by Deb Kastner
“The injection site might be sore for a day or two. If he suddenly stops eating or acts sick, give me a call.”
“And there’s my fear come to life.”
He raised his brows. “What’s that?”
“If we finally get a puppy and then lose him for whatever reason. It would crush Gwenny’s heart.”
Luke reached for her elbow. “The shots are to prevent disease, not to give him something. Just like you take Gwenny to get vaccines from her doctor. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll give you my cell number and you can call me anytime.”
“Oh, I can’t ask you to do that.”
He grinned. “You didn’t. I offered. Do you have your cell phone with you?”
She nodded and handed her phone over for him to punch in his personal contact information. It was an awkward moment for both of them, and she wondered if he gave out his number to every single woman, or if it was just her.
It’s for Gwenny, she reminded herself. He was doing this for Gwenny’s sake, not so Ashley would call and ask him on a date.
Not that she’d ever call and ask him on a date. And that was not because she was behind the times—although she kind of was behind the times, because the last time she’d been out on a date, it was definitely always the guy who asked. But that wasn’t it this time. The truth was, she simply wasn’t dating.
Full stop.
“So, you mentioned Gwenny and Pudgy are BFFs, and that’s dead-on right.” She put her hands behind her and leaned against the wall. “You can’t even imagine what a difference Pudgy has made in Gwenny’s life. Or maybe you can. I’m guessing by now you realize I hadn’t intended to get a puppy when we visited the nursing home the other day, but now that Pudgy is a part of the family, I was thinking we could possibly take it a step further and make him into a certified service dog. How, exactly, would I go about doing that?”
Luke froze in place, both in his body and his expression, as if she’d just said something outlandish, like she’d be serving up the moon the next time she brought in a treat for the nursing home residents.
“What did I say wrong?”
“I—er—” Luke stammered.
Ashley had thought they’d gotten past the introverted-Luke phase. He’d opened up to her a bit more, at least in his role as a veterinarian. But she was still asking about Pudgy. Granted, it was more along dog training, but that was kind of like vetting, right?
“I’m not a professional dog trainer, although I’ve taught some basic obedience classes in the past. But you’ve got to realize that service dogs are a whole other thing than your typical family pet. You don’t generally start with just any puppy and expect to be able to train him into a certified service dog. A whole lot more goes into it than that.”
“What about finding someone to help me? I wasn’t planning on doing any of the training myself.”
“That may be your only option. But service dog training centers either breed their own dogs for temperament or else go out searching for specific rescues who match a laundry list of criteria. They do all the training themselves and then would have Gwenny come in to work with the dog they chose for her. I’m not sure they’d want to work with a family dog.”
He cleared his throat. “And it isn’t cheap.”
Ashley couldn’t help the way her jaw clenched. Money was always an issue.
Always.
And she hated it.
Was it so much to ask to be able to do one thing that would be really good for her daughter, a little girl who deserved every happiness in the world and then some?
“But you carefully bred your litter of Dalmatians, didn’t you? So Pudgy has a good temperament?”
“Well, sure he does. The question is if he has the sensitivity to recognize when Gwenny needs his help. He’d also need to be extra sharp so he could learn the many skills a wheelchair service dog provides.”
“Like what?” Ashley asked, intrigued despite the fact that every word out of Luke’s mouth was essentially turning her idea on its head.
“Oh, like using a rope tied to a refrigerator door to open the door and grab Gwenny a soda. That sort of thing.”
“Dogs really do that?”
“And then some. They’re amazing.”
“But Pudgy can’t be trained.” It wasn’t a question.
Luke pursed his lips. “I didn’t say that.” He tunneled his fingers through his thick black hair, leaving it adorably tousled. “You’d have to figure out what Pudgy will work for.”
“Such as?” She shifted and folded her arms in front of her.
“Some dogs work for verbal praise alone. Some are very toy-oriented. Others are motivated by food.”
