About a Dog

by Jenn McKinlay

  If Gavin was shopping for produce, Mac would suddenly appear in the melon section. If he was at The Grind for his three o’clock java booster, she would appear on the patio in a tank top and short shorts. If he was taking his daily jog, she would walk down the boardwalk in just a string bikini on her way to sunbathe on the beach. On and on it went.

  She never spoke to him, but she always made sure she looked like she’d just rolled out of bed, in a good way, then she made eye contact with a wicked wink or a knowing smile and then she disappeared.

  Judging by the way his brow furrowed and his jaw started clenching at the sight of her, Mac wasn’t sure if he wanted to jump her or do himself an injury to get away from her. She hoped it was the former, but she noticed he never spoke to her either, which she did not take as a good sign.

  At the end of the week, Mac knew that her leave of absence was ending and she’d have to report to work at the office in Portland soon. Thus, she called an emergency meeting at the brewery with her three main cohorts, Zach, Sam, and Jillian.

  The brewery was closed for the day and the four of them sat outside in the courtyard, enjoying tall frosty pints and the warm summer evening. Tulip sniffed around the premises while Mac kept an eye on her to make sure she didn’t start chewing on anything she shouldn’t.

  “I can’t believe the man hasn’t cracked yet,” Zach said. “I would have bagged you that first night at Marty’s.”

  “Agreed,” Sam agreed. “Even my blood pressure spiked and I love you like a sister.”

  “Thanks,” Mac said. “But I don’t think I can keep stalking him or he’s going to take out a restraining order on me.”

  “No, he won’t,” Jillian said. “You’ve got him dazed and confused, which is perfect, but now you have to go all in.”

  “Meaning, I should break into his house and tie him up until he listens to me?” Mac asked.

  “You had me at tied up, you lost me at the listening thing,” Zach said.

  “Lovely,” Jillian said. “No, what I am thinking is we’re going back to the very beginning. It’s time for you and Gavin to deal with that night seven years ago, and what better way to deal with it than to recreate it?”

  “How can I possibly do that?” Mac asked. “How can I get him out to the grassy hill under the beech trees where it all began?”

  “Easy,” Zach said. He whistled and Tulip came trotting over to get some love from him. “As I understand it, you were doing pretty good keeping Gavin at arm’s length until you had to see him about a dog, am I right?”

  “Yes,” Mac said. Tulip had definitely been the catalyst that had thrown them together.

  “Well, it seems clear to me that the key to you and Gavin is Tulip,” he said. Mac wasn’t sure she trusted the mischievous twinkle in Zach’s eyes, but Tulip did, which was evident when she slobbered all over him.

  • • •

  It was just a few minutes to sunset, and Mac was sitting on the lowered tailgate of Gavin’s pickup truck, which Zach had borrowed, with Tulip by her side. She had loaded up the bed of the truck with all of the paraphernalia for a perfect summer picnic.

  Fluffy comforter? Check. Basket of food? Check. Bottle of wine with glasses? Check. Music playing softly on a portable radio? Check. She was so nervous, she wondered if she should go make herself throw up in the bushes before she faced him as she was a teeny bit afraid that she might throw up on him.

  She rubbed Tulip’s ears and waited for the signal. Her heart was hammering so loudly she wasn’t sure she’d be able to hear it when it came. She forced herself to breathe.

  The grassy field under the two copper beech trees hadn’t changed much over the past seven years, although when she looked up and studied the tree limbs under the darkening sky, she was sure the trees had grown up a bit, just like her and Gavin.

  A whistle pierced the quiet and Mac put Tulip on the ground. She unclipped Tulip’s leash and said, “Okay, girl, let’s go get Gav.”

  At the mention of her favorite human man’s name, Tulip’s ears went up and she darted off onto the trail. Zach’s whistle signified that Sam had dropped off Gavin on the trail and that Zach believed he was within range of Mac.

  Yes, this was their grand plan. In order to get Gavin back to the place where it all began, they had all lied to him and told him that Tulip had gone missing on the trail and they were all going to split up and search for her. Mac felt horrible about the lie but this was her last chance before she had to leave. It was their last chance for a happy ever after and she didn’t want to let it go without giving it everything she had.

