Puppy Love, Volumes 1 to 13

by C. Coal

  “I’m glad they did. That jerk deserves to get the book thrown at him. Can’t believe he thought he could just drive off after hitting her like that…”

  Jackson started crying loudly and the girl tossed him a treat. “Were we ignoring you?”

  Jackson swallowed the treat whole and looked to the girl for another one.

  Carrie shook her head. “By the way, any chance my mother had a frequent stay discount set up with you guys? I suspect Jackson’ll be coming here daily for the next couple weeks.”

  “I don’t know, but I’m sure the owner will arrange something for you. They’re real close.”

  “They are?” Carrie frowned. Was her mother dating? Already? Was that why she hadn’t mentioned the place?

  You’d think after thirty years of marriage maybe she could wait a bit longer before moving on.

  Carrie shoved the thought aside. She didn’t want to know. Not right now. She just needed Jackson to be somewhere safe so she could be with her mom. “Do you think someone can work on some basic commands with him while you’re at it? He’s got a digging problem.”

  “Yeah, certainly. Shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “Thanks.”

  The girl took her cell number down and had Jackson outside playing with the other dogs before Carrie was even out the front door. As she checked her email and saw that Dave had told her to take whatever time she needed, her job would be waiting when she got back, she started to think that maybe things were turning around just a bit.

  Finally.

  She pulled out of the parking lot, passing a turquoise truck with The Pampered Pooch’s logo on the side, an attractive man behind the wheel. On any other day she might’ve slowed down to get a better look, but she didn’t have time for that. Not now.

  She needed to get to the hospital and see how her mom was doing.

  * * *

  Carrie peeked around the curtain blocking the doorway into her mom’s room. With its pale pastel colors, she was sure her mother must hate it. Her mother was a woman of bright greens and blues and purples. There wasn’t a pastel hue to be seen in her house or on her clothes. A hospital was so not the place for her.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hey, Honey.” Her mother waved her forward with her right hand; her left was covered in snaking tubes. “How are you? How’s Jackson?”

  As Carrie stepped into the room the pressure cuff started to compress around her mom’s arm, sounding like a trash compactor. Her mother winced, but tried to ignore it.

  Carrie glanced at the display. 140/80. Not the best numbers. She took a seat on the chair next to the bed. “Good. I dropped him off at doggie day care.”

  “Doggie day care? Which one?”

  “The Pampered Pooch. They seemed to know him already. Said you and the owner were close friends.” She raised an eyebrow, waiting for her mother to tell her about this man she was seeing.

  Her mother licked her lips and nodded towards a plastic pitcher with a bendy straw on the nearby table. “Mind handing me that water.”

  “So who is he?” Carrie handed her the pitcher. “This owner that you’re so close to?”

  Her mother took a long sip, not meeting her eyes. Finally, she glanced at Carrie and away again, sighing. “Brian McCormick.”

  “Brian?” Carrie crossed her arms across her chest, suddenly furious. “You know he cheated on me, right?”

  Brian had been her first and only love. They’d dated for two years in high school before that night she’d caught him cheating on her. She’d refused to even speak to him after. There was nothing he could say to explain that away.

  “Honey, he’s a nice boy. You should really give him another chance.”

  “Give him another chance?” She rolled her eyes in disgust. “No.”

  Almost ten years later she still tensed up at the mere mention of his name. No way was she going to “give him another chance.” She glared at her mom. “So why didn’t you tell me about this before? I mean clearly you two have kept in touch. Jackson certainly knew all about the place.”

  Her mother handed her back the pitcher, wincing as the movement tugged at one of her IV lines. “You’d made it pretty clear you didn’t want to hear his name ever again. And I’ve respected that even though I think it’s petty and foolish.”

  “He cheated on me, Mom.”

  “So you say.”

  Carrie sank back in the chair, pinching the bridge of her nose. This is why she’d stayed away. Because her mother could never just leave well enough alone. And neither could anyone else in this town. Well, if she was lucky, she wouldn’t have to run into him, and that would be that. “So there’s another dog place around here? Somewhere else I can take Jackson?”

  “Carrie Anne. You are not going to take Jackson somewhere new. If you run into Brian, you’ll just have to deal with it like the grown woman you’re supposed to be.”

  Carrie glared out the window. “Why’d you even have to get a dog, Mom? I mean, honestly, we never had one when I was growing up. Why now?”

  Her mother sighed. “With you in the city and your dad gone I was lonely. And a puppy seemed like a better choice than dating Ken Grossman.”

  “Ken Grossman? Why would you date him?” She tried to picture her bright mother with drab, boring Ken Grossman, but couldn’t.

  “Because he asked.” Her mother glared her down. “I’ll have you know that some men find your old, decrepit mother attractive.”

  Carrie waved her hands in the air, trying to dispel that thought. “Can we please not talk about this? How are you? Did you get some rest?”

  Her mother snorted. “I’d like to meet the person who can sleep in a hospital. What with this thing going off every few minutes…” She raised the arm with the cuff which set it off again. “And the nurses coming in all the time to check my stats. And then, just when I’m about to nod off, they play a lullaby over the loud speakers. Honestly, how many children can be born in one small-town hospital in one night?”

