Melody’s oldest boy, Will, eight years old with blue eyes and a widow’s peak, answered the door. “Noooo,” he exclaimed dramatically when he spied them. “Go away!”
Caitlin let out a gasp. “Will Baker. Is that any way to greet visitors? You don’t have to be so rude!”
Oh, that was rich, coming from Caitlin, Olivia thought. The girl could give rude lessons.
“I’m sorry, but I know you’re here to get your dog and I don’t want him to go. He is so cute!”
Olivia managed a smile through her fatigue. “He is adorable. I must agree.”
“You have a dog?” Caitlin’s shock was clear. “How long have you had a dog?”
“Only a few months. We kind of adopted each other.”
She hadn’t been looking for a dog. Or any pet at all, really, given how chaotic her life was. But Otis had lived with a homeless veteran she passed on her way to the gym. She had always stopped to talk and had gotten in the habit of picking up dog treats or small bags of food for him and a breakfast sandwich and a banana or an apple for his owner, who called himself Beckett and introduced the dog as Otis.
She had been on her way to spin class when she spotted an ambulance and a couple of police officers near the spot where Beckett and Otis camped out.
“Overdose,” one of the EMTs had said in a matter-of-fact voice.
Just then, Otis had jumped out of the arms of the police officer and rushed to her, trembling frantically and huddling at her feet.
“What will happen to him?” she had asked.
“He’s headed to the animal shelter. Poor guy has fleas and who knows what else. I imagine he’ll be put down. Too bad. He’s a cute little guy.”
“I’ll take him,” she said instantly, scooping up the dog before she had a chance to think about all the ramifications.
The authorities at the scene had been only too happy to pass off responsibility for Otis.
It had been a crazy impulse, but she couldn’t bear the thought of the forlorn and abandoned chi-poo being put down, simply because someone he loved had put their addiction first.
“Does Mimi know you have a dog?” Caitlin asked. “She would never let me get one. She’ll be pissed that you have one in the house.”
Of course, Steve Harper had always had dogs, including the ancient border collie who had died just a few months after Steve’s death, possibly of a broken heart after losing her beloved master.
After Coco died, her mother had decided they would have no more dogs. They were too much work, she decreed, and she didn’t want them in the house.
How would she feel about Olivia bringing Otis to the house? Probably not happy.
“She’ll have to deal with it, won’t she?”
“Or she might make you keep it here,” Caitlin predicted darkly.
“Yay! We can totally keep him here!” Will exclaimed in an excited voice.
Olivia frowned at her niece. Great. Now they were giving ideas to Melody’s boys that wouldn’t end well.
Before she could break Will’s heart by explaining that her dog would not be staying there, Melody came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel.
Her pretty but tired features brightened when she saw them. “Hey, Liv. Hi, Caitlin.”
“Hi, Mrs. Baker.” To Olivia’s shock, Caitlin smiled at Melody. She had an even bigger smile for the two younger boys who followed their mother. “Hi, Ryan. Hi, Charlie. How are my two favorite Smash Bros. opponents?”
“Hi, Cait.” Charlie beamed at her and gave her a fist bump.
She had known from Melody that her niece sometimes babysat for the boys, but Olivia hadn’t realized how close Caitlin was with Melody’s sons. They all looked at her with hero worship.
“How did things go with the surgery?” Melody asked, setting her dishcloth on a side table. “How’s Juliet? I started to worry when we didn’t hear from you.”
Olivia winced. “I told you I would check in, didn’t I? I’m sorry. It completely slipped my mind.”
She wanted to blame her complete exhaustion, but that was no excuse for forgetting a promise.
“Don’t worry. Your mind was on other things. How is she doing? Did the surgery go all right?”
She nodded. “The doctor seemed happy. She was all right when we left. I think she mostly needs uninterrupted sleep.”
“Which she’s not likely to find in the hospital, is she? Have you eaten? I was just heading into the kitchen to make spaghetti.”
“We grabbed food at the cafeteria,” she said. “But thank you.”
Ryan, seven and small for his age with blond hair and thick glasses that magnified his impossibly blue eyes, beamed at her. “I sure like your dog. He sat on my lap and let me pet him for a whole half hour. Thor never lets me pet him that long.”
“I hope he behaved for you,” she said with a smile. These boys always tugged at her heart. Yes, Melody had a hard road right now, with a sleazeball husband willing to throw away their marriage of ten years for a hot young eighteen-year-old body. But at least Melody had these three adorable boys to help her through.
“Where is my little guy?” she asked.
“In there. He and Cooper both fell asleep.”
She gestured from the entry into a small room with French doors that Melody closed off so she could use the room as a formal living room and office and keep her boys’ mess away.
Olivia hadn’t even noticed them there, but now through the glass door, Olivia could see Cooper sprawled out on the sofa, eyes closed and his mouth slightly open. Curled up on his lap, looking perfectly content, was her little rescue dog.
Olivia told herself the sudden wobble in her knees and the soft warmth curling around inside her was simply a product of exhaustion. That was all. It had nothing to do with the sight of a gorgeous man cuddling her dog.
