The Dog Who Came for Christmas

by Sue Pethick

  “Oh.” Megan’s neck swiveled like it was on ball bearings. “Yeah, I hadn’t thought about that.”

  Renee took a deep breath. There was no sense putting it off. Travis was probably as anxious to get his dog back as her family would be sad to see him go. She walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

  “Hey, kids. I’ve got some good news that’s also kind of not-so-good.”

  Lilly was wrapping a dishtowel “bandage” around the dog’s front leg.

  “It can’t be both,” she said.

  “Well, no, actually, it can be.”

  Kieran was staring at her, looking pale.

  “Is Rex’s owner coming to get him?”

  Renee nodded sadly.

  “I’m sorry, honey, but he has to go home now.”

  He nodded.

  “I understand.”

  “Well, I don’t!” Lilly said. “I want him to stay.”

  She threw her arms around the dog’s neck.

  Megan brushed past Renee and tried to pull Lilly off the dog.

  “Lilly, honey, be careful, or it’ll bite you.”

  “Nooooo!” Lilly screamed. “I don’t want Rex to leave!”

  The back door opened, and Jack poked his head inside.

  “What’s going on?”

  “The dog’s owner is coming to get him,” Renee said. “Lilly’s taking it pretty hard.”

  He marched across the room and scooped Lilly off the floor while Megan tried to loosen the girl’s grip around the dog’s neck. In spite of its injuries, the animal remained calm, and Renee found herself wondering again where Travis had found such an unflappable animal. No wonder the children were being so good. It was as if they were mimicking the dog’s calm and gentle demeanor. It wasn’t just any dog that could do that, she thought sadly. Losing Rex—or whatever his name was—was going to be harder to deal with than she thought.

  Lilly and the dog had been separated, and the girl was in full temper tantrum mode. Jack picked her up and carried her down the hall, trying his best to avoid his daughter’s flailing feet. Megan stood and watched them go, seemingly unable to decide whether or not to get involved.

  “Can somebody get me a plate for these burgers?” Wendell bellowed. “They’re almost done.”

  Renee nodded. “I’ll get one!”

  She’d just turned toward the kitchen when the doorbell rang, erasing all thoughts of a plate and burgers from her mind. As she changed course and headed for the front door, she and her sister-in-law exchanged a look. Megan gave her a double thumbs-up.

  “Go fight for him,” she whispered.

  There was a mirror in the foyer, and Renee checked her reflection as she walked by. She felt a frisson of pleasure at the thought of seeing Travis again. In spite of what she’d told Megan, she realized she hadn’t quite given up hope. As the door swung open, however, she felt her hope turn to dismay.

  Travis’s face was grim, his nostrils flared, his mouth so tight that his lips had vanished. It seemed so unlike him that it gave Renee pause. She’d known he might be unhappy that she hadn’t answered his messages, but she didn’t think he’d be quite so upset about it. It had, after all, been only three days, and with guests arriving and Christmas to prepare for, she’d thought he would understand. Seeing the obvious displeasure on his face, however, Renee realized that she’d been wrong.

  “I came to get my dog,” he said.

  “I know; Dr. Coburn just called. I’m sorry, I didn’t know he was yours; I would have called you myself.”

  “Would you?”

  The tone of his voice put her instantly on the defensive.

  “Of course I would have. When my son found him, we had no idea who he belonged to.”

  “Well, you do now.”

  He looked over her shoulder and raised his voice.

  “Max! Come here, boy!”

  The dog came trotting out of the living room, trailed by a teary-eyed Grace and Kieran, whose face had erupted in a storm of tics. Renee took an involuntary breath, embarrassed that a stranger should see her son like that, but also intrigued. It was the first time he’d shown any symptoms since the dog had arrived.

  What is so special about this animal?

  Somewhere down the hall, Lilly’s temper tantrum had ratcheted up a notch. Travis looked at the dog.

  “Where’s his collar?” he said.

  “He didn’t have one.”

