Page 69 of The Summer House
“Think we should keep her?”
His eyes stayed on the road. “We?”
It had been an unconscious word choice and she hadn’t meant to imply anything. “Well, I was thinking if no one claims her, I’d like to keep the dog at The Beachcomber—I’ve already fallen in love with her. But I suppose we can share custody if you’d like to have her.” She remembered how he’d said he’d like a dog when they’d first met. She wished for those times again but tried not to think about it.
“You can keep her. But then it should be you who gives her a name. What are you going to call her?” He pulled down a side street and stopped at the intersection, checking to see if it was clear to cross.
Callie thought for a while. She’d never expected to have a dog—another being to depend on her. Was she ready? Could she give it the attention it needed? But as she remembered the dog’s sweet little face, she just knew that it was meant to be. “I’d like to name her…” She rolled a few names around in her head, thinking about how she had sort of popped up out of nowhere. “Poppy.”
“Poppy,” he said, pursing his lips in thought. “Poppy the puppy. I like it.”
For the rest of the ride, Poppy brought new questions to Callie’s mind: Was The Beachcomber a place for a family dog?Family… Would it ever be somewhere to raise lots of children? Wyatt would certainly be fine—he acted so much older than his age. But what about more? What if she could’ve had children with Luke and she’d messed it up? The idea of being happyandinvesting herself in someone hadn’t seemed so far off, until she’d told Luke about Frederick.
They pulled up at Paula’s, behind Juliette’s SUV. They’d all gotten out and were helping with what they could while the kids tossed a ball in the yard. Frederick had piled the last of the wreckage by the street.
“Forgive me,” Paula said after she approached Luke and Callie, “but I’ve been dying to ask... Are youtheLuke Sullivan? The one from the magazines?”
Luke smiled politely. “Yes.”
“Wow,” she said, astounded.
“You know, he’s more saving-puppies-and-fixing-houses than he is all those things they write in the magazines,” Callie said with a smile and a cautious look over at Luke.
He finally met her eyes but only briefly, and then he looked back at Paula, offering a small smile. “I’ll stay,” he said. “You still have a lot to take care of here. Julie, why don’t you take Callie and Olivia home?”
Juliette nodded, rounding everyone up.
“I’ll stay too, Luke,” Frederick said. Luke walked over and lifted another board, leading the way.