The last thing she wanted to do was open those French doors and face Cooper again, but she had no choice, unless she wanted to leave her dog here overnight.
The moment she slid the doors apart, Otis awoke. He lifted his head, wagged his tail and gave his Where-Have-You-Been little greeting.
It wasn’t much of a bark. More like a squeak, really, but was enough for Cooper to open his eyes, still dazed with sleep.
What would it be like to wake up next to him and have him aim those vivid blue eyes in her direction, hungry and fierce?
Stop it, Olivia ordered herself sternly, appalled at herself for letting her mind wander in that direction when the man’s sister was standing right beside her!
She didn’t have time for this ridiculous attraction right now, with her mother in the hospital and the weight of responsibility resting on her shoulders like a steam train.
“Sorry to wake you but I need my dog. Come on, Otis. Let’s go.”
With surprising agility, the dog scrambled off Cooper’s lap to the sofa, then hopped to the floor. He was at her side in an instant and she scooped up his warm weight, holding him close and trying not to think about where Otis had just been sitting.
She reached to close the door but Cooper’s sleepy question stopped her.
“How’s your mom?”
She paused, turning around with a sneaky suspicion that she would become very tired of that question during her time in Cape Sanctuary.
“The surgery went well, according to the doctor, but this was only the first step in a long journey to recovery.”
“Juliet has always been one of the toughest ladies I know. She’ll be okay.”
Everyone loved her mom. It was hard to avoid that realization, now that she was back in town. Juliet was something of a heroine around town, a widow who had lost her husband to a tragic accident and a daughter to addiction but still managed to face her trials with a smile and a generous spirit.
Her mom was amazing. Olivia agreed. She wished she cou
ld be half the woman Juliet was. Her mother would never have let one traumatic incident in a coffee shop completely paralyze her. If her mother had been there and had seen that unprovoked attack, she wouldn’t have cowered under a table. She would have been like the other customer who ultimately had come to the rescue. Resolute. Fearless. Powerful.
The complete opposite of her daughter.
“She is tough.” Olivia forced a smile. “She’ll need to be. I don’t know how she’s going to handle being sidelined for a month. That’s how long the doctor says she should plan to be away from the garden center while she recovers.”
“Oh. That will be harder on her than falling off a ladder,” Melody exclaimed. “What will she do?”
“Good question. I guess I’ll be sticking around for now, until we figure that out.”
“Oh yay! That means you’ll be here for longer than a few days.”
Melody looked thrilled at the idea but Olivia couldn’t read Cooper’s expression.
Before she could respond, Caitlin came in with Charlie on her back, which further confirmed Olivia’s suspicion that her niece must babysit here often.
The teenager stopped in the doorway, stumbling a little before she caught hold of the wall to maintain her balance. Her gaze was locked with Cooper’s.
“Oh. Hi, Chief Vance.”
“Hi again, Caitlin.”
He also had an odd look on his face and she wondered why for just an instant before she remembered. Caitlin was the spitting image of her mother. He had loved Natalie dearly, something Olivia had resented back in the day when she used to have a big crush on Cooper.
She was going on two hours of sleep over the last forty-eight hours and was afraid if she stopped moving, she would fall asleep. Once she had been able to recharge, she would be far more prepared to deal with this unexpected and unwanted resurgence of her childhood crush on Cooper Vance.
“Thanks again for watching Otis for me.” She smiled at Mel.
“Anytime. I mean that. My boys love him. Otis provided the perfect distraction for today.”
The slight note of determined cheerfulness in Melody’s voice made Olivia’s heart ache. She hugged her, aware Melody’s journey to healing just might be harder than the one Juliet was facing, then led her niece out the door toward home.
COOPER
Once while fighting a wildlands blaze at a base he’d been working at in Texas, Cooper had been caught in a flashover, a wild and out-of-control blaze driven by wind and weather conditions that reacted unexpectedly. He had been forced to use his emergency shelter until it passed over, leaving scorched earth behind.
This day, seeing Olivia Harper again after all these years, bore some striking similarities to the way he remembered feeling as he climbed out of the shelter. Hot. Stunned. Shaken.
What was that about? He wondered as he watched from Melody’s porch as she loaded her cute dog into her vehicle, then climbed in herself.
He had no idea what was happening to him. She was lovely, yes, with those hazel-green eyes and the soft smile for her dog that had made him wish she might aim it in his direction, even for a moment. He wasn’t sure he’d ever had this kind of visceral reaction to a woman, this ache in his gut that left him slightly breathless.
Olivia Harper.
He could think of a dozen reasons he shouldn’t be so drawn to her, all of them tangled in the past.
Guilt. Oh, he was tired of it.
Here was the problem with returning to his hometown, the main reason he had stayed away so long. When he had been busy with the military, it had been easier to block the guilt over the consequences of his own choices, the ghosts of regret and sadness that haunted him.
He had respected and admired her father more than just about any man he knew. Steve had been Cooper’s mentor, a guy who saw potential even in him, who had encouraged him to take the military path and apply for the elite Air Force paratrooper rescue unit.
