Opening Her Heart

by Deb Kastner

  “That’s fantastic news!” Ruby exclaimed. “Why is this the first we’ve heard of this? You should have told us.”

  Avery shrugged, and her face heated. “I don’t know. Honestly, I guess I just wanted it to be a surprise. You know how I am. I’d rather have all the puzzle pieces fitted together to make a full picture before I go and blurt the news to everyone else.”

  “So, I take it you found a place you like?” Felicity asked. “Does this have something to do with Jake?”

  Avery groaned. “It has everything to do with Jake. Lisa helped me find this absolutely perfect cabin. You probably know the one—the Meyers used to live there? It won’t even take that much construction work to make it into a bed-and-breakfast, although admittedly it will take a lot of elbow grease. But that’s half the fun, right? I fell in love with it the moment I set eyes on it.”

  “Let me guess,” Felicity said. “That would be the exact spot where Jake and his ginormous company want to open their resort.”

  “Exactly. He—well, like you said, his company—intends to buy up all the land in that area, including where my cabin sits. And you know what he plans to do with my lovely cabin? Knock it down!”

  “I guess that explains the icy wall between the two of you. Can’t you convince him to look elsewhere?” Felicity asked.

  “Apparently, Marston has already made their final decision. Now it’s up to Jake to convince the town council the resort will be a good thing for Whispering Pines and make sure the zoning works for them.”

  “But apart from your cabin, you don’t think it would be a good idea to build a resort here?”

  “I don’t know. I want to say no because I’m afraid of what that kind of resort might do to our small town. Yes, it has the potential to bring in new customers to our existing businesses, and that could theoretically be good for the town.

  “Or not. From what Jake said, it will be a high-end resort which will draw in the rich and famous, and I can’t help but see that going the wrong way. You’ve been to Aspen. I’m afraid to go into any of the shops there because I might accidentally bump into something and break it, and it would end up costing me my whole year’s salary. And I wonder what would happen to all of our local businesses once they build here.”

  “Well, it could bring in more customers for the locals and benefit everyone,” Ruby said hesitantly. “Our shops wouldn’t necessarily have to close—just adapt. I can see it working in our favor.”

  “Or, it could bring in more business for the locals and benefit everyone,” Avery echoed petulantly. “Which is why this is so difficult for me.”

  “Because the real point is the cabin, right? That it’s the one you’ve been waiting and watching for and you don’t want to give up on it? A heart thing?”

  “Exactly. A heart thing. I took one look at it and I knew it was perfect for me. More so than I can even express in words. Which is why this is so difficult.”

  “Then, we need to share this situation with the rest of the family and get everyone praying about it.”

  Shame flooded through Avery. Of course she should include her family. That’s what she should have done in the first place, the very day she’d met Jake. She should have shared her burden about the cabin with her family and asked them to pray with her.

  Because she might be too small to take on a giant Goliath like Marston Enterprises on her own, but God wasn’t.

  * * *

  Tuesday afternoon, Jake decided to take Lottie out for pizza. He’d seen a pizza place on the main street, Lone Elk Avenue, and had tucked the location in the back of his mind. Sharing a pizza together was a tradition they’d had since Lottie was old enough to eat whole foods. Pepperoni pizza with extra cheese was her favorite, so he ordered a whole pepperoni pizza and one extra slice loaded with everything except anchovies for him.

  He was really enjoying his time in Whispering Pines. Everyone was so open and friendly with him and his family. He’d spent a lot of time in small towns while traveling for work, but none of them compared to this one. Everyone knew everybody else in a special way, and neighbors really cared for each other. He’d seen youngsters shoveling snow for the elderly, and several folks had stopped by their cabin with welcome packages, even though they would only be in Whispering Pines for a relatively short amount of time.

  Sally, the owner of Sally’s Pizza, had even come out from the back of the restaurant to introduce herself before personally taking their order.

  The bell over the door rang, and Jake automatically glanced up to see who’d entered. To his surprise, it was Avery, and as usual, she had a dog with her, this time a medium-size, golden-haired pup who hopped and swung around in circles, a regular bundle of energy Jake thought must be difficult to work with. Yet with one word, Avery settled the dog at her side and approached the counter.

  “Avery,” he called out before he could think better of it.

  She turned around, looking dumbstruck. She was probably just as surprised to see him here. It was strange. They couldn’t even go get a slice of pizza without bumping into each other.

  At least he had Lottie with him this time. His adorable daughter was sure to help make their interaction a little less awkward. Lottie was as cute as they came, with her dark curly hair, button nose and baby-toothed smile. He might be biased, but even if Avery could resist him, she’d surely be won over by Lottie.

  And they wouldn’t be able to have any serious conversations, which was a big plus.

  Avery gave her order to the girl behind the counter and made her way over to where Jake and Lottie were seated.

  “Hello! What are you up to?” Avery asked Lottie.

  “Eating pizza,” Lottie answered excitedly, beaming up at Avery and kicking her legs back and forth on the bench.

  “It looks delicious,” Avery said. “My favorite kind of pizza is pepperoni, too. With extra cheese, of course.”

  “Why don’t you join us?” Jake asked with his usual grin, hoping for once it would win Avery over.

  “Oh, no, I...”

  He lifted an eyebrow, waiting for her to come up with an excuse, but she apparently couldn’t think of a reasonable explanation for walking away.

  “Yeah, okay. I suppose I can join you, but just for a few minutes. I have a truck full of dog food and a kennel of hungry dogs back at the house waiting for me.”

