sometimes You Stay

Finn ducked his chin and mumbled, “She might have pulled on a few tails and chased a couple puppies. But they were bigger than her. I’m certain they were not traumatized.”

With a quick roll of her eyes, Marie turned back to her. “Regardless of the emotional trauma inflicted, I owe Finn a favor. And it would seem Finn owes you much more than that.”

No one even raised an eyebrow.

“So, how about you stay in one of my guest rooms until we can get this all sorted out?”

“I couldn’t—” Cretia began, but Marie interrupted her with a tone that brooked no argument.

“You’re in no shape to drive to Charlottetown today—or to make decisions about tomorrow. Once your clothes are clean and you’ve had a good night of sleep, it’ll all be manageable.”

Surprisingly, Cretia had a feeling Marie might be right.

Four

Finn trudged into his kitchen, tearing open the top envelope he’d grabbed from the mailbox at the end of his lane. He didn’t really need to open it to know what it said. But maybe he was a glutton for punishment. Approvals didn’t come in envelopes. Rejections did.

That didn’t stop hope from rising in his chest as he flipped open the single sheet.

Dear Mr. Chaffey,

We regret to inform you

That was all he needed to read, all he needed to know.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise—although the first three banks had at least bothered to call him to reject his loan application. He made a move to crumple the letter but then tossed it on top of the pile of invoices on his desk.

He dropped his chin to his chest to let out a long sigh, then groaned as his nose came in contact with his shirt. Oof.That was ripe. Which was saying something coming from someone who had spent most of his life in a barn.

But he didn’t reek of hay or dirt or hard work. He smelled like the harbor. Like rotten fish and salt and seaweed. It was beyond unpleasant.

Joe Jr. trotted up to him, slurped up a drink of water from the bowl along the wall, and then nipped at the hem of his shirt. A low growl came from deep inside the barrel-chested dog. Apparently, Joe agreed.

Finn gave the dog a good ear scratch with one hand. With the other, he grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked it over his head before chucking it toward the laundry room. “Is that better?”

Joe woofed and slobbered into his hand.

“Good boy,” he said, slipping his friend a biscuit from the tin on the counter.

When the crunching quickly ended, Joe looked up with big black eyes, silently begging for more. Crouching down, Finn rubbed his giant head between both hands. Joe’s fur was thick and coarse, his ears soft and pliable. “You think you earned a second treat today?”

Joe nearly smiled at the familiar word. Hehadjumped in to rescue Cretia that morning. No hesitation. No stumble. He’d looked better than some of the dogs Finn had trained as rescue swimmers.

Of course, those dogs performed as they’d been taught ninety-nine percent of the time. Joe did as he was told about one percent.

Still, he’d picked today to do as he was asked, so Finn reached for another bone-shaped treat. Without him, Finn would have had to plunge into the harbor to save Cretia.“Thanks for sparing me a cold swim.” And making sure Finn had the strength to carry her to the inn.

Even if she had made his shirt smell like a cesspool.

The memory of her exhausted smile flashed across his mind’s eye, pulling at something low in his gut.

Joe crunched his cookie and trotted off to his enormous pillow in the living room as though he was the goodest boy who ever was.

Ridiculous dog.

Shaking off thoughts of his pet and the pretty woman Joe had rescued, Finn grabbed a fresh T-shirt from the basket on top of his dryer. It was a little wrinkled, but there wasn’t a body in the barn that would care. He stepped through the back door and strode across the lawn toward the traditional red building and gray-shingled roof visible from a kilometer away. His grandfather had built it nearly half a century before, though it had only recently started housing a cow.

As far back as Finn could remember, the barn had only been for the dogs his family bred and trained. It kept them warm in the winter and cool in the summer and kept them away from any other wildlife.

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