“Ah,” Ashley exclaimed. “Well, you can stop right there. Pudgy practically has Will Work for Food tattooed on his spotted tummy. I’ve never seen a dog so crazy about his dinner.”
Luke chuckled. “Like Snoopy and his Sup, Sup, Suppertime!”
“Yes. Exactly like that.”
He ran a hand across his beard, his gaze deep in thought. Ashley didn’t interrupt him, but silently watched him, admittedly enjoying the view. How could she not?
“Come on,” he said, grabbing Pudgy in one hand and her hand with his other. “I have an idea. Let’s go talk to my mom.”
Chapter Five
Not surprisingly, Luke found his mother neck-and-neck on a racecar videogame, hooting and hollering at least as loud as Gwenny. Both had huge smiles on their faces, but their expressions mirrored some serious competitive issues. Both of the drivers were screeching their cars through trees and across rivers and even drove along the sides of the walls.
His mom wasn’t going to give Gwenny an inch, but it didn’t look as if Gwenny needed any help as she pulled into pole position and finished off the race in the lead.
“Yes!” Gwenny proclaimed, holding her hands up in the V sign for victory. “I finally beat Granny Ruth!”
Granny Ruth?
Luke’s gut flooded with hot molten lava. What was his mother thinking?
And what was with the finally?
“Finally?” Ashley asked, either ignoring the new moniker or else she hadn’t heard it. Somehow Luke figured she wouldn’t be any happier about this sudden shift than he was. It was nice and all, but…
“Granny Ruth beat me twice before I won.”
“Mother,” Luke groaned. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to play to the death against a little girl?”
“I’ll have you know I didn’t have to give Gwenny an inch—and she wouldn’t have wanted me to, anyway, would you, sweetie?”
Gwenny shook her head voraciously. “No way. I got to win fair and square.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle at the little girl’s tenacity.
“Here’s Pudgy,” Luke said, dropping the puppy onto her lap. “Be a little careful about touching his back legs tonight, okay? He just had a couple of shots.”
Gwenny’s lips curled down. “Did he cry?”
“Oh, no, honey,” Ashley said quickly. “Dr. Luke didn’t hurt Pudgy. The puppy didn’t whine or anything. Pudgy really likes Dr. Luke.”
“The only time he whined was when he wanted to get back to you,” Luke added. “Your Mommy tells me you and Pudgy are BFFs. So of course, he didn’t like being without you.”
That turned Gwenny’s frown upside down. “Best Friends FURREVER!”
“I see what you did there,” Granny Ruth chimed in. “Clever girl.”
“Isn’t she, though?” Ashley said tenderly.
“Mama,” Luke said, getting his mother’s attention. “Ashley and I have been talking about the possibility of training Pudgy to be Gwenny’s certified service dog.”
“What a splendid idea.” His mom clapped her hands to her heart.
Luke cocked an eyebrow. “You think?” He’d imagined his mother would have had the same reservations he’d had. This wasn’t going to be easy for Ashley and Gwenny, and he really didn’t like encouraging them until he’d worked out the det
ails.
“Well, certainly. It makes perfect sense. It’s been awhile since you’ve done any dog training on a professional basis, but—”
“Wait, what?” Luke interrupted. Somehow the conversation had gotten all twisted up in knots.
He’d been getting ready to suggest she find an expert in service dog training to give Pudgy the best chance of success. But his mother’s gaze grabbed his and she jerked her chin in Ashley’s direction while simultaneously rubbing her thumb over her fingers.
It was the smallest of movements and she immediately dropped her hand before anyone else could see.
Money.
Of course.
There was a reason they’d given Pudgy to Ashley and Gwenny free of charge and had offered to set them up with everything Pudgy would need to survive and thrive, up to and including veterinary services.
Ashley was a single mother with a disabled daughter. He didn’t know what she did for a living, but no matter what it was, it couldn’t be easy on her. He didn’t yet know why Gwenny was wheelchair-bound in the first place, but he couldn’t even begin to imagine what Gwenny’s hospital bills must look like.
