Good Guys Love Dogs

by Inglath Cooper

  “I know,” he said. “I know.”

  She loosened his tie and marveled that her fingers still functioned when her insides were shaking. With the tie out of the way, she undid the buttons of his shirt. Surely she would die if she didn’t touch him. Now. Now. Her hands found him. Ah. Hair-roughened skin over contoured muscle. He felt as wonderful as he looked. She tugged the sides of his shirt free from his pants.

  “Colby—” Her name on his lips was low and tortured, his breathing as uneven as her own. She couldn’t think for wanting him. All the reasons why they shouldn’t be doing this slipped out of her grasp. Nothing seemed more important than following the road before them, finding out where it led. Their movements became frantic, as if neither of them could get close enough, touch enough.

  Headlights suddenly flooded the car. The sound of crunching gravel hit Colby like a blast of cold air, jolting her back to reality. “Oh, no,” she said. “Who is that?”

  “I don’t know.” He adjusted her dress and pulled her coat around her shoulders.

  He quickly buttoned his shirt just before a flashlight shone in through the driver’s-side window. She looked up, completely blinded by the glare.

  “Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department. Step out of the car, please,” the voice behind the light said.

  Ian opened the vehicle door and slid out. “Is something wrong, Officer?”

  Fear should have been Colby’s overriding emotion. But mortification left it in its dust. She recognized the deputy’s voice. Joe Middleton. They’d gone to high school together.

  He bent over and directed the beam inside, once again blinding her. “Is that you, Colby?”

  “Hi, Joe. I apologize if we were trespassing. We were, ah, just looking for a quiet place to talk.”

  Joe chuckled, diverting the beam toward the other end of the darkened lot. “Yeah, you and the rest of the homecoming dance.”

  In the arc of light, she caught a glimpse of a few other cars, teenage boys standing outside the doors while two deputies questioned them. She closed her eyes and pictured the headlines in Monday’s paper. “Local Vet Arrested for Parking at Blue Mountain Dam.” A second later, she added, “With Engaged Man.”

  Ian had stepped away from the car with Joe. They talked for a couple of minutes, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. When Ian got back in, Joe leaned down and said, “Night, Colby. See you around.”

  Joe got into his car, following the other vehicles from the lot.

  “I told him we would head out in a few minutes,” Ian said.

  Colby pushed her hair away from her face. “I’ve already written the article in Monday’s paper. I’d just gotten to the part where I was trying to explain this to Lena.”

  Ian dropped his head back on the seat, a low chuckle rumbling from his chest.

  She laughed, too.

  He sobered first, and even in the dimness she saw the light in his eyes. He shoved a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry about this. But I’m glad you’re the kind of woman who can see the humor in it.” He held her gaze for several long moments. “You know, I think I’ve laughed more with you in the past couple of months than I have in years.”

  The words pleased her. A lot. “We both got caught up in things tonight,” she said, striving for reason. “The dancing. Being all dressed up—”

  “I wish it were that simple,” he interrupted, his voice serious now. Not knowing what to say, she sat there, fighting a feeling as easy to ignore as a tidal wave coming in from the ocean.

  Still looking at her, his eyes dark and intent, he said, “My life’s done a one-eighty, and I don’t know what to make of it, anymore.”

  The admission took her by surprise. “What do you mean?”

  With the engine still running, he slid sideways to face her, his left elbow propped on the steering wheel, his right knee on the emergency brake. “I came here with my life all mapped out for the next year. Since I met you, not one thing has gone the way I planned it. When I’m around you, I find myself doing things I never intended to do. Like asking you to come out here tonight.”

  “I shouldn’t have agreed. You’re not entirely to blame.”

  “I can’t think when I’m around you. And when I’m not around you, you’re all I think about.”

  “I. . .I don’t know what to say to that, Ian. I conveniently let myself forget that there’s another woman in your life. That was wrong. I can’t be part of messing up someone else’s future. I’m a practical woman. Practical women don’t have affairs with unavailable men.”