  “Wonder if they play a dirge when someone, you know…”

  Her mother glared her down. “That is not funny, young lady.”

  Carrie winced. “Sorry. I’m not good at this kind of thing, you know.”

  “Neither am I.” Her mother leaned back into the pillow and closed her eyes. “I’m ready to go home.”

  Her mother tried to sit up a little straighter in the bed, but winced as she tried to adjust the pillow behind her back.

  Carrie sprang up immediately. “Here. Let me help.” She hovered by the side of the bed, not sure what to do.

  “No. I’ve got it.” Inch by inch her mother managed to scooch herself into position. “Although, actually, move this pillow for me will ya? It slipped a bit.”

  Gingerly, Carrie reached around the cords and machines and adjusted the pillow until it was exactly where her mother wanted it.

  “Good. Thank you. Now, go home.”

  “Mom!”

  “There’s no point sitting here with me. I’m not much company.”

  Carrie slumped back in the chair, feeling like she was sixteen again. “But I want to be here. With you. That’s why I dropped off Jackson.”

  “Honey…I hurt all over and the nurses and doctors keep coming in all the time and…”

  “Please, Mom. Let me stay.” She’d been at home when her dad died. She wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

  Her mother sighed. “Fine. Grab that remote and find us something worth watching.”

  * * *

  Carrie spent the next four hours watching Property Brothers reruns while her mother dozed off and on. They didn’t talk much but Carrie was glad to be there anyway, especially when the doctor came by to talk about next steps.

  Turned out when you shattered both your knee caps, bruised your spleen, fractured your ankle, and had a concussion, that it wasn’t something you just got over after a few days. He recommended three weeks at the local rehab center before her mother could go home.

&n
bsp; Three weeks. Carrie wondered just how willing Dave really was to hold her job for her. Didn’t matter. She’d stay however long she had to.

  As Carrie drove back to The Pampered Pooch to pick up Jackson, she wished there were somewhere else she could take him, but it was only the place nearby that looked even halfway decent. Not to mention how furious her mother would be if she found out.

  She pulled into the parking lot, trying to convince herself it would be fine. Brian was probably never there. Just a silent partner who picked up checks once a month.

  And if he was around he’d probably want to avoid her as much as she wanted to avoid him.

  But as she parked she saw that the truck from that morning was still there and realized that the attractive man she’d seen driving it could very well be Brian McCormick, all of his boyish good looks transformed into the handsomeness of a grown man.

  Great. Just what she needed.

  * * *

  Sure enough. Carrie stepped through the front door to find Brian standing behind the counter looking devastatingly handsome with the same blue eyes she remembered and a buff body she didn’t.

  No one else was around, just him.

  She tried to think of something witty to say, but every clever, cavalier comment fled her mind and she found herself staring at him, tongue-tied just like she’d been that first day she met him freshman year of high school. Two years older than her, with his dark hair and letterman’s jacket, he’d seemed perfect.

  And he had been.

  Until the night he broke her heart.

  He smiled at her, a smile that wrinkled the corners of his eyes and made them shine. “Carrie Clopper.” He came around the counter his arms thrown wide. “You look great.”

  Stunned, she let him pull her into a hug, but as soon as she felt his muscular arms wrap around her and all the memories flooded back of the two years they’d dated, she stiffened in his grip.

  He pulled away. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? I’m sorry if that…I just… It’s good to see you.”

  She chewed on her lip, not sure what to say or do. She’d always imagined him a couple hundred pounds heavier, sitting on a beat-up sofa in a trailer somewhere watching NASCAR in his underwear. She’d never imagined that he’d be more gorgeous than he’d been in high school.

  “I didn’t realize this was your place when I dropped Jackson off this morning. My mom told me.”

  He winced. “How’s she doing? I heard the accident was pretty bad.”

  Carrie crossed her arms. She didn’t want to talk to him about her mom or her dad or about anything. He’d once been the one she told everything to, the one who held her when she cried and listened to her silly dreams. The one she’d thought…

  “She’s fine.” She looked away, unable to stand the concerned look in his eyes. “I mean, she’s not fine. The accident did a lot of damage and she’ll probably be in a care facility for a few weeks before they let her come home and then she’ll still need a lot of care for a couple weeks after that. But, you know, she’ll make it through. We Clopper women always do.”

  She glared him down, daring him to keep being nice to her.

  He looked like he wanted to say more, but nodded instead. “I’m glad to hear that. She’s always been really nice to me.”

  Carrie rolled her eyes, furious to think that her mother had been being nice to him all these years behind her back. “Where’s Jackson? It’s been a long day. I’d like to get home.”

  “I’ll get him for you. Be right back.”

  Carrie paced the reception area while she waited for them to return. It wasn’t fair that Brian McCormick could still get to her so easily after all these years. He should be fat and bald and ugly.

  And mean.

  But he wasn’t.

  Brian led Jackson into the reception area, the pup walking sedately at his side, not pulling on the leash in the slightest.

