Brigid put down the knife. “Really? Are you sure?”
“You’re going to be here all the time anyway for the dogs. And most of the time it’s just sitting there being an expensive paperweight.”
“I don’t know what to say. That’s incredibly generous of you.”
“If you do this nonprofit thing, you need to get used to the idea that people are going to do nice things because they support what you’re doing to help the dogs.” He stopped stirring and paused to taste the soup. “Hey, not bad. That froze better than I thought it would.”
“I guess you’re right. It’s all about the dogs, not me.”
Clay poured the soup into bowls. “Well, yes and no. It helps if people like you. If you were mean and nasty, I wouldn’t let you near my computer. But here you are, making sure that I’m not about to die, which is thoughtful and kind-hearted.”
“Well you are feeding me, which I appreciate.” Brigid set the salad bowl on the table and set out some plates. “Thanks for helping me think this through. I have felt like my brain has been tied up in knots all day.”
Clay sat down and moaned as he reached for the salad. “Look at the bright side. At least you didn’t spend your day rolling in horse manure to avoid getting kicked in the head like I did.”
Brigid laughed as she sat down next to him. “The worst part is that I know you mean that literally.” She reached over and tentatively touched the back of his hand. “Are you sure you’re okay? I’m still worried about you.”
He turned his hand upward to clasp hers. “That’s sweet, but I’ll be fine. I’m still fast enough to get out of the way.”
“You’re not just saying that are you?”
“No, I’m not. But I think I may hang up my anvil. Shoeing is something I can do, but it feels like it’s time for me to be done with it. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you have to. I like training better, and I have more control over the environment.”
“That does sound safer anyway. Either that or you need to hire your own stunt man.” Brigid looked into his eyes and gave his hand a squeeze. “You’re not indestructible, you know.”
“Actually, I break more easily than you might think.” He pulled her hand to his chest, drawing her closer to him, the clean scent of whatever shampoo or soap he used drifting in the air between them.
Brigid’s eyes widened and her heart beat faster. The golden flecks in his eyes sparkled in the lamp light with an unmistakable look. She knew what that look meant and part of her wanted to jump out of the chair and run screaming from the room. But as he slowly and tenderly moved toward her, she focused instead on his kindness and set her fears aside. Closing her eyes, she let him kiss her. All the tension in her body evaporated and she let herself enjoy the feel of his warm lips and the slow caress of his hand as he moved to put his arm around her.
He released his hold, looked into her eyes, and whispered, “You’re okay, right?”
Brigid traced the scar on his chin with her fingertip. “Yes, I am. Thanks for asking.”
“Just checking. Because I might want to do that again.”
“Okay. I might like that.”
They sat holding hands and quietly ate their soup. Although eating one-handed was a little tricky, Brigid hadn’t held anyone’s hand in a long time, and the warmth of Clay’s hand in hers was comforting. The skin on his palm was rough and calloused, but the contact was calming, as if he could sense how nervous she was. He glanced at her, “You haven’t run away yet, so that’s promising.”
She put down her spoon. How did he do that? Were her thoughts that obvious? “This soup is delicious. Do you have the recipe?”
“Nope. I made it up. It was one of those clean-out-the-refrigerator soups. I have no idea what I did.” He pointed the spoon toward the bowl. “It’s unique like a snowflake.”
“A melted one.”
“Very funny.” He let go of her hand and winced as he got up to carry his dishes over to the sink.
Brigid quickly gobbled down her last few bites of salad and got up to help. “I can clean up.”
“Since I feel like I’ve been run over, I’m not going to argue that point. Just chuck it all in the dishwasher. It’s nowhere near full. I’ll run it sooner or later.”
Brigid put her bowl in the sink and turned to face him. “If you won’t see a doctor, you should at least go lie down and get some rest.”
“I hate to admit it, but that sounds like a fine idea.” He moved closer to her, so they were practically touching. “You know how I warned you that I might want to kiss you again?”
She looked up into his eyes. “Yes.”
“I’m thinking I might want to do that now.”
“Okay.”
Clay wrapped her in his arms and bent his head to kiss her as Brigid stood on her tip toes and put her arms around his neck. Unlike the first soft tender kiss, this time his lips were hungry and passionate on hers.
As the kiss became more intense, Brigid was suffused with sensations she hadn’t experienced in an extremely long time, which was both electrifying and alarming. Crazed hormones took over and it was like her body had completely disconnected from her brain. Hadn’t she just vowed to be done with men? What was she doing?
She pushed Clay away from her and took a deep breath trying to slow the hammering of her heart in her chest. “Wow. Um. That was…just...wow.”
“I hope that’s good.” He scanned her face, his brow furrowed in concern. “You’re not upset are you? Please don’t be.”
“No. I just haven’t. I mean, well, it’s been a while and I guess I forgot how that, well…that was just a lot of feelings all at once.”
“The feelings aren’t bad, are they?”
“No. Well, yes sometimes. I guess I got scared.”
Clay put his hand on her neck and caressed her cheek with his thumb. “I don’t know exactly what happened to you before, but I want you to know I won’t ever hurt you. I promise. Just tell me if what I’m doing upsets you, okay?”