  She hurried down the path after Tulip. Then she hid and watched through the trees as Tulip found Gavin.

  “Tulip, what are you doing out here?” he asked as he rubbed her head.

  He went to pick her up but Tulip pranced away as Mac hid behind a tree and called, “Tulip, where are you, baby girl?”

  She peeked around the tree and watched Gavin. At the sound of her voice, his jaw clenched and he looked like he was gearing up for something. Boy, howdy, was he ever. He just didn’t know it.

  Tulip galloped around him and he sighed and said, “All right, princess, let’s go find your mama. She’s probably out of her mind with worry.”

  Mac had to call out two more times to get them up to the field where she waited on the back of the truck. When Tulip saw her, she raced across the grassy field and Mac greeted her with a treat, a nice big chew bone to keep her occupied. Then Mac tied the dog’s long lead to the tailgate of the truck so the puppy could lie in the grass but not wander off.

  When she stood, Gavin was standing on the far edge of the field, staring at her as if he were seeing a ghost. Pretty close. Mac had styled her hair like she’d worn it seven years ago and she was wearing a puffy meringue of a sundress, which while nowhere near as full as the bridal gown she’d worn the last time she’d been here with him was still remarkably similar.

  When Gavin started to stride forward, his first steps were tentative but then they became purposeful as he stared at her with that intensity she had come to love, that singular attention that let her know he was wholly consumed by her.

  Mac moved forward to meet him, shyly at first. Rejection was still a very big possibility but then she thought of Tulip and how she threw herself wholeheartedly at the people she loved. Mac understood that feeling and she couldn’t bear the distance between her and Gavin for another second. She began to hurry across the field. In four long strides, she was in his arms, and he was cupping her face and kissing her as if he would die if he didn’t.

  Mac began to cry as she kissed him again and again. He was here. He was in her arms. And she never wanted to be without him again.

  She cupped his face and gazed into his eyes, and said, “I’m in love with you, Gavin Tolliver, and I think I have been for a very long time.”

  Gavin swept her up into his arms and carried her across the field while still kissing her.

  Mac pulled away from him and clung to his shoulders while all the words she wanted to say poured out in an incoherent babble.

  “I’m sorry. I should have said no to Emma . . . but I couldn’t. I owed her. But I didn’t realize that you . . . I never meant for this to happen . . . and then when I realized I was in love with you . . . it was too late. I never wanted to hurt you.”

  He stopped beside the truck and set her down on the tailgate. His blue gaze swept over her face and the look he sent her was so full of love that Mac started to cry all over again.

  “Shh,” he said. He kissed away the tears. “That’s what I was waiting for; not an apology, there was no need; not having you spring up on me every time I turned around, although we’ll be revisiting a couple of those outfits.” He pulled back and pushed her hair out of her face and then his gaze met hers. When he spoke, his voice was so soft she had to strain to hear him when he said, “All I ever need
ed to hear from you, Mackenzie Harris, is that you’re in love with me, too.”

  He cupped her face and kissed her and as the tears streamed down Mac’s cheeks, it felt very much like their first time together, here under the stars, secluded in the woods. Except this time, when they made love, Mac didn’t leave him alone in the morning without saying a word.

  This time she held him tight and whispered in his ear the words she knew he had spent years longing to hear. Words that she hadn’t known the meaning of until he showed her what they truly meant, what it truly meant to love and be loved.

  “I love you . . . forever,” she said.

  And when the puppy nearby got tired of her chew toy and let out a bark, they scrambled to pick her up. Tulip snuggled between them while they whispered about their plans for the future and marveled at how lucky they were to have a second chance. As Mac hugged her man and her puppy close, she knew without a doubt that she was finally home to stay.

  TURN THE PAGE FOR A PREVIEW OF THE NEXT BLUFF POINT ROMANCE

  Barking Up the Wrong Tree

  AVAILABLE SOON FROM BERKLEY SENSATION

  “Hey, Mac, correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t those your aunts?” Carly asked. “And unless I’m seeing things, it looks like they’ve had their hair done.”

