Welcome To Redemption: Series Collection (Books 1-6)
Page 49
Now that Charlie and Dana’s truck was out of sight, Allie unclipped Sugar’s leash and the dog bounded around in the deep snow. Allie let her play a few minutes before calling her into the garage to go inside. Sugar was halfway to the door when Allie heard a sneeze and a weak, scratchy meow. The Great Dane whirled around and headed straight for Allie’s car. She circled around the back end and started sniffing the right front wheel of the Bug, whining with excitement.
A double sneeze from the car prompted Sugar to shove her nose inside the wheel well. As Allie rounded the front, Sugar leapt back with a yip, shaking her head.
Allie cocked her head with a grin. “Let me have a look, then, before you scare the poor thing to death.”
She pushed the big dog out of her way and crouched down to peer into the gloom under her car. There, perched on the wheel, sat a tiny white-ish kitten with a single darker spot of gray on its head. The little animal would’ve been fluffy if it hadn’t been so scraggly and dirty.
“Aw, where’d you come from, sweetie?”
The kitten let out a pitiful meow, clawing the tire as Allie lifted it into her arms. Sugar danced beside her all the way into the house, then shadowed the cardboard box Allie dug from her closet to line with a thick, fluffy towel. A quick check determined the kitten was female, and Allie settled the skinny little feline into her new bed. When the poor thing continued to sneeze and wheeze, Allie decided to give Dana a quick call before she and Charlie reached the restaurant.
Dana’s suggestion was the last thing Allie wanted to hear.
“Can’t you just look at her when you get back from dinner?” Allie protested.
“If she’s as sick as you say, the sooner she gets started on antibiotics the better. Rick is on call all weekend, so he should be home.”
“I really don’t want to bother him,” Allie muttered.
“It’s his job, Allie—he won’t mind if you bring her by. But if it’s a problem, I could ask Charlie to turn around.”
Allie heard Dana’s smile. Her cousin was a match-making, fool-in-love traitor—but she didn’t know the true reason Allie avoided Rick, either.
So she made a face at Sugar and said to Dana, “No, of course not, I’ll take her in. Enjoy your evening.”
At least someone should.
Riding in the back of Allie’s red Bug, Sugar kept her head over the box in the front passenger seat. Allie could tell she didn’t intend to hurt the kitten. Just nosed her every few minutes and jerked her head up when it hissed and swiped its tiny claws at her nose. Allie grinned; sure was a plucky little scrapper. After parking behind the veterinary clinic, she walked up to Rick’s back door with Sugar glued to her side.
Her first knock triggered the sound of little running footsteps inside, but no one came to the door. Glancing at Sugar, Allie gave it a minute, then knocked again. Finally, the curtain moved, providing her a half-second glimpse of Rick’s dark hair before the door swung open.
Chapter 4
“Hi,” he greeted with quiet surprise.
“Hey.” Allie skimmed her gaze over Rick’s black tee shirt and stubble-covered jaw before meeting the question in his eyes.
Instantly, the kiss from last night washed over her, and she dropped her gaze to his lips. Now that she’d gotten a taste, she wanted more. Another reason to stay away from the man. Forcing her attention away from temptation, she realized he looked like he’d just climbed out of bed.
“I’m sorry, were you sleeping?”
He gave a sheepish grin and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “No big deal. I was taking a nap on the couch because Lukas wore me out sledding this afternoon.”
A combination meow-sneeze sounded from the box she’d forgotten in her arms.
After a quick glance down, Rick stepped aside and swung the door wider for her and Sugar to enter. “Please, come in. Obviously, you’re here for a reason.”
Allie hesitated when she saw Lukas’s dark little head peeking around the kitchen island. She took a deep breath and urged her feet toward the table to set the box down.
“Sugar found her in the garage.”
Rick came to stand beside her and lifted the kitten from the box. Allie noticed Lukas hugging Sugar, who enthusiastically licked the boy’s entire face. His delighted giggle tightened the bands already constricting her chest.
