Tucker

by Dale Mayer

  “You can be involved all you want,” he said, “but I don’t know what I want to do. I think it’s a good idea, and I have put out a couple queries into such a training program,” he said, as he gently patted the dog on the head. “I think she would enjoy it.”

  “She would enjoy a lot of things,” she said. “Hikes in the mountains and walks in the woods and even running along a beach. An outdoor lifestyle for the dog would be great, but it’s a matter of what can you and she do to earn a living? And what do you want to do for yourself? If you don’t want to work with the dog full-time, then that’s not the avenue to go. Maybe you could take her to the job on the construction sites.”

  “That’s possible too,” he said, as he shrugged. Just then his phone rang. He looked down and smiled. “It’s my sister.” He hit the Talk button and left it on Speakerphone. “I’m fine, sis.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked, almost wailing. “Rodney told me all about it.”

  “Well,” he said, “I’m fine. I’m sitting at Addie’s place. We just had our restaurant meals warmed up. I’ve got stitches in my head, and I’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.”

  “How come you keep getting injured?” she asked, still in a teary voice. “I can’t stand to see you hurting all the time.”

  “Well, this time, I’m not sure, but I think it was connected to Rodney’s construction site.”

  “He did imply something along that line,” she said, sniffling. “I just think that’s terrible.”

  “Personally I’m not feeling all that great about it either.”

  She gave a long noisy sigh. “Do I need to push off the wedding?”

  “Good Lord, no,” he said. “You and he have pushed that off long enough.”

  “I want you there,” she murmured.

  “And I’ll be there,” he said. “Don’t worry. I do have to get down there though. Why you chose Saint Pete’s and Tampa, I don’t know.”

  “Because that’s where so many of my friends are,” she said. “It seemed easier to make us go there than to have everybody inconvenienced to come here.”

  He shook his head. “Honestly,” he said, “you should be doing whatever you want to do, and don’t worry about them.”

  “I just want to get married,” she said. “It’s taken me a long time to get to this point, and, now that you’re here, I want to make sure I get the job done.”

  “Then I’ll be there,” he said, and, just as they went to hang up, he asked, “By the way, can I bring a friend?”

  “Addie, you mean?”

  “Yes,” he said, turning to look at Addie, whose eyebrows shot up. “If you don’t mind.”

  “No, not at all,” she said. “I’d love to meet her. Rodney says she was great.”

  “If that means that she insisted I go to the hospital and get stitches in my head, then yes,” he said in a dry tone.

  “Anybody who can handle you gets a thumbs-up from me. But the fact that she got you to a hospital for treatment is two thumbs-up.”

  And, with that, and bright laughter, she hung up. He looked at Addie, who stared at him. “Sorry. I kind of sprung that on you,” he said. “Don’t feel like you have to say yes, but I just wanted to make that invitation possible.”

  “Absolutely,” she said. “And it would be fun.”

  “Good,” he said, “it would be nice to have somebody there too.”

  “Ah, that silent-support thing.”

  “Yes,” he said. “It’s kind of odd, when you think about it. But, after going to so many weddings, it seems like I end up as the odd man out. Hate that.”

  “At the same time, I understand completely. Is it a formal affair though?” she asked, worried.

  He said, “I’m wearing a suit, not a tux.”

  “Ah,” she said and turned to look back at her house. “I just don’t know if I have anything to wear.”

  “I can tell you quite honestly that my sister couldn’t care less. She’s been working toward this wedding for a long time, but she’s the one who’s been holding back. So I don’t think having the right clothes to wear is a problem for her. Believe me. I do understand the need to at least be within the range of a proper dress code.”

  “Yes,” she said, “but it’ll be in Saint Pete’s Beach, right?” Tucker nodded. “So maybe just a sundress will do.”

  “We have a long drive too,” he said. “I’ve got a hotel room there for the night. If you want, you can share it with me.”

  She looked at him in surprise and then said, “You know what? That might be quite nice.”