  He gave her a skeptical look.

  “He did when he left home on Sunday.”

  Renee felt her lips tighten. It was one thing for him to be upset that she hadn’t called, but calling her a liar was a different matter entirely.

  “Well, he didn’t when my son found him caught in a snare.” She pointed at the dog’s neck. “The reason Dr. Coburn knew where to find him was because Kieran and my father took him there for treatment.”

  As Travis turned toward Kieran, he seemed oblivious to the boy’s facial contortions, a small kindness for which Renee felt profoundly grateful. The man might be angry with her, but at least he wasn’t going to take it out on her son.

  He squatted down until the two of them were eye to eye.

  “You found him in a snare?”

  The boy’s eyes filled.

  “I shimmied up the tree and cut the rope.”

  Travis nodded.

  “That was a brave thing to do. I’m sure Max appreciated it.”

  He took out his wallet.

  “I’d like to give you a reward for helping him,” he said, pulling out a twenty dollar bill.

  Kieran shook his head.

  “I-I didn’t do it for the money.”

  No, Renee thought, feeling an ache in her chest. Kieran did it for love. She put a protective arm around her son and glared at Travis.

  “Well, you’ve got your dog back now. I’m sure you need to get going,” she said.

  Travis glanced up at Megan, who stared at him, pie-eyed.

  “Can I talk to you outside for a minute, first?” he said quietly.

  Renee hesitated a moment.

  “Of course.”

  She turned Kieran back toward Megan and Grace, grabbed her coat, and followed Travis out to his car, feeling three pairs of eyes bore into her back.

  Travis opened the back of his Range Rover and put Max inside, then shut the door. As he turned back, his look had hardened considerably. If anything, he looked even angrier than he had when Renee first opened the door.

  “Before I go, would you mind just telling me why you did it?”

  Renee frowned as her mouth opened wordlessly. She shook her head.

  “What are you talking about? Why did I do what?”

  He looked away, chuckling mirthlessly.

  “Well, let’s see,” he said. “First you stole my dog and then you tried to ruin my reputation.”

  She stared at him, unable to process what he was saying. Was he drunk or just nuts?

  “Okay, first of all, nobody stole your dog; my son saved its life. If you don’t believe me, feel free to ask Ted Coburn what kind of shape Max was in when Kieran and my father brought him to his house.

  “Second, I don’t have any idea how you think I could possibly ruin your reputation, but that’s a pretty serious charge, and you’d better have a damned good reason for leveling it at me.”

  Travis thrust out his chin.

  “Hank Fielding told me that someone was spreading a rumor about the program I’m sponsoring at your son’s school.”

  “And you think I did it?”

  “Well, didn’t you?”

  “Of course not!”

  “Then why did you run off when you saw me talking to Hank at the banquet?”

  Renee shook her head.

  “When were you talking to Hank?”

  “At the bar, just before you took off.”

  “Well, I didn’t see that, but even if I had, it had nothing to do with why I left.”

  Now that they were actually talking, Travis’s ire se
emed to have lessened. For the first time since showing up, in fact, he seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say.

  “Then why did you leave?”

  Renee licked her lips. Since Saturday night, she’d been asking herself why Marissa had told her about Travis’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry. She’d even thought of checking it out herself, but she’d been either too upset or too busy since then to do it. Besides, what reason did Marissa have to lie?

  “Marissa Daniels told me you used to work for a drug company. She said that was the reason you were planning to medicate the kids in the program.”

  Travis’s jaw dropped.

  “I didn’t work for a drug company. I told you, my work involved the petroleum industry.”

  “Yes, but Marissa said that most drugs are made from petroleum.”

  “So, based on that—and without even asking me if it was true—you told everyone whose kids were in the program that I was going to put their kids on medication?”

  Renee felt like she might explode. First Hank and now Travis. Had everyone just decided that she was guilty?

  “How could I possibly have done that? I don’t even know whose kids are in the program!”

  “Of course you do.”