  A week had passed and now the day of Carly’s big move had arrived. Mac had borrowed her boyfriend Gavin’s pickup truck to drive Carly, and the possessions she had not put into storage, home to Bluff Point. They had crossed the town line a few minutes ago and were now making their way through the center of Bluff Point on their way to Carly’s parents’ house.

  Mac glanced in the direction Carly pointed and stared at the two elderly women on the town green doing some sort of calisthenic workout with a group of other geriatrics and a guy in basketball shorts and a tank top, who looked ripped enough to bench-press a car.

  “Holy hot peppers!” Mac said. “Is that . . . purple in Aunt Charlotte’s hair and red in Aunt Sarah’s? They told me they had a hair appointment this morning but they did not mention the new colors. My dad is going to kill me.”

  “He’s still not embracing his sisters’ plowing through their bucket list?” Carly asked. Personally, she thought the two septuagenarians were pretty badass for taking up everything from beekeeping to hip-hop to surfing in their dotage, but that was just her.

  “He says it gives him heartburn,” Mac said.

  “Then don’t tell him. Besides, who cares about the hair? Get a load of their buff trainer,” Carly said.

  “I have to stop just to make sure they’re okay. What if this is some sort of crazy boot camp and they throw out a hip or something?”

  “No prob. I’m in no hurry to move back into my childhood bedroom.”

  Mac pulled into a parking spot on the edge of the green. As soon as she switched off the engine, Saul, who had been dead asleep, popped up in the backseat where he was wedged next to the strapped-in birdcage. He wagged his fluffy tail and gave Carly a soft woof.

  She shook her head at him. “We are only stopping for a minute. We just gave you a sniff and pee break a half hour ago; you can hold it.”

  Saul sank back down onto his seat and stared up at Carly. “No, I am not falling for the sad face. Don’t waste your time. I’m heartless, remember?”

  It was early October and while the days were becoming cooler, today was bright and sunny as the temperature hovered around seventy, making it one of the last gorgeous days Maine would see for a while. They rolled down the windows for the dog, and Carly opened the cover that had been on the birdcage so that the green parrot Ike could get some fresh air, too.

  Before leaving Brooklyn, Carly had inherited her next-door neighbor Mrs. Genaro’s small menagerie of pets. Since she was a commitment-phobic sort of person, this was just one more kick in the teeth in a year that had already been less than ideal. She’d lost her job, her apartment, and now she was moving home, with pets—truly, a bust of a year.

  “Behave,” Carly said.

  “Bite me,” Ike retorted.

  Mac snorted.

  “Now I know what it’s like to have a mouthy teenager on my hands,” Carly said.

  “So do I,” Mac agreed as she gestured to the aunts.

  She pocketed her keys as they left the pickup truck and strode over to where the aunts were standing amidst a group of seniors, receiving some sort of workout instruction from the bona fide hottie. At least, Carly decided, he was from the rear view.

  “Aunt Sarah, Aunt Charlotte, what are you doing?” Mac asked as she approached the group. She tried to sound casual like she wasn’t worried, but her gritted teeth gave her away.

  “Reverse fly,” Aunt Sarah said. She tossed her silver bob with the vibrant red streaks in it. The gesture said “Duh” clearer than words ever could.

  Carly stood beside her friend as she interrogated her aunts, who, to their credit, paid Mac no mind.

  Dressed in jogging suits like the rest of the class, the two feisty ladies each held small hand weights that they brought forward in front of them before moving their arms back out to the side.

  “Just look at the pecs on our teacher,” Aunt Charlotte said. Her wavy curls boasted streaks of purple, which Carly thought looked quite lovely amidst the silver. “His name is James Sinclair and he’s a physical therapist. He offers free classes to seniors to help keep us limber. Honestly, he can limber me up anytime.”

  “Aunt Charlotte!” Mac cried.

  “What? I’m old, not dead.”

  “And what did you do to your hair?” Mac cried. “I was gone three days! How am I going to explain this to Dad?”

