Page 89 of Surly Sheriff
“You’ve been running?”
Duh, Stirling.
“Boisterous dog and active kid.” She lifted her shoulder. “Early exercise keeps them manageable.”
He descended the steps and approached. The dog growled, stepping between him and the kid.
Beau stopped, but before he could speak, Rae crouched beside the animal, rubbing a hand over the dog’s broad neck. “Xena. Relax. Beau is a friend.” She straightened, and woman and dog closed the small distance. “Xena. Say hello to Beau.”
He remained still while the dog sniffed his boots and ankles, her tail wagging madly, likely smelling Kismet. Her wet nose nudged at his hands hanging loose by his side as she circledhim. She settled before him, sitting on her haunches. And lifted a front paw. “Arf!”
Beau took hold of the paw. “Nice to meet you, Xena.”
“You can stroke her head and neck.”
He released the paw and crouched, following Rae’s instruction. The dog quivered beneath his touch, rewarding him with a long, wet lick on his jaw. He straightened and rubbed the drool from his face.
“Xena’s the bestest,” the kid said, throwing his arms around the dog. Faces smooshed together, they looked up at him, both grinning widely.
And despite his resolve not to give the kid any attention until he knew the results, he couldn’t resist a grin of his own. “I’ve a dog, too.”
Jack’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Uh-huh. His name is Kismet.”
The kid looked at the Tahoe parked in the street. “Where’s Kismet?”
“At work.”
“Your dogworks?”
Beau chuckled at the wonder in the kid’s voice. “No. But he gets lonely at home by himself, so he hangs out in the office during the day.” And because he’d be on the road most of today, he had dropped Kismet off when he collected the test kit.
“Oh.”
Rae unclipped and removed Jack’s helmet. “Maybe one day you can say hello to Kismet,” she said, ruffling the kid’s hair, “but now we need to go inside and give Xena some water.” She lifted the edge of her tank and pulled a remote fob from the band strapped around her waist.
Beau caught a glimpse of aweaponholstered beside a cellphone.
“Since when do you carry—” He stopped at her emphatic head shake.
She touched a finger to her lips, tilting her head in the direction of the kid. Curling forward, she unhooked the dog from the leash and aimed the remote at the garage. The doors lifted. “Xena. Search.”
The dog rushed in, circled the red minivan, and sniffed the corners of the garage. She stopped, facing the outside, her tail wagging. “Woof!”
Fuck. The dog hadclearedthe garage, making sure it was safe to enter.
What was going on?
A weapon and a canine way more than a mere family pet.
“We’ll talk later,” she muttered next to him before walking into the garage.
Jack stowed his bicycle along a wall, hung the helmet over the handlebar, and moved to the bottom of the wooden steps leading to the interior door.
Beau stood next to the boy and watched as Rae climbed the stairs, the dog beside her. With a furtive move she lifted her shirt with her left hand and uncovered the weapon, her right hand free and ready by her side. She opened the door, and Xena raced through first.
“Xena protects us,” Jack said.