  “No, Travis, I really don’t. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a newcomer around here, and on top of that, I’ve got a full-time job. Oh! And did I mention that trying to find a way into one of the oh-so-unwelcoming cliques in this town is about as easy as slipping the proverbial camel through a needle’s eye? Please tell me how, out of all the people I don’t know in this town, I just happened to know the names of the families whose children are in the program with my son?”

  He put a hand over his mouth and ran it slowly down his face.

  “Then why did you tell Savannah Hays that you did?”

  Renee was staggered.

  Of course. Why didn’t I see it before?

  Suddenly, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Savannah had gotten Sissy to warn Renee away from Travis, and when that didn’t work, she’d had her friend Marissa lie to Renee about medicating the students. Then Savannah spread the rumor about medications—over the phone, no doubt, so no one would know they weren’t really talking to Renee—making it look as if Renee was acting on the information Marissa had given her. And finally, just in case Renee hadn’t gotten the message, Savannah told a few of her friends to cancel their hair appointments; the implication being that there’d be more trouble to come if she didn’t back off.

  The whole thing was so bizarre, so unbelievably ridiculous, that Renee began to laugh. Of all the petty, jealous, asinine moves, she thought, this one took the cake.

  Travis’s face was a mask of confusion.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing,” she gasped, wiping her eyes. “Nothing at all.” Renee paused a second to catch her breath.

  “Listen, when you see Savannah again, give her a message for me, will you? Tell her I quit. Tell her she won.”

  Renee turned and walked back inside where she found that the house had descended into chaos.

  In the living room, Kieran and Grace were fighting over possession of a small black belt, and Dylan was defending himself against McKenna’s charge that he was acting like “the Dad,” while in the kitchen, Megan stood toe-to-toe with her father-in-law, holding a plate with a dozen burger patties so shrunken and black they resembled lumps of coal, and a red-faced Wendell demanded to know why no one had brought him the “goddamned plate” he’d asked for. From somewhere down the hall, the sounds of Lilly’s outrage continued.

  “Quiet! Everyone, please!”

  As the noise abated, Renee marched into the kitchen and took the plate from Megan’s hands.

  “This is my fault, Dad. I said I’d get you a plate and got distracted by the doorbell. I’m sorry.”

  She dumped the charred, inedible patties into the trash.

  “There are cold cuts in the fridge, Megan, and Dad, you know where the bread is. Why don’t you two set them on the table while I get the kids sorted out?”

  She headed back out to the living room.

  “Dyl! Mac! Cut it out. You’re acting like a couple of toddlers.”

  McKenna burst into tears and ran down the hall; Dylan slumped into the club chair and crossed his arms.

  “And you two,” Renee said, stepping into the tug-of-war between Kieran and Grace. “Give me that.”

  She reached down and snatched what she’d thought was a small leather belt from their hands. As soon as she had it in her hand, however, Renee realized what it was: not a belt, but a dog collar the exact size to fit Travis’s dog. For a moment, she thought that Kieran might have simply bought it for “Rex” after he and her father brought the dog home. Then she noticed the name tag, and as she turned the collar over, saw blood on the underside in the exact place where Max’s neck had been injured, and her heart sank. She looked at Kieran, his face a near-constant series of grimaces and facial tics, and closed her eyes.

  “Go to your room.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You know what I mean. Go downstairs—now!”

  Kieran turned and ran down to Wendell’s apartment, his sobs replacing Lilly’s as the family’s new soundtrack. Renee felt badly for him; the pain Kieran felt was evident in every twitch of his face. She knew he loved the dog, too, and that Max, for whatever reason, had been good for him, but that didn’t change things.

  He lied to me.

  And that, she thought grimly, meant that she owed Travis Diehl an apology.