  “Colby, I wasn’t asking you to—”

  “Then what were you asking me? We’ve agreed to be friends, but friends don’t do what we just did. And they don’t want to do what we wanted to do but didn’t get around to doing.” If she hadn’t been so frustrated, she would have laughed at herself. But she was frustrated and a little angry now because he wasn’t hers to want. She did want him.

  If she let this play out any further, she would lose her heart in a big way. She couldn’t afford to do that. She’d tasted rejection once. Hopeless situations were hopeless. “I’d like to go back now,” she said.

  He didn’t say anything, merely watched her a few moments longer. “Okay,” he said finally, shifting in his seat and turning the key in the ignition.

  Disappointment assailed her as he eased back out onto the main road. The feeling was inexplicable, unjustifiable. He was doing as she’d asked. Why then did she feel so miserable?

  The drive to the high school parking lot seemed to take forever. Colby ached for him to touch her, to cover her hand with his, wrong as she knew it to be. She focused on the road ahead, telling herself she’d done the right thing. When he stopped beside her car, she slid out of the passenger side and held the door open. “I think it’s better if we don’t see each other anymore. For all concerned.”

  “Colby—”

  But she wouldn’t let herself stop and listen to him. She turned to her truck, fumbling to get the key in the lock. He called out again, but without looking back, she tore out of the parking lot while she still had the will to leave.

  41

  Colby pulled into her driveway at nearly three a.m. Phoebe sat on the front porch waiting for her, huddled up in Frank’s old varsity football jacket.

  Colby got out of the truck and jogged across the yard. “Phoebe, are you all right? What’s wrong?”

  Phoebe sniffed and wiped her cheek. “How about what’s not? It’ll take less time.”

  Colby sat down on the step and put an arm around her friend’s shoulder, almost welcoming the distraction from her own troubled thoughts. “Come on, tell me about it.”

  “There’s not much to say. One day I thought we had a great marriage, and now. . .now everything’s a mess,” she said with a broken sob.

  Colby hugged her closer. “Where are the kids?”

  “At their grandma’s.”

  “Come on, then,” she said, getting up and pulling Phoebe to her feet. “I’ll make coffee. You’ll talk.”

  Phoebe followed Colby into the kitchen and sat down. In a couple of minutes, Colby had the coffee made, filling a cup for each of them. She took a fortifying sip. “What happened?”

  Phoebe’s face crumpled. “He said he had some kind of business dinner tonight. And he wasn’t home when I left at midnight.”

  “He could have had a flat tire. Anything might have happened.”

  “He always takes me with him if he has business on the weekend.”

  “Have you talked to him about any of this, Phoebe?”

  “I’m afraid to. What if he’s having an affair? I don’t think I want to know. And, on the other hand, I think I’ll die if I don’t find out something soon.”

  “What good does it do to assume the worst, Phoebs?”

  “What else could it be?” She sighed, looking miserable. “Our fifteenth wedding anniversary is coming up next week. I never thought I’d be celebrating it like this.”

 
Colby hadn’t wanted to believe Frank would ever do such a thing. But maybe she was just being naive. Why was it so hard to believe? Why had she thought him any different from most men? Any different from Ian McKinley, who had kissed her tonight, who had wanted more than that? Ian McKinley, who belonged to someone else.

  She’d driven home, ridiculing herself for letting things get so out of hand. How far would they have gone if they hadn’t been interrupted? She would like to think she’d have come to her senses, but who was she kidding?

  She forced her attention back to Phoebe. “Did you leave him a note?” she asked.

  Phoebe nodded, sniffing.

  “Then why don’t you stay here tonight? Lena’s staying at Millie’s. You can sleep in her bed.”

  “Are you sure I won’t be putting you out?”

  Colby squeezed her shoulder and said, “Never.”