  “Good,” he said. “It’s a deal. I’ll stay here tonight, and you can come to the wedding with me and stay there with me over the weekend.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been to Saint Pete’s Beach.”

  “Miles of white sand, dotted by various benches touting ads with hotel-themed colors all up and down the beach,” he said. “Very much a tourist trap but, if you step out of that to just enjoy Mother Nature, what she has to offer is beautiful.”

  “Great,” she said. “I’m looking forward to that. In the meantime,” she said, standing up and pulling the plates toward her, “I’ll clean up the kitchen. It is quite late, and I’m getting tired. So I’ll have a shower, and I’ll show you to your room.”

  “And what about Bernie here?” he asked. Bernie just looked exhausted at his feet.

  “I figured we’d give her the inside of the house. What do you think? Take her out one more time before bed, then tuck her in for the night with us.”

  “I think that’s a good idea. If we leave the bedroom doors open, she’ll come and go, as she needs to make sure that we’re still here. She’ll likely have abandonment issues for quite a while.”

  “I can’t imagine how she wouldn’t,” she said. “I feel like I’ll have abandonment issues if you take her away. She was always really close with me, but I’m just not set up for a big dog like that,” she said, motioning around at the small house. “No doggie doors. Long hours at work. Floating days on and off.”

  “It doesn’t seem like a long-term solution for you here.”

  “It isn’t,” she said. “It was a solution to get away from my family.”

  “Speaking of which,” he said, “have you had any contact with your sister?”

  She pulled up her phone, checked, and said, “There’s a text from her, asking where I am.”

  “You didn’t answer her?”

  “I didn’t see it until now,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve been a little busy.”

  “Understood,” he said, “looking after me. Sorry about that.”

  She looked up, smiled, and said, “I’d rather look after you than her.”

  “Well, I’d rather you didn’t have to look after either of us,” he said. “Not exactly the strong macho male I’d like to appear as.”

  She snorted. “Nothing personal,” she said, “but that’s very overrated.”

  He burst out laughing. “Well, I’m glad you think so,” he said, “because really, at this point, it’s all about making the best of the situation.”

  “I guess the question is, do you think we were followed here, like they followed us to the restaurant from the construction site?” she asked. “It occurred to me when I was driving, but I didn’t want to bring it up because you were dozing.”

  “I was thinking about it too, and I’ve texted Badger about that. Texted Rodney as well.”

  “I have a security system,” she said. “It’s not much, but it is something.”

  “Well, let’s get it set,” he said, standing up to his feet. “First I’ll take the dog out and give her a chance to go to the bathroom. Then I’ll bring her in, and we’ll go upstairs.”

  She nodded and headed into the kitchen. He walked around the backyard and waited for Bernie to do her business and then headed back inside, asking Addie for a bag. She shrugged and said, “I don’t really have any poop bags, but here’s a kitchen bag.” So she gave him a small bag
.

  He cleaned up the mess and put it in the garbage can outside, his gaze assessing, as he looked around the area to ensure nothing new or different was going on, hating the thickness in his head. Just one of the reasons why he didn’t like taking medications; they always dulled his senses. If they were still in danger, he didn’t want to consider being attacked while drugged.

  With the kitchen done and the dog happy to come inside, they set the security system and headed upstairs. He was pleased to see that his body moved easier, and climbing the stairs didn’t make him dizzy or light-headed. She showed him the spare room, and he nodded in approval. “Nice and simple. Thank you.”

  “And your bathroom’s here,” she said. “I have an en suite in my room.” She led the way into the master, and she gave him a quick tour of her place. “I’ll sleep here.”

  “Leave the door open for the dog,” he said.

  “Sure.” She smiled and said, “Good night then.”

  He cleared his throat. She stopped, looked at him in a questioning manner, and he said, “I did want to thank you for looking after me today.”