  CHAPTER 31

  Savannah was waiting for Travis with open arms when he returned from Renee’s. Another round of champagne was poured, and Max’s return was toasted, though in truth the dog seemed less than enthusiastic. As Max shambled off to his dog bed, Travis was troubled. In spite of his injuries, the dog had seemed happier at Renee’s than he had at home in quite a while, and he couldn’t help wondering if it had to do with her son, Kieran. Max’s training as an emotional support dog would have made him gravitate toward someone with the kind of facial tics the boy had, and it had probably been the first time since Hugh got his job that Max had felt needed.

  Nevertheless, Travis thought, that was no reason for Renee to lie about what she’d done.

  “Come and sit down,” Savannah said as she led him into the living room. “I want to hear all the dirty details.”

  Travis collapsed on the couch and shook his head.

  “There’s not much to tell. Renee says her son found Max in a snare. He and her dad took him to their neighbor who’s a retired vet, and when he mentioned the visit to our vet, they put two and two together.”

  Savannah pursed her lips.

  “You don’t believe that, do you? I mean, snares are for catching things like rabbits. It couldn’t hold a dog that size.”

  “That’s what I thought, too,” he said. “But . . . I don’t know. Maybe . . .”

  He handed her his empty champagne flute, his thoughts in disarray. As unlikely as it seemed, both Renee and Dr. Coburn seemed convinced that Max’s injuries were consistent with the story Kieran had told them. And if Max hadn’t been caught in a snare, he thought, why would the boy lie about it?

  “Can I get you another?” Savannah said.

  Travis hesitated. The truth was, he didn’t feel much like celebrating at the moment.

  “Maybe something stronger.”

  “I know just the thing,” she said, heading for the wet bar.

  A smile played on his lips as Travis watched her walk away. He hadn’t noticed the bow on her dress before; she looked like a Christmas present waiting to be opened. When Savannah had shown up that morning, he’d regretted asking her over. Now, he was grateful to have her there. Dealing with Renee’s betrayal was hard enough; having to do it alone would have been impossible.

  “I asked her about the rumor at school,” he said.

  Savannah walked back and handed him a neat pour of Jack Dani
els.

  “Have some of this,” she said. “It looks like you could use it.”

  Travis took a sip and exhaled sharply. As the whiskey burned a path down his throat, the fumes traveled upward, making his eyes water.

  “Is this the Single Barrel 100 Proof?” he gasped, staring at the glass. “I don’t usually drink it this early in the day.”

  “Well,” she said, flouncing down beside him. “I knew you were upset, and I didn’t want you to be in a bad mood. We have a lot of things to talk about.”

  The thought of having to revisit his trip to Renee’s prompted Travis to take another sip. This time, the burn was almost comforting.

  “You first,” he said. “I don’t really feel like talking about it just yet.”

  Savannah’s cheeks dimpled.

  “All right.”

  She set her glass down on the coffee table and slipped her arm through his. Travis could feel every curve of her body pressing into his side.

  “I’ve been thinking a lot lately,” she said.

  He took another sip from his glass.

  “What about?”

  “About how things change, about how I’ve changed.” She sighed. “After your mama passed, it gave me a new perspective on things. I realized that time was running out.”

  Travis drew back and saw tears in her eyes.

  “Running out?”

  Savannah’s laugh sounded like a hiccup.

  “To have a baby, silly.” She blushed. “I’d rather not have one on my own, of course, but if I have to, then I’d at least like it to be yours.”

  Travis was overwhelmed, unsure if it was Savannah’s news or the whiskey that was making him light-headed. He set his drink down on the table and took her hands in his.

  “Are you sure?”

  She bit her lip and nodded.

  “Are you happy?”

  “I am,” he said. “Of course I am.”

  With Hugh moving out and Precision Industries on a firm footing, Travis thought, the timing couldn’t be better for him to marry and start a family. This should be the best thing that had ever happened to him, and yet . . . And yet there was something about what she’d said that didn’t ring true. Savannah had never liked the idea of having children, even as a girl, and her own home—though modest—was a showcase filled with Persian rugs and antique furniture. Would she really be able to reconcile her love of fine furnishings with a life that included kids and a dog?