  Phoebe stayed until almost ten the next morning. The two of them were up early, though, talking and drinking coffee. Colby listened while Phoebe talked. Hearing the strain in her friend’s voice, she realized Phoebe had been holding her worries in, hiding behind her usual front of good spirits. She felt guilty for not having taken Phoebe’s concerns more seriously. She’d felt sure there had to be some explanation for Frank’s behavior, but now, she honestly had no idea.

  Once Phoebe had left, she straightened up the house, admitting to herself that she didn’t know about a lot of things anymore. Her relationship with her daughter. Her growing preoccupation with an unavailable man.

  What had happened to her steady, if somewhat predictable, life? How many times had Phoebe accused her of being set in her ways? Of refusing to open herself up to the possibility of falling in love? If that meant she didn’t have to walk around with a knot in her stomach and a yearning for something she couldn’t have, then she’d choose that option any day of the week.

  She took a shower, got dressed and drove to the clinic to check on a Springer Spaniel named Hermie that had been hit by a car on Friday. The dog had been badly hurt with internal injuries and a broken leg. Andrea Morris, the dog’s person, as she liked to be known, absolutely doted on the dog. She’d been nearly hysterical when she’d brought him in. Colby opened Hermie’s kennel now and stepped inside. He raised his head and looked at her, his eyes noticeably more alert than yesterday. She bent down and rubbed his ears. “Hey, fella. Glad to see you’re feeling better.”

  The dog whimpered again. She stroked the fur beneath his chin, and he tipped his head back a little farther, obviously enjoying the attention. She looked at the cast on his leg, checked his temperature, relieved to see it was normal. He had also eaten some of the food in his bowl, another good sign. She went to her office and called Mrs. Morris to tell her that Hermie was doing much better. The woman’s relief was tangible.

  “If you’d like to come see him, someone will be here. Just knock at the back door.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Williams. I’ll do that.”

  Colby hung up, taking satisfaction in knowing she’d relieved the woman’s worries. She drove back home and spent the rest of the morning preparing lunch for Lena, who was supposed to be home by twelve o’clock. But her mind was only half on what she was doing. She kept reliving last night, hating herself for it but unable to stop thinking about Ian. She wasn’t naive when it came to chemistry between a man and a woman. There was definitely chemistry. That and then some.

  The memory of last night was both sweet and poignant. Poignant, because she knew it couldn’t happen again. She was a God-fearing, churchgoing, small-town veterinarian and mother. Women like her didn’t have affairs with engaged men from Manhattan who looked as at home in tailor-made suits as she did in manure-spattered rubber boots. It wouldn’t be anything more than an affair. And in the light of day, she knew that an affair was out of the question.

  The front door opened, then closed. “Lena. Is that you?” she called out.

  No answer. Lena appeared in the kitchen doorway, her expression stony.

  “Hi, honey,” Colby said cautiously. “Did you have a good time last night?”

  Lena folded her arms across her chest and stared at her. “I was about to ask you the same question.”

  She faltered under the criticism in Lena’s voice. “What do you mean?”

  “Mom, how could you? The whole town’s talking about you and Mr. McKinley. Everybody knows he’s engaged, and the rumor is that you’re moving in on him!”

  The attack left Colby stunned. “What?”

  “Well, aren’t you?”

  “Where did you get that idea?”

  “Maybe from the way you were hanging all over him at the dance last night. I guess that’s why you haven’t gotten in touch with my dad yet. You’re too busy trying to steal Mr. McKinley from his fiancée to bother.”

  The injustice of the accusation cut like a knife. Colby had been walking on pins and needles for the past few weeks, waiting for Doug to call, hoping he would want to meet his daughter. “Regardless of whatever resentment you’re feeling toward me, Lena, I’m your mother, and I won’t tolerate that kind of disrespect.”

  Lena’s mutinous expression wavered a bit. Colby never spoke to her in that tone of voice. But she’d just about reached her saturation point. She turned around and went outside, sitting down in the rope swing attached to the maple in their backyard.