It was nothing even close to what he’d ever had to face as a single man in a well-paying profession.
Once, when he was a kid of about seven, he and his friend Billy had crawled into a laundry chute at a hotel they were staying in. He remembered with great clarity the moment when he’d realized he had no leverage with which to pull himself back out. Before he knew it, both he and Billy were sliding down the chute through several flights at a terrifying pace, only to safely land in a basketful of soft but dirty towels.
He was feeling that way now, without a hint of leverage and no idea where he was going to land. He could only hope it would be somewhere soft, because he wasn’t getting out of this. Not with three sets of female eyes set expectantly on him.
“Yeah, well, I guess we could start with some basic obedience training,” he reluctantly acceded. “We’ll see what Pudgy can do and go from there. If it turns out he has the potential for it, we’ll take him further.”
“Yay,” Gwenny exclaimed, clapping her hands in delight. “Pudgy’s going to be a service dog.
For having been the person who’d come up with the suggestion in the first place, Ashley didn’t look overly thrilled about the prospect, although why, Luke couldn’t even begin to guess.
She pulled him aside and leaned up to whisper in his ear. “I’m sorry, Luke. I can’t let you do this.”
“Why is that?” It ruffled his feathers—and his male ego—a little bit that she suddenly didn’t want his help.
“I’m ashamed to admit this, but I can’t pay you. It was just an idea, and I’m now realizing I didn’t think it out very well. You’ve already given us so much. I can’t ask any more of you.”
“Then don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t ask. I’m offering.” And he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He could be stubborn when he needed to be—especially when he knew his mom was going to back him up. “I’ll talk with my mom and figure out when and where would be the best place to begin our training and then she’ll get a hold of you, all right?”
He could just call her himself. He had her number in the books, which was the same way his mother would get in contact with her. But he thought maybe she’d be more inclined to accept his help if it came out of his mother’s mouth. She could convince a monkey to give her his banana. Ashley wouldn’t stand a chance.
“I’ll find a way to pay you back,” she insisted.
He shook his head and brushed his hand across her delicate shoulder, lingering for perhaps a moment too long.
“Don’t worry about that. This is something I want to do. For Gwenny.”
“Still,” she said, laying her hand on his chest to get his full attention.
He wondered if she realized her palm was right over his heart. Could she feel the frantic rhythm it was making?
“There must be something I can do for you, some way I can make your life better, just as you’ve done for Gwenny and me. Perhaps not money, but I’ll figure out some way to give back for all your kindness and generosity.”
He just smiled, realizing that arguing with her would be futile. She was a proud woman. It was just one of the many things he admired about her.
And anyway, though she didn’t know it, she’d already made his life better.
Chapter Six
The following weekend, Ashley and Gwenny brought Pudgy to the local park for the puppy’s first obedience lesson with Luke, who’d brought his mother and Turbo along.
Gwenny wasn’t using her electric wheelchair today. She was an athlete—wheelchair basketball—and she liked to practice wheeling herself around whenever she had the chance. Ashley occasionally had to give her a little push to get her over a bump or a gouge in the grass, but for the most part Gwenny held her own.
Which was good, because Ashley couldn’t seem to be able to corral her thoughts today to save her life. She wondered if the nerves she was feeling had to do with whether or not Pudgy would come through as a service dog, or…something else.
Service dog. Definitely.
She couldn’t possibly let her thoughts go anywhere else.
She was pleasantly surprised when Luke showed up with Ruth and Turbo. For one thing, having another adult around—especially his mother—helped her quash the instinctive, bubbling chemistry she felt between them. And for another, Gwenny appeared to have really taken to Ruth, and vice versa.
Granny Ruth already?
But Ashley wasn’t one to complain. Her own parents had passed away before Gwenny was born and Chase had been a product of the foster system, so Gwenny had never experienced the blessing of knowing her grandparents. Ashley firmly believed there was a lot to be learned from the previous generations, and she would do everything she could to encourage this new, if unusual, friendship between Gwenny and Ruth.