  “How did you do that?” Carrie asked as Jackson sat down calmly at Brian’s side.

  “What?”

  “Get him to walk next to you like that? And sit there without crying or being crazy.”

  “Oh, that. We’ve been working on it for a couple weeks now. You just have to know the right words to say.” He winked at her. “I’m the local version of the Dog Whisperer.”

  “Which means as soon as you hand that leash over to me, Jackson is going to revert to his normal, crazy self.” She sighed, the brief dream of a peaceful night at home disappearing.

  “I could walk you through the commands I’ve taught him. It’d be good for him to start working with someone else and since you’re going to be taking care of him for the next few weeks...”

  Carrie wanted to say no. The last thing she needed was to spend another moment around Brian. But it would be nice to have a better behaved pup around the house. Also, she wanted Jackson in tip-top shape before her mother came home. She couldn’t risk having him trip her up.

  “Okay. That’d be nice. Thank you.”

  They spent the next half hour with Carrie walking Jackson around the reception area, using commands and treats to get him to walk calmly by her side or sit at attention. The Look at Me command was such a wonderful thing that she actually did a little dance when he obeyed it. To think that she could just hold a treat near her nose and Jackson would sit calmly and look at her! It was wonderful.

  And as much as she hated to admit it, spending the time with Brian was pretty darned wonderful, too.

  She didn’t ask him about his life. She didn’t want to know. And the few times he tried to ask about hers, she blew him off.

  But still. Being around him reminded her why she’d liked him so much before. Because he wasn’t just attractive. He was kind and intelligent and patient and funny and…

  And each time her eyes met his she looked away, reminding herself that this was the man who had broken her heart. The man who had cheated on her even though he knew how much she loved him.

  He might seem wonderful now, but she knew the truth.

  And she had to remember it.

  Because with her father dead just over a year and her mother in the hospital with serious injuries, she was far too vulnerable to let herself get conned by him again.

  * * *

  Finally, it was time to leave. As Jackson sat calmly by her side, Carrie reached for her wallet. “What do I owe you?”

  “Nothing.”

  “What? No. I have to pay you something. You watched Jackson for me all day. And trained him. And helped me learn the commands you’d taught him. Seriously. What do I owe you?”

  He leaned against the counter, arms crossed across his muscled chest. “I told you, nothing.”

  “Give me a price or I’ll use the $75 day rate you list on your website.”

  He rubbed at his face and opened his mouth as if to argue but then shook his head. “Fine. Ten dollars.”

  “Ten dollars? That’s not enough.”

  He stared her down. “If you don’t want to accept the discount for you, accept it because of your mother. He’s her dog, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And he needs to be trained up before she goes home so he isn’t a danger to her or himself?”

  “Yeah.”

  He shrugged. “Well, there you have it. I’ll write his boarding and training off as a favor to your mother. But if you feel you have to pay something, I won’t accept more than ten dollars a day.”

  “And if I give you twenty?”

  He grinned at her. “I’ll credit it towards tomorrow.”

  She bit her lip. “If there were another place in town I could take him…”

  “You would. But there isn’t.” He leaned down and scratched Jackson’s ears. “See you tomorrow, Jackson.” He winked at her. “And you, too, Carrie. Leave whatever you decide to pay on the counter.”

  Casually, he strolled into the back, leaving her alone in the reception area with Jackson and too many emotions to even consider.

  * * *
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br />   Carrie fumed all the way home, but it was hard to stay angry when she had a sleeping puppy snuggled up next to her. One who actually listened to her when they got home and was so tuckered out from his day that he went straight to his kennel and passed out.

  Jackson was snoring within moments.

  Carrie wasn’t far behind him. She’d thought she’d stay up half the night replaying every word and action of Brian’s, but she was too exhausted to do more than wonder why he was being so nice to her.

  She’d always figured that as men aged they just grew more into who they really were. So why did Brian seem like a genuinely nice man? How was that possible? How had a liar and cheat turned out like that?

  Maybe he was just a complete psychopath who hid his real self behind a veneer of kindness?

  That had to be it. It was the only thing that made sense.

  * * *

  Things continued that way for the next week with Carrie dropping off Jackson with Heather in the morning, spending the day with her mother—who was finally moved to the rehab center—and then working with Brian and Jackson at night.

  Slowly, bit by bit, she learned about Brian’s life since she’d left.

  She knew he’d left town shortly after that night by the lake but not where he’d gone. Turns out he’d ended up in Colorado working with various veterinary practices and doggie day cares, taking night classes from the local community college, figuring he might one day become a vet.

  Unfortunately, his father had gotten sick the year after Carrie graduated and left town and Brian had moved back home to help with the farm.

  When his dad died two years later, Brian knew his dream of being a vet was never going to happen. At least not anytime soon. His mother couldn’t take care of herself and she certainly couldn’t take care of the three-year-old boy his sister had left behind when she ran off with some deadbeat she’d met while on a bender.

  So Brian had stayed.

  He’d convinced his mother to sell off the farm—she’d never had a passion for farming and he certainly didn’t—and they’d moved into the city, using part of the profits to start the place.