Page 13 of Love in Training
For the first time, Drew Forbes glances my way. And in the instant our eyes meet, we both flinch as if it stings. He stares at first like he has no idea who I am or why I’m even here. Honestly, that makes two of us. But after a long pause, recognition settles on his features. His jaw tightens. Then his lip curls.
“As you heard,” he says, turning back to the airline employee. “They don’t want him.”
“That isnotwhat she said,” my brother growls. He’d been hanging back, clearly taking stock of the situation before deciding how to act, but now he steps right up in Drew’s face.
I reach for him. “Theo?—”
“I’ve been trying to track down this dog for a year.” Drew snarls. “Did you have something to do with that, Phipps?”
“Military red tape.” My brother shrugs. “You know how it goes—oh no, wait, you never bothered to care before.”
Something flickers across Drew’s face, but it quickly disappears. He folds his arms, unflinching in front of Theo—which, I have to admit, takes nerve. Drewisslightly taller and, from the look of it, comparably muscled. But Theo has the intimidatingdon’t fuck with mevibe of the Navy SEALs. I’m not sure if it’s trained in, or that’s just the kind of guys they recruit.
Airline dude wisely steps away to help other customers.
“Thanks for your trouble,” Drew says in a tone that does not suggest gratitude. “I’ll take Rufus from here.”
“No, you won’t. He belongs to Caprice.”
Drew doesn’t turn his head, but we both say, “What?”
Theo raises his chin and looks at me. “Kyle wrote a will before—” He swallows. “He explicitly stated he wanted you to have his dog.”
“He...why?” I ask. Kyle and I had only spoken once after our ill-fated wedding day, and it hadn’t gone well. That was before his second injury—the one that forced him into medical retirement. Before he even cut Theo out of his life. But none of that matters—Kyle knew better than anyone how I feel about dogs. “Sorry, it makes zero sense that he would bequeath me a pet.”
Behind me, Drew mutters, “That dog isnota pet.”
My brother glares at Drew, but when he turns back to me, his eyes are clouded. I may have had a complex history with Kyle, but Theo’s is longer and possibly more complicated. They’d been joined at the hip since they were five years old, played soccer, football, and eventually both enlisted—albeit into separate military branches. Theo hadn’t been thrilled when Kyle and I started dating, but he couldn’t argue with it either. Kyle was a good guy.
Which is why we both tried so hard to rein in his darkness when he came back broken from one of his tours. My brother might be a member of one of the toughest military units in existence, but I know he feels like he failed on that mission. Right along with me.
I soften. “Theo, I just think?—”
“I promised. He made me swear if anything happened to him?—”
His voice breaks, and my throat tightens. Because somethingdidhappen.
“It’s what he wanted, Reece.”
“But whyme?” The words waver coming out of my mouth. “I’ve never even owned a dog. That was always his thing.”
Theo shrugs. “Because Rufus meant more to him than anything.”
I flinch. It still hurts knowing he didn’t feel that way about me.
“Clearly he wasn’t in his right mind,” a sharp voice cuts in. We both turn to find Drew scowling at us. Does hehaveany other expressions? “She can’t have this dog. It isn’t some fluffy pet.”
I like this guy about as much as a yeast infection. But when I glance into the kennel at the fur-covered face watching this exchange from inside, I’m inclined to agree with him. I don’t have much experience with animals, but Kyle and I were together long enough that I don’t need to be told this one isn’t a normal house pet. I lean closer to my brother. “Maybe he’s right?”
Theo curls his hands into fists. “I promised Kyle. We have to respect his wishes.”
Drew pushes his glasses up his artful nose. “Can I see these ‘wishes’ in writing?”
I bite back an urge to sayShould his own brother have to ask?But I’m Kyle's former fiancée, and I’m just as much in the dark.
“Yeah. It’s right here.” Theo sets down the bag slung over his shoulder and produces a plain-looking manila envelope. He hands it to me first, which earns us further dirty looks. But after I skim the document, I pass it to Drew with a heavy weight in my stomach.
He flips through the pages so roughly, I’m sure they’ll tear. But when he finishes, he raises his head and addresses me for the first time.