The man had loved his family, his community and his business, in that order. From Steve, Cooper had learned how to work hard and how important it was to give back.
The heavy burden of knowing the man had died because of Cooper’s choices sometimes felt like more than he could bear.
Cooper wanted to think the way he had lived his life the past fifteen years had been an homage of sorts to a man who had set such a strong example to him, the one positive male role model of his childhood and youth.
He wasn’t sure Olivia would agree. She had adored her father. He remembered the way she always used to follow Steve around, finding any excuse to spend a minute with him.
Because of Cooper, that had been taken away from her.
He hadn’t meant for things to turn out the way they had, of course. He hadn’t been trying to be a hero, the way people described him later. He had acted out of instinct the moment he had driven past the McComb building and had seen the flames.
He had run in after someone he thought was inside the building and Steve had come in after him.
Cooper had been lauded as a hero after he pulled Steve Harper out of the building, badly burned and unconscious from a beam falling on him, and tried to resuscitate him.
He knew it wasn’t true. He was no hero. The man never would have gone in there if he hadn’t glimpsed Cooper going in first. If he could relive that night again, he would have done it a thousand times over so he could make different choices. A man had died because of him. A good, honorable, decent man. It would have been far better if he had died in Steve’s place. He suspected Olivia Harper must feel the same.
Wasn’t it just like him to develop a completely inconvenient attraction to the one woman in Cape Sanctuary certain to want nothing to do with him?
“Wasn’t that the cutest dog?” His youngest nephew, Charlie, sighed, looking after Olivia and Caitlin as they drove away toward Harper Hill.
“He really was.”
“Weird looking, but cute,” Will said.
Ryan snickered. “He was funny. We should get a little dog to be Thor’s friend.”
Melody shook her head. “One dog and two cats is enough for our family right now. I still have to nag you boys all the time to feed them and check their water.”
The bleak expression in her eyes made his heart ache. Cooper missed his smiling sister.
“What’s up?” he asked quietly, after the boys ran off to return to the video game they’d been playing earlier.
“Bills and more bills. Rich is fighting the child support amount the attorneys agreed on. I thought it was all settled but he’s now saying he can’t afford that much. It was barely enough as it was to keep us going.”
At least her house was paid off, a legacy from the aunt and uncle who had raised Melody after their mother died. “You know I can help.”
She frowned. “I don’t want your help. I almost didn’t tell you about it because I knew you would offer and I would have to refuse. I need to figure out the rest of my life. I have to get a job. That’s the only solution. I’ll start looking next week.”
Cooper wanted to punch something, preferably Melody’s almost-ex-husband.
Rich Baker had turned Cooper’s smart, beautiful sister into a pale imitation of herself. The man was living with his eighteen-year-old girlfriend, flaunting his affair while claiming the hot young thing was the true love of his life and he had never known the world could be so exciting.
“He and Sierra are getting married, apparently, as soon as the divorce goes through. He needs the money to set up their life together.”
The bastard. The man had three amazing sons he had all but abandoned, sons who deserved a father in their lives.
The boys were struggling so much right now. Will was causing trouble in school, with frequent notes being sent home about his behavior. Ryan had developed anxiety issues and was afraid of everything from gym class to eating school l
unch, retreating into a world of books to escape the stress of his family imploding. Charlie, the youngest and barely five, had become clingy and needy and never wanted to play with friends, only stay close to his mother.
“My attorney is going to fight his request to reduce the child support. She says I need to take Rich for everything he has.”
“Sounds like good advice to me.”
“I know. But I don’t want to be the vindictive ex-wife. I hate what he’s turning me into,” Melody said, her voice troubled.
“He’s not turning you into anything.” Cooper hugged his baby sister, aching that he couldn’t fix this for her. “You’re amazing, still the sweetest, kindest woman I know. Nothing you do to retaliate against that bastard you married will ever change that.”
She gave a rough-sounding laugh. “You’re my brother. I know I can always count on you to back me up, no matter what.”
“I mean it,” he said gruffly, giving her another hug.
She hugged him back, and he couldn’t help noticing she had lost weight even in the two months he had been back in Cape Sanctuary. Was she eating anything?
“This is so hard,” she mumbled after a moment. “I really loved him, you know?”
“I know.”
He hated this helpless feeling, one that seemed all too familiar. The grim knowledge that he couldn’t fix everything wrong in his sister’s life, any more than he could fix their alcoholic mother or breathe life back into Steve Harper’s lungs.
“You’re staying for spaghetti, right?” she said, pulling away after a minute.
“I’ve got a better idea,” he said on impulse. “Let’s go out to dinner. We can hit that new pizza place in town or go find burgers.”
Melody gave a pained laugh. “I look horrible. I don’t know if I want to be seen in public today.”
“You look great, as always.”
“That sounds like the perfect idea tonight,” she said. “You’re the best big brother on the planet. You know that, right?”
Both of them knew that was far from true, but he wasn’t about to argue with her when she already had so much on her plate.
The Sea Glass Cottage Page 8