  She gave him a beaming smile. “It was a pleasure,” she said. “It’s not exactly the trip that I had imagined, but, hey, it was a whole lot better than sitting at home, wondering how I was related to my sister,” she admitted. “Now go get some sleep.”

  “Will do.” He gave her a boyish grin and asked, “Don’t I get a kiss good night?”

  She shook her head. Tucker now flashed that wicked grin of his at her, and she said, “Well, considering you’re injured, it’s probably safe tonight.” She reached up and kissed him ever-so-gently on the cheek. “Now go to bed,” she said firmly, and she stepped inside her room and pushed the door slightly closed but didn’t shut it fully.

  He looked down at Bernie. “I guess that’s us being told, huh?”

  Bernie barked once, and Tucker led the way back to the bedroom, where he stretched out fully on the bed. With a nice happy sigh, Bernie laid down on the fluffy rug beside his bed. He smiled and said, “Have a good night, sweetie. Your life’s changed for the better.”

  And he closed his eyes. He didn’t even attempt to get changed or undress. Although he knew that some of his clothing had blood on it, most of it had dried, and he didn’t even have a change of clothes anyway. He would return to the hotel, gather his things, and check out.

  Soon enough they would be on their way to a Saint Pete’s hotel for the rehearsal. He knew that his sister was likely to let him off the hook for the rehearsal because of his injury. But was it fair to do that? On the other hand, why did he need to rehearse walking Molly down the aisle? Rodney would certainly give Tucker a pass, especially understanding that Tucker’s injury was probably involved with Rodney’s arson case. The bride and groom had enough problems right now without things going any crazier in the wrong direction. It was a matter of making the wedding weekend happen in a commonsense way.

  He closed his eyes, only to have them open a few seconds later. But, when he checked his watch, he noted it was now two o’clock in the morning, and he’d been asleep for hours.

  He frowned, looked down at the dog. She was lying there with her eyes open, her ears alert. “Yeah, you hear it too, don’t you? But what are we hearing?”

  He slowly stood and walked to the window. His room faced the street, and he couldn’t see anything. Of course, at that hour of the morning, what was he expecting? He moved down the stairs with the dog carefully at his side and walked around the lower portion of the house, wondering what he had heard. As he got to the back door, she whined. He opened the door and let her out. She immediately bounded into the backyard, growling. As soon as she growled, he stepped behind cover, trying to see what she saw. Nobody was in the backyard, but that didn’t mean that someone hadn’t been there a few moments ago. She sniffed and walked around with her head down. “What are you smelling, little one?”

  In the distance, he heard trees rustle and footsteps, but the sounds were now faint. “You chase somebody away, did you?”

  But was it in this backyard, or was it in somebody else’s?

  All the yards were fairly small and piled in on top of each other, so he couldn’t be sure which yard the person had been in. Considering their intruder took off rapidly, Tucker was pretty damn sure whoever it was, was up to no good. When Bernie returned, he sat outside with her for a good ten minutes, but it was calm and quiet. Finally he stood, walked back inside with Bernie, reset the alarms, and said, “Come on, girl. Let’s go get some more sleep.”

  As he went upstairs, he saw Addie standing at the landing, her robe clutched around her chest and neck, as she stared at him. “What did you hear?” she asked him.

  “I’m not sure, but Bernie didn’t growl until we got outside. If somebody was there, Bernie chased them away. I can’t be sure the intruder was in your yard, as they are all so close.”

  She nodded slowly. “I heard you go downstairs,” she said. “Then I couldn’t sleep, wondering what was wrong.”

  “Nothing necessarily is wrong,” he said. “I did reset the alarm, so go back to bed.”

  She smiled and said, “I’ll try to do that.”

  As she disappeared into her room and left the door open just a hair, he wondered if Bernie had gone into her room during the night. Or was she content to stay with him?

  As he walked back to his room, he watched as Bernie looked at him, then looked at the door to the master, walked inside to check it out, and then came back to him.