  “Why would you?” Aunt Sarah said. “It’s not like you dyed our hair. It’s none of his business; besides, I’ve always wanted to play with the color and I think the red streaks are sexy, don’t you, James?”

  “Most definitely, Miss Sarah,” James called over his shoulder. His voice was low and deep. “I’ve always been partial to red.”

  He didn’t turn around to look at them as he was helping Mrs. Tillman with the grip on her hand weights.

  “See?” Sarah said. “Sexy. I’m going to look so badass on my motorcycle.”

  “Your what?” Mac cried.

  “Hogs, bikes, crotch rockets, get with the lingo, kid,” Charlotte chimed in. “After this class, we’re going to buy a couple.”

  “Over my dead body!” Mac said.

  She smacked her forehead with her hand and Carly had to look away so that she didn’t laugh out loud. The aunts had been putting Mac through her paces since she had moved back to Bluff Point a few months ago.

  Carly glanced over at this James guy to see how he was handling the interruption of his class. He seemed singularly Zen about it. Then he turned slightly and she caught sight of his profile. Wow, just wow. He was not just a stud from the back; his front was looking pretty promising as well. Her dormant sex drive rose to life like a sleeping dragon being poked by a sword-wielding knight. Huzzah!

  She glanced down at her baggy sweatshirt and jeans, remembered the do-rag she had tied on her head, oh, and she had no makeup on. Darn it! Who’d have thought she’d meet a man worthy of some effort in the first five minutes she was back in town?

  She watched James as he moved to help the Bluff Point postmaster Mr. Petrovski, who in contrast to him resembled a scrawny plucked chicken, with his reverse-fly posture. Carly had to agree with Aunt Charlotte. James’s pecs were drool-worthy, as were his muscle-hardened calves, tight behind, broad shoulders, not to mention his heroically handsome face, which sported the faintest amount of dark scruff that matched his unruly thick black hair, overall giving him the look of a very naughty pirate.

  Carly felt herself break into a light sweat despite the cool breeze. She wondered if she jumped into the class if he’d demonstrate the proper reverse-fly technique to her or, you know, just let her
lick his neck and bite his shoulders for a little while.

  As if sensing her stare, he turned his head and met her gaze. His blue gray eyes widened at the sight of her. Not a big surprise since she and Mac were easily forty years younger than any of his other students. But there was something in his look, like a flash of recognition followed by a blast of heat, that fueled the fire that was Carly’s libido and she gasped.

  “That’s right,” Mr. Petrovski said, mistakenly thinking her gasp was for him. He dropped his free weight on James’s foot and curled up his skinny arm in an attempt to bulge a muscle. “Feel these guns. Bet that makes you weak in the knees, Carly, am I right or am I right?”

  With a hiss of pain, James hopped back from Mr. Petrovski and tried to walk off the impact of the two-pound weight on his foot. He circled them, shaking out his foot as he walked. Carly wanted to ask if he was all right, but Mr. Petrovski was shoving his arm in her face, demanding her attention.

  “You are right, Mr. P.,” Carly said. She obliged him by poking his muscle, which was beginning to droop, with her index finger. “Wow, you are built like a brick house.”

  She glanced over his head to meet James’s gaze. He was staring at her with an intensity that made her insides spasm. Huh.

  She didn’t usually get this sort of reaction from a man when she was makeup-free and the girls were on lockdown. Either James was hard up or really, really liked the natural look. Never one to pass up an opportunity to flirt, she met his gaze, smiled at him, and then she winked, nice and slow. James’s jaw went slack in response.

  Carly wasn’t surprised. She gave really good wink and she wasn’t afraid to use it. She was about to push Mr. P. aside and make her move, but Mac destroyed the moment.

  “Carly, oh, my god, is that Ike?” Mac cried.

  Carly whipped her head in her friend’s direction and saw her pointing toward the pickup truck.

  “Holy crap!” Carly cried. Sure enough, Ike was perched on the half-rolled-down window as he surveyed the town green before him. “He must know how to open his cage!”