“Okay. I’m afraid you might be finding out more about me than you ever wanted to know.”
“Hey, I like finding out because I like you.” He took her hand in his and grinned. “And don’t talk to me about wanting, honey. You might have noticed I’m sorely attracted to you. Kissing those luscious lips of yours only made it worse. But I’m a patient man and I understand that everyone has a past.”
“Sorry I’m a little messed up.”
“We’re all messed up in our own ways. Heaven knows I am.” He wrapped his arms around her again and gave her a gentle heart-melting kiss. “I’m gonna go to bed now. I’ll see you in the morning. You drive safe, okay?”
After he left, Brigid cleaned up the kitchen, slowly and methodically hand-washing the dishes while she tried to sort out her tangled emotions. On the one hand, she could easily see herself falling hard for Clay. He was compassionate and funny, and the attraction definitely wasn’t one-sided. She couldn’t deny it anymore. He was utterly sexy, and the fact that he obviously found her attractive made him even more enticing. Part of her wanted to forget about everything and everyone else, jump into bed with him, and find out exactly how good it would be. If the way he kissed her was any indication, the answer was likely very, very good. But she’d been down that road before and it ended in disaster.
Following her heart, or more accurately, her raging hormones, had certainly not served Brigid well in the past. What happened with John was ample evidence of that. When they were first married, no one could have convinced Brigid that she wouldn’t enjoy the adventure of military life. She was head-over-heels in love and wanted excitement—traveling and seeing new parts of the country and the world.
When they had first met, John had taken her to a military gala and as he swirled her around the dance floor, Brigid’s long formal gown had flown out around her. She felt like Ginger Rogers, beautiful and glamorous. And of course, Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman had nothing on John in unifor
m. He was the most gorgeous man she’d ever met, and when he took her to watch ships pull into port, with sailors standing at attention around the perimeter, Brigid’s heart had swelled with patriotism and love for her country. Then when she’d attended John’s best friend’s military wedding, she’d cried like everyone else. With all the pomp and ceremony, there wasn’t a dry eye in the church.
But no one ever talked about what happened to Deborah Winger after Richard Gere carried her out of the dreary factory at the end of the movie. In the beginning of Brigid’s marriage, she spent a lot of time trying to keep her sense of humor and making the best of everything. Determined to be the best Army wife in the history of the military, she made every effort to look like she had everything under control. But her stress level increased when she couldn’t reach John for weeks. It wasn’t very romantic to be stuck in some town in the middle of nowhere all alone during a blizzard. There had been many lonely and depressing experiences like that one. And then when she finally did see John, all he wanted to do was “let off some steam.” Over time, his drinking increased to the point that he started blacking out. Half the time he didn’t even remember the fights they had. How were you supposed to work out marital issues when your spouse didn’t remember what you were arguing about?
The stupidest part was that almost right up to the end, they kept trying to make the marriage work. Both of them were nothing if not stubborn. Neither one of them would concede defeat. Even with all their problems, they’d been determined to stick it out because they believed that tired old quote from Vince Lombardi that “winners never quit.” They’d doggedly argued their way through basic training, deployments, countless moves, new jobs, and just plain starting over again and again. Unfortunately, a marriage wasn’t a football game and the process of setting up a new life in a new location and trying to make new friends repeatedly wore them both down.
Then John went and got himself killed. Of course, John didn’t die before writing a vicious letter filled with words that would live in infamy. That awful “Dear Jane” letter crossed in the mail with her own “Dear John” letter. When she was writing it, scrawling all those furious epithets, she’d grimaced at the irony that his name was actually John. Then after he died, the letter she’d written was returned.
Although John never got the letter, in the end, it didn’t really matter anyway. Ultimately, the stress and distance was just too much for their marriage to handle. Before he died, John apparently had enough time to change the beneficiary on his military life insurance policy back to his mother, so in a way, he got the last word, after all.
Brigid also had gained a complete understanding of exactly how angry she could get at another human being. She had never experienced such intense fury with anyone else. And she absolutely never wanted to go through that again for any reason.
Brigid shook her head in exasperation. She was such an idiot. The whole reason she was in Alpine Grove was to start over. Had she learned absolutely nothing from her marriage? Getting involved with Clay was doomed to disaster. She should never have let him kiss her. Why on earth was she doing this? And yet, she couldn’t seem to resist his quiet, oddly peaceful way of looking at the world. For a guy who had spent his time doing idiotic death-defying stunts and working with huge, potentially dangerous animals, he was strangely introspective. Against her better judgment, she found him intriguing and easy to talk to. For reasons she didn’t understand, she was constantly blurting out things that she’d never said to anyone else. Why did she feel compelled to confide in him?
She looked around the cozy old kitchen. It didn’t help that she was coming out here every day. If she could find some foster homes, she could move the dogs away from here. It would be better for them to stay in homes with their own families, and maybe she’d make some new friends in the bargain. The last thing she needed was to complicate her life with another difficult man who would end up making a whole lot of demands on her time. She had more than enough to do. Too much, in fact. Tomorrow, she’d work on calling volunteers. And finally make those flyers.