Even if that meant spending more time with Luke.
Speaking of the man in question—he barely made eye-contact with her before greeting Gwenny with a friendly scrub of her hair. Then he said hello to Pudgy with almost the exact same head-scrub.
At least he hadn’t scratched Gwenny behind the ears.
A giggle tittered out from Ashley’s throat at the thought. She could totally see Luke doing something like that. He appeared much more comfortable with animals than with people, children excepted. He certainly wasn’t relaxed around her. Was the reason he kept his gaze away from hers because he felt the same inherent attraction every time their eyes met?
“So where do we start?” Ashley asked, forcing Luke’s attention on her, but it was Ruth who answered the question.
Ruth shook a red vinyl bag so that it made a rattling sound and then plopped it onto Gwenny’s lap. “These are liver treats. Dogs absolutely love them and will do anything to get one.”
“Right,” Luke said. “We’ve already established that Pudgy here is motivated by food, so we’ll use that penchant to teach him to follow the commands he needs to know. We’ll start with the basics. Does he respond to his name?”
“Yes,” Ashley and Gwenny answered in union.
“He caught onto his name really fast,” Ashley added. “Gwenny and I think he’s pretty smart.”
Gwenny laughed. “Mommy sometimes calls him other names besides just Pudgy.”
Luke’s eyebrows rose. “Like…?”
“Poop-a-loompa,” Gwenny said, giggling hysterically.
“Poop-a…” Luke repeated, shaking his head as the rest of the word faded off. Ashley could tell he was trying to hold back a chuckle of his own, as one corner of his lips rose in that sexy half-smile of his. “Yeah…we’re going to have to stop doing that. He needs to be one-hundred percent certain of his name. His real name.”
“Got it,” Ashley said, trying and failing to keep her expression serious. “No more nicknames.”
“So, let’s get started, then,�
�� Luke said. Gwenny, grab one of those treats out of the bag. What you’re going to do is touch his nose with the treat and then touch your nose with the treat while you are saying his name. He wins when he makes eye-contact with you.”
Gwenny was so excited at beginning training that the little puppy picked up on her enthusiasm and he immediately responded to his name the first time around.
“Be sure to praise him when he does well,” Luke reminded her, following his suggestion with a high-pitched, “Good boy. Good boy!”
The next time they practiced, Luke had Gwenny do the same procedure only without the liver treat. She touched his nose and then touched hers and said Pudgy’s name.
Without the liver treat, Pudgy wasn’t nearly as interested in performing. He got it right the first couple of times but then his attention quickly wandered to a nearby squirrel.
Ashley sensed frustration building in her daughter and was about to remark on it when Luke jumped in.
“Let’s use a treat again so we end on a high note, for both him and us.”
Getting another treat was all Pudgy needed to return his attention fully to the task at hand.
“Okay,” said Luke. “Let’s try another one. We’re going to get Pudgy to sit on command. Use a treat, Gwenny. Hold it just over his nose but don’t give it to him until your mommy coaxes him into a full sit.”
His eyes met Ashley’s briefly and he flashed her an encouraging grin. He went from good-looking to flat out gorgeous when he did that, but she had the feeling he had no idea of the effect he might have on a woman when he used that sweet smile.
She knelt next to Pudgy and, working in tandem with her daughter, got Pudgy to sit a few times on command.
Once again, however, once they stopped using the liver treats, Pudgy was easily distracted, this time by a couple of noisy kids running by with a kite. And Pudgy wasn’t the only one who was distracted. While Pudgy watched the children, Gwenny’s gaze was hooked on the kite fluttering high in the air.
Ashley’s heart tore, as it always did when she watched Gwenny recognize something she’d never be able to do. Life just wasn’t fair. This was one of the stronger reasons she mostly avoided parks with Gwenny. Her daughter couldn’t run or climb on the jungle gym—or fly kites.