  She pushed off with her feet, taking the swing higher and higher. Higher than she’d ever allowed Lena to go. Higher than she should have.

  The rebellion felt good. It eased the anger inside her, anger quickly followed by an avalanche of guilt. How had things with Lena gotten so out of control? She ached for the kind of relationship they’d once had. How she would have talked to her about last night. For the light-hearted moments in which she joked with her about bad dates and bad days.

  Not once had she ever imagined things would be like this between them.

  Lena’s accusatory words played through her mind again. Maybe from the way you were hanging all over him at the dance last night.

  Had she been hanging all over him? Did the rest of the town think that, as well? If her face revealed the feelings swirling around inside her, then they couldn’t be thinking anything else.

  She had fallen for a man who belonged to another woman.

  She, who had been perfectly content with her life. She, who had not gone out looking for this. Who considered herself immune to the kinds of feelings she’d known last night in Ian McKinley’s arms.

  She’d let things get out of hand. Way out of hand. She’d embarrassed her own daughter and made a fool of herself in front of half the town if what Lena said was true.

  She stopped the swing with her feet and sat staring at the grass beneath her shoes. She’d made the correct call in telling Ian they couldn’t see each other anymore. As much as she might have wished for things to be different, she’d simply met the right man at the wrong time.

  42

  On Monday, Lena skipped school and hitched a ride to the health department in the next county.

  Getting the appointment with a doctor had been a breeze. She’d called that morning, and the doctor would see her at two o’clock.

  She arrived at the clinic two hours early and sat in a diner across the street, drinking lemonade and trying to still the butterflies in her stomach.

  There were a couple of moments when she nearly chickened out and headed home. But this was the right thing to do. If she wanted Luke McKinley to like her, it was the only thing to do.

  Colby had just gotten in from work on Thursday when the phone rang. She dropped her grocery bags at the door and dashed for it.

  “Hi, Dr. Williams. This is Millie. Is Lena in?”

  “Hi, Millie. Just a minute. I’ll check.” She covered the phone and called up the stairs for Lena. No answer. “She must have gone out for a run or something.”

  “Oh, shoot. You don’t see her algebra book anywhere nearby, do you? I need to borrow it if she brought it home with her.”
>
  She craned her neck for a glimpse of Lena’s book bag and spotted it on the living room couch. “Just a sec.” She put down the phone and reached for the backpack. There were two books inside. English Lit and Algebra. She put the bag back on the couch. It caught the side of a cushion and slid to the floor, spilling the contents beneath the coffee table.

  She sighed and picked up the phone. “It’s here, Millie.”

  “Great. I’ll call her in a little while and come over and get it.”

  Colby hung up, then picked up the contents of Lena’s bag. She dropped to her knees and gathered up what she could readily spot: pencils, paper clips, a notepad. She put everything inside and zipped the bag. Just as she got up from the floor, she saw the edge of something sticking out from the other end of the couch. A thin plastic container with Lena’s name and address on front. She turned it over in her hands, then snapped the lid open. Her stomach dropped. Birth control pills. Why in the world did Lena have birth control pills?

  Feeling as if she’d just had the wind knocked from her, she sank back onto the floor. The container was full. A thousand thoughts ran through her head. Had she started taking them yet? Why?

  The questions no more than formed in her mind when Lena sprang through the door. At the sight of Colby sitting on the floor with the packet in her hands, her face froze.

  A hundred different emotions assailed Colby. Anger. Fear. Hurt. Denial.

  Lena strolled into the living room and draped herself across the closest chair, defiance etched on her face.

  “Millie called,” Colby said in a stunned voice. “She wanted to know if you brought home your algebra book. I checked your bag for it, and these fell out.”

  Lena didn’t say anything. She just sat with her arms folded across her chest, staring out the window.

  Colby held up the packet. “What are these for?”

  Lena met her gaze, her eyes narrowed. “What do you think, Mom? They’re to keep me from ending up like you did! Pregnant and dumped.”