She shouldn’t let it bother her. And usually it didn’t with other children—but the first time she’d seen him had been right after she’d left the doctor’s office, so now she had that negative association and couldn’t shake the painful reminder.
She forced her attention back to Rick and the kitten. He cuddled the tiny wheezing cat against his broad chest with one hand while examining it with the other.
“Good thing you brought her in. We’ll get her started on some Amoxicillin right away.”
Lukas walked over and tugged on Rick’s black sweatpants. “Can I see her, Dad?”
“Sure.” He knelt and let Lukas pet the kitten. Lukas had to battle Sugar for space in front of Rick. The kitten spit and hissed, swiping a paw at Sugar’s twitching nose. Just as Allie stepped forward to catch her collar, Rick lifted Lukas with one arm and set him on the island counter. Sugar moved to sit off to the side, staring longingly when Rick placed the kitten on his son’s small lap.
“Help us out here, buddy. Can you hold her while I go get some medicine to make her better?”
Lukas nodded solemnly, and Allie watched with a sense of panic as Rick strode from the room.
“You’re the Dog Lady, ain’t you?”
After a deep breath, she tucked her hair behind her ear, tugged her jacket edges together, and faced Lukas. “The Dog Lady?
“The one who walks all the dogs.”
She smiled. “Yeah, that’s me. It’s my job to take care of them. Kind of like a daycare for dogs.”
“I don’t go to daycare. I have pre-school, and then my grandma takes care of me.”
“You’re lucky.”
“Grandma’s the best.”
His grin suffocated her a little more. Boy, it was hot in their kitchen.
“I know who all the dogs are,” Lukas said.
Allie breathed, opened her jacket again, and propped her hip against the counter. “You do?”
He nodded as he petted the kitten. “Dad’s their doctor. There’s Bennie—he’s the hound dog, and Copper and Cricket are the wiener dogs, and Gus is the Lab-a-dor, and…” He paused, a wrinkle of concentration creasing his little forehead. Allie fought a smile, until finally, he exclaimed, “Lady’s the Spring dog!”
“English Springer Spaniel. Wow, I’m impressed that you remember all their names.”
“Dad says I’m real smart,” he boasted, puffing up his little chest. “I’m gonna be a doctor just like him.”
Unexpected tears flooded her eyes. This was harder than she thought. Allie turned away, only to face Rick in the doorway. His concerned gaze shifted between her and Lukas, and back again.
“What’s the matter?”
Feeling like an idiot, Allie wiped her eyes. “Nothing.”
“Allie—”
She shook her head. “Forget it.” The kitten sneezed. “Take care of her.”
“What’s her name?” Lukas asked, oblivious to the undercurrent of tension in the room.
Allie sniffed, finally feeling more in control. “I don’t know if she has one. I just found her tonight.”
“You should call her Gray Spot,” Lukas announced.
Allie couldn’t help but laugh, and Rick chuckled, too, while smoothing a finger over the gray tuft of hair on the kitten’s head. “I bet Allie’s looking for something a little more original.”
“Oh, I’m not keeping her.”
Two pairs of brown eyes focused on her.
“You don’t want her?” Lukas asked.
“I don’t know if the dogs would be nice to her,” she explained gently.
“You know,” Rick said to Allie as he took the kitten back
from Lukas and helped him off the counter. “I bet you could get them used to her slowly without much trouble.”
Maybe, but—
A loud buzz on the counter next to her made her jump. Rick glanced toward the pager. “What’s the number?”
She cocked her head to read it. “Dana’s cell.”
Her nosey, matchmaking cousin was probably calling to check if she’d brought the kitten in or chickened out. Using Rick’s pager kept her anonymous.
“You want to see what’s up while I finish with Gray Spot?” Rick asked.
“Sure.” Allie grinned and reached for the phone. That would teach her.
Dana answered on the fourth ring. “Rick? There’s been a bad accident out here on Highway 141. I need—”
Alarm shot through Allie. “Dana, it’s Allie! Are you okay? What happened?”