If Clay happened to be around, she needed to try to avoid letting herself revert into a lust-obsessed fool again, and tell him to back off. She had far too many other things to deal with right now. They’d be far better off as friends than as lovers. He already knew that she’d completely botched her marriage. If he were smart, he’d understand that it would be much better for both of them if they didn’t cross the line from being friends into any type of physical relationship again.
Brigid dried and put away the last dish and carefully placed the spoons in the silverware drawer, straightening it up a little so the forks, knives, and spoons were organized into tidy stacks with the handles all lined up precisely.
Satisfied that she’d cleaned up as much as she could, she walked through the house and out the door, closing it behind her. Time to go home. Gypsy was probably wondering where her dinner was by now. Good thing dogs were a lot more forgiving than people.
Chapter 5
Nugget & the Arabian
The next morning, Brigid went through the routine of feeding Gypsy, walking Nugget at the police station, and heading out to the ranch to tend to Judge. This was Nugget’s last day at the station, since no one had come looking for him. It was looking like he’d be going with her to the ranch the next day. Brigid was upset about the pretty greyhound, who was clearly sad and confused. He probably wondered where his people had gone. The only good news was that no more dogs had come in overnight.
Brigid called Tracy at the vet clinic and was happy to learn that the sheltie and her five new puppies were all doing fine. They’d named the sheltie Shelby after a friend of Tracy’s who lived in Los Angeles, but they hadn’t named the puppies yet, since they were tiny and almost impossible to tell apart.
While she had Tracy on the phone, Brigid also made an appointment for Judge to get another dip, since she didn’t see a way to do it at the ranch. With everything else that had happened, she’d forgotten to ask Clay about that and also about bringing Gypsy with her to the ranch. She had put a notebook in her bag so she could write down all the things she needed to remember to do, so she wouldn’t forget something important.
When she arrived at the ranch, everything was quiet and she went into the barn and got Judge ready for his walk. As usual, he was delighted to see her and thrilled about his outing. What a sweet dog. Some family was going to be very lucky when they adopted him.
She and Judge slowly meandered along the driveway, enjoying the pretty weather. A storm front was supposed to move in, but for the moment, it was a gorgeous day. The horses were out grazing in their pasture and the grasses were bending gracefully in the light breeze. Occasionally a horse would swish its tail or a bird would swoop by, but nothing else disturbed the tranquility of the scene. Brigid took a deep breath and gazed out over the meadow while Judge fixated on a particularly exciting aroma below. Even though it was kind of a pain to drive out to the ranch every day, it was easy to enjoy being here once she arrived.
They returned to the barn and Brigid put Judge back in his kennel. He hopped up on his platform bed and wagged his tail a few times before settling in on his blanket. Brigid walked back out into the sunlight as a red minivan cruised up the driveway, kicking up a plume of dust behind it. The woman behind the wheel was wearing sunglasses, and her long thick light-brown hair flew around her as she zoomed by and parked up near the house next to Brigid’s car. Apparently Clay had company. Maybe Brigid wasn’t the only woman visiting the ranch. She felt a little stupid realizing that the thought had never even occurred to her that other women might stop by to see Clay. Duh. He’d lived here forever and as she well knew, he certainly wasn’t unattractive. The guy probably had no shortage of female companionship.
Brigid wasn’t sure what to do. This could be awkward. She stepped back next to the barn as the woman got out and started up the steps. With the boots she was wearing, the woman was probably seven or eight inches taller than Brigid,
with the type of willowy build short women could only dream about. Women like that never had problems finding jeans that actually fit. And hers certainly did.
Clay opened the front door wearing a tattered white terrycloth bathrobe and clutching a cup of coffee. His feet were bare and he grinned at the woman who stopped in front of him. She took off her sunglasses, grabbed his shoulders, and gave him a shake before wrapping her arms around him in a massive hug. He held out the coffee in an effort to avoid dumping it all over her and returned the hug, obviously glad to see her.
Brigid wasn’t sure what to make of this little reunion. She had planned to go inside to use the computer, but that was before she discovered she’d be interrupting Clay’s rendezvous with Ms. Tall Huggy Woman. Fine. Brigid could just go home and figure out how to buy a computer of her own. Maybe she could set that eager librarian on a new research project to find a super-cheap computer that wouldn’t skyrocket her credit card over its limit.
As Brigid walked up the driveway toward her car, Clay noticed her and waved. “Hey Brigid. Come on inside.”
The tall woman turned to look at Brigid and smiled. She seemed somewhat familiar. Maybe she’d been at the bar. Was she one of the waitresses?
As Brigid approached, she realized that although the woman had fantastic hair, it might be a really good dye job because she was a lot older than Brigid had thought initially. The tiny wrinkles around her eyes indicated that like many women over a certain age, she hadn’t embraced the virtues of sunscreen until later in life.
Clay said, “Brigid, this is my sister Tamara Joanne Hadley Lindquist.”
Brigid walked up the steps and the woman stretched out her hand. “Please call me TJ.”
“If you call her Tammy Jo, she’ll hit you,” Clay said with a smirk.
The Good, the Bad, and the Pugly (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 7) Page 12