  “Good girl,” he said. He suspected it would be quite hard if he took Bernie away from Addie. She’s the only one who seemed to have cared about the War Dog. And Addie also still felt horribly guilty about her family’s treatment of Bernie.

  As he lay here quietly in the bed, he thought about all the things that had gone wrong… and right, wondering why, right now, this would come into his life. A woman he cared about. It was just such crappy timing. On the other hand, it was what it was. As always, he played the cards he’d been dealt, and, with that, he closed his eyes, dropped a hand to Bernie’s head, patted her gently for a few moments, and fell asleep.

  Chapter 9

  Addie woke up, got dressed right away, then she headed downstairs. She thought for sure she’d be the first up. Instead the kitchen’s back door was open, and, as she stepped through, she saw Bernie in the yard, while Tucker sat on the deck. He looked up guiltily, a coffee mug in his hand, and said, “I hope you don’t mind, but I put on a pot of coffee.”

  “Of course I don’t mind,” she said. “I’m just surprised that you’re up so early. I thought you’d stay in bed for sure.”

  “No need,” he said. “I woke up feeling great, so I decided to get up as usual. Besides, Bernie here needed to go out.”

  She nodded. “Did you leave any coffee?”

  “I think there’s a cup for you,” he said.

  “If not, I’ll put more on,” she murmured, as she headed inside to the coffeepot. She pulled a cup down and poured herself a cup to take out on the deck. She greeted Bernie, who’d come racing over from the backyard, and Addie spent a few moments just cuddling her. “Don’t you look so much better, girl? I sure hated to see you in that pound. A beautiful girl like you does not deserve to be caged.”

  “I don’t think any animal does,” he said. “Never been a big fan of zoos either.”

  “I know,” she said. “I’m of two minds over them because it’s so nice to see the animals we don’t always have a chance to see in any other environment. But I think caging them, even at the zoos, is cruel to the animals themselves, so what are you supposed to do?”

  “We do the best we can,” he said. “That’s all we can do.”

  She looked up, smiled, and said, “You sure your head is doing better today?”

  “It’s doing much better,” he said. “I’m pretty hardheaded as it is.”

  She smiled at that and nodded. “I’ve noticed.”

  He grinned.

 
“Plans for today?”

  “I was wondering about going back to the job site, but I’m not sure,” he said. “I’m ready—as ready as I can be—for the rehearsal later today and the wedding tomorrow. So whatever I want to do today, I need to get it tied up.”

  “And what does that mean for you?”

  “It means I need to check out of the hotel,” he said. “We’ll be in Saint Pete’s later today, and we’ll stay at the hotel there tonight.”

  “Is there anything more you can do right now regarding Bernie’s future?” she asked.

  “Since I’m not trained to work with her, I need to talk to somebody about learning the proper orders to get her to work more efficiently,” he murmured. “I don’t know what Rodney’s got in mind, as far as Bernie working for him. I’ll talk to him in a little bit, when it’s not quite so early.”

  But then his phone rang. He looked at it and frowned and said, “Apparently Rodney’s up early too. “Hey, Rodney. What’s going on?”

  Addie sat there quietly, listening to Tucker’s side of the conversation. “I know. I thought somebody was around here,” he said. “Have you checked in with the police this morning to see if they found anything in the area? … Ah.”

  She frowned as she heard his tone changing. She realized that their discussion was about going back during daylight to see if they could find any clues surrounding the attack on Tucker. It wasn’t a bad idea. It just wasn’t really how she wanted to spend her day, but still she would rather be doing that than staying here and worrying.

  When he finally hung up from the phone call, she asked, “Can I come?”

  “Are you sure? It’s that long drive again.”

  “Well, if we leave now,” she said, “it wouldn’t be too bad. And you’re not going all the way to the site, right? Just to the restaurant?”

  He frowned at that and then nodded. “No need to return to the arson site. At least I don’t think so. Just the restaurant.”

  “In that case,” she said, “we might as well have breakfast there. It’s not that far away, and I can wait on breakfast.”