“We’re fine, but I—” Dana’s words became muffled as she shouted something over the crazy level of noise and Allie waited impatiently for her to speak into the phone again. “Allie, it’s bad. A trailer of horses was hit by a semi. I need Rick’s help!”
Allie recognized the panicked neigh of a horse in the background.
“Hold on, he’s right here.”
She handed him the phone, and faintly heard Dana explaining the situation. Allie snuck glances at his grim expression. She’d never heard Dana so frazzled. Rick gave Dana some instructions, then added, “I’ll be there as soon as I can, but my mom’s out of town so I’ve gotta find a sitter for Lukas first.”
He hung up and pulled an address book out of a drawer. As he paged through the listings with the phone in his hand, Allie’s heart pounded. It was the last thing she wanted to do, but she couldn’t get the sound of that poor horse out of her head.
Reaching over, she took the receiver from Rick’s hand. “I can stay with Lukas.”
He lifted a brow and hesitated a moment too long for her comfort. “I don’t know how long I’ll be. You’re sure?”
No.
“Of course. Go.” She took off her jacket and hung it on the back of the kitchen chair to her right.
“I wanna come with you, Dad.”
Rick looked down at Lukas. “Not this time, bud.” He squatted down to his son’s eye-level. “I’m not going to a farm where you can play while I work. There was an accident on the highway and it’s too dangerous for you.”
“Like Mommy?”
The tears in Lukas’ eyes broke Allie’s heart. Rick’s, too, if the identical sheen of moisture in his brown eyes were any indication. When he’d moved back to Redemption with his son two years ago, she’d heard about his wife having been killed in the car accident that the little boy survived.
Allie sat on the chair she’d hung her coat and lifted the kitten onto her lap. “Lukas, I’d really like it if you could stay here and help me. I’m not sure what else to do to take care of Gray Spot. Since you’re going to be a doctor like your dad, I bet you know what to do.”
Lukas looked from his dad to the kitten. Slowly he moved over next to Allie. “Are you really going to name her Gray Spot?” he asked with wide eyes.
Allie made a quick decision. “I’ll call her Spot for short. What do you think?”
“That’s okay.” He turned back to Rick and leaned forward, cupping his hands to whisper in his ear. Rick whispered back. Lukas nodded seriously before looking at Allie. “I can show you what to do.”
Rick mouthed “Thank you,” over his son’s head as he stood. It only took him a few minutes to get his medical bag and don a flannel-lined set of coveralls. As he pulled on a black knit cap before heading out, Allie set Spot in her box and told Rick to let Dana and Charlie know she’d keep Sugar until after they were done with work the next day.
The moment the door closed behind him, an unexpected jolt of alarm hit hard. She yanked open the door and was half over the threshold before physically checking her overwhelming concern.
“Rick?” When he paused and turned, she couldn’t have avoided his direct gaze for nothing. “The fog is really thick—be careful.”
He gave her a quick, serious smile and a nod that felt more personal than simple reassurance. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Chapter 5
Allie quietly closed the door, took a deep breath, and faced Lukas. He’d climbed up to sit on the table next to Spot’s box, and Sugar sat in front of them. It hit Allie that with his dad gone, the little boy suddenly appeared shy. Probably best if she kept them both busy. Her stomach rumbled and she remembered Rick had been napping when she showed up at his back door.
“Did you and your dad eat dinner?”
Still staring into the box, Lukas shook his head no. Allie headed for the refrigerator with a glance at the clock. Five-thirty. “Let’s see what your dad’s got in here,” she said to fill the silence.
After taking inventory in the fridge and pantry, she determined Rick had enough ingredients for a homemade meal and decided to skip the processed food in his freezer. A bag of chocolate chips gave her another idea and she tossed them on the counter, too.
“How about chicken pot pie?” she asked.
Lukas sat up a little straighter, his gaze moving over the items she’d set out. “I like pie. Apple’s my favorite.”
Allie smiled. “Mine too, but chicken pot pie is more of a dinner.”
“Oh.”
“How’s Spot doing?”
“Sleeping.”
Even at four, he gave the typical male one word answers. Allie was about to bring up the dogs again when Lukas slid down off the table and climbed up onto one of the chairs by the island counter.
“Those are my dad’s.”
She looked up from measuring out the flour for the pie crust to see his little finger pointing to the chocolate chips.
“I don’t think he’ll mind, Lukas. I thought we’d make cookies.”
His eyes lit up as if she’d said a magic word. “I help Grandma make cookies all the time.”
“Then you must be an expert.”
His eyebrows knit together. “What’s that?”
“It means you’re really good at it.”
“I am!”
Allie laughed. “Good, because I never have anyone to help me make cookies.”
The moment the words were out, Allie’s throat closed up and tears filled her eyes. By the time she blinked them away, Lukas had dragged his chair around to her side of the counter and climbed back up to stand by her side.
“I’ll help you.”
The tears flooded back and Allie literally felt her heart expand. She asked him to dump the flour into the mixing bowl and wiped the moisture from her eyes without him noticing. Once they had everything mixed and ready for the crust, she said without much hope, “Any chance your dad has a rolling pin?”
To her surprise, Lukas jumped down and ran from the kitchen. He returned with a dough roller Allie had seen at a home party for gourmet cooking supplies. Short flat roller on one side of a handle, and smaller curved roller on the other end for rolling dough into a pie pan.
“That’s exactly what we need, Lukas.”
“Grandma brought it over for cookies and it works great for Playdough, too.”
Ah, ha. Explained the dried bits of red, green, blue and yellow stuck to the rollers. When Lukas prepared to flatten the pie crust, Allie quickly suggested, “How about we wash it first? Or else we’ll end up with a rainbow crust.”
“Cool.”
Allie compromised with some food coloring drops across the top crust. They turned an unappetizing color to her, but Lukas was happy. In the forty-five minutes it took to bake the pot pie, they started mixing up the chocolate chip cookie dough.
Lukas helped her with the dry ingredients, then she moved on to the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract. Before adding the eggs, she opened the bag of chocolate chips and gave Lukas a measuring cup and a bowl. “This is a half of a cup. Think you can fill it four times so we have two cups of chips in the bowl?”
Lukas looked up in time to see her toss it into her mouth. “Can I have one?”
“Sure.”
She tossed the egg shell into the sink with the garbage disposal and turned back to crack another egg. Lukas reached for one of the wayward chips. When he pulled his arm back, his elbow knocked the whole bag of chocolate chips off the counter.
The dull thump of the bag was instantly followed by the scramble of Great Dane toenails on the floor. Allie quickly bent to rescue the chips as Sugar rounded the island corner, but a few spilled out when she straightened.
Sugar dove. Her front paws slid and she slammed into Allie. Allie grabbed for the counter on her way down but caught the edge of the large plastic mixing bowl instead. It flipped off the counter. She landed on her butt. The bowl landed on her head.
As egg whites, broken yolk and sugar-creamed butter dripped down her face and plopped onto her shoulders, muffled giggles were amplified by the bowl. Then Sugar’s big head knocked the bowl behind Allie and her tongue swiped across Allie’s left cheek.
She caught sight of Lukas kneeling on the chair, eyes crinkled with mirth as he held his hands clapped over his mouth. Allie found herself grinning.
“This ever happen to your Grandma?”
Another giggle broke free. “No.”
“Well, don’t tell anyone, okay?”
All he did was laugh some more as she fought Sugar off to get to her feet. Her hair hung in buttery strings next to her face, her shirt was soaked, and some of the butter mixture had even slid down underneath the v-neck of her tee shirt into her bra. Yech.
“Maybe just stay there while I clean this mess up,” she suggested to Lukas.
“Sugar’s almost done.”
Allie turned around to see Sugar swiping the floor clean with her tongue. Allie groaned and prayed Sugar wouldn’t get sick from all the butter and sugar. The Great Dane lifted her head and began licking Allie where ever she could reach. The timer went off for the chicken pot pie.