  “Which dog is this?” Jake asked as Lottie reached out to pet the honey-colored dog.

  “Her name is Sissy. She’s a golden retriever. We think she’s purebred, though we don’t know for sure.”

  “Pretty doggy,” Lottie said as Sissy lapped up her attention, nosing her and licking her palm.

  “She sure is. She has a gorgeous coat, doesn’t she? Sissy is currently my favorite, actually. I’ve been doing a lot of work with her. She was abandoned as a puppy—dumped on our doorstep, if you can believe it. I had to bottle-feed her every two hours around the clock until she was old enough to eat wet solids, so I feel especially close to her. She’s my baby.”

  A smile lingered on her lips, one of the few genuine smiles Jake had seen. He noted that she was especially pretty when she wasn’t stressed, when she was talking about something she really cared about.

  “How old is she now?” Jake asked. Her dogs appeared to be a safe topic to speak about.

  It occurred to him a second time that since she appeared so relaxed and open, he might be able to use this opportunity to try to come to some kind of business agreement, but he quickly brushed those thoughts aside in favor of simply getting to know her better. Besides, this was his special time with Lottie, not time for talking business.

  “A little over two years old. As you probably saw when we first entered the restaurant, she still has a lot of puppy energy, but her training is nearly complete. I’ll hate to see her go when the time comes, but she’s going to be a real blessing to someone
special.”

  “I’m sure she will be. You said your program does more than train dogs for the blind. What else do they do?”

  “You’d be surprised at the range of assistance a service dog can offer,” she said. She paused to thank Sally when she brought out her slice of pepperoni with extra cheese and a slice of meat pizza all boxed up to go.

  She blew on the pizza, then took a bite, dabbing her mouth with a napkin before she continued.

  “We’ve placed a dog for a person who is deaf, several hospital-therapy dogs, search-and-rescue and crisis-therapy dogs, among others. Recently, my sister Molly got married. Her stepson is on the autism spectrum, and one of our dogs really fit the bill to help him understand and process his world.”

  “You trained a dog to help a boy with autism? Wow, I’ve never even heard of such a thing.”

  “We’ve done some psychiatric service-dog work in the past, but this dog, a Great Dane named Rufus, was amazing. We had no idea. Molly was just out with Rufus one day when he suddenly showed us where he belonged. Without prompting, he took to little Judah as if he’d been specially made for him. Everyone could see it.”

  “That is incredible.” Jake could barely put his amazement into words. He’d never even imagined dogs could be so useful.

  “I know, right?” Avery actually smiled at him before biting into her pizza again. Another real smile, not the tight, gritted-teeth variety she’d given him since they’d met.

  He tried to ignore what that smile did to his insides. He had to stay focused on the end goal, and that wasn’t Avery. If anything, the woman was standing right in his way, blocking the puck, so to speak.

  Suddenly, Sissy, who had been lying down quietly next to Avery’s foot, whined and wiggled over closer to the other side of the bench where the child was sitting, repeatedly nudging Lottie’s chest with her nose and licking her chin.

  With a curious gleam in her eye, Avery called her off, but Sissy ignored her and continued her ministrations to the little girl, completely focused on Lottie.

  “That’s odd,” Avery said, her brow lowering. “It’s not at all like Sissy to ignore a direct command. Something’s wrong.”

  As he stared as his daughter, Jake’s face heated as he watched the dog and realized in hindsight he probably should not have let Lottie pet Sissy before she’d finished her pizza, or at least he ought to insist she go wash her hands now that the dog was touching her again right in the middle of their meal.

  What kind of father was he, anyway?

  It didn’t really surprise him that she was more interested in the dog than the pizza, having begged for one so many times since she’d learned how to speak. But he ought to be more aware of things like hand-washing. It was times like this that made him feel as if he was never going to be able to live up to becoming the kind of parent Lottie deserved. And although he couldn’t imagine why it mattered, he didn’t want to come off looking like a slacker dad to Avery.

  “Daddy?” Lottie said, her voice high, squeaky and frightened.

  “Yes, honey?” he said, immediately locking his attention on his daughter. Something in the tone of her voice alerted him.

  It was no longer about the dog, although Sissy was still persistently nuzzling her. Lottie had a strange look on her face—an expression Jake knew all too well.

  “I don’t feel so good.”

  “Sweetheart?” Jake asked.

  Sissy barked and nudged Lottie again. Suddenly, his darling girl stiffened like a board and clutched at the edge of the table, her face blanching as, in her spasmodic movements, her arm bumped her glass, spilling water all across the table.

  Because he was sitting across the table from her, Jake couldn’t immediately react. But before he could so much as move a muscle, Avery had scooped Lottie into her arms. She knelt down on the floor with her and tenderly laid her on her side. Avery folded her jacket and gently placed it under Lottie’s head, her knees on either side of her and her hands steady near Lottie’s cheeks so she wouldn’t hurt herself.

  Avery’s expression was full of concern, but she appeared to know what she was doing, even though Jake hadn’t yet offered a word of explanation as to what was going on with his daughter.

  “It’s okay, Lottie. Your daddy and I are right here.” Avery spoke loudly, reassuringly and evenly. “You’re going to be all right, sweetheart. We’re not going anywhere.”

  Jake dropped to his knees beside his daughter and gently stroked her shoulder. He knew she could hear him, even if she couldn’t directly respond to his voice. “Daddy’s here. Daddy loves you. Hang in there, sweetie. It’s okay. You’re going to be just fine.”

  Suddenly, the dog was down beside them, wiggling underneath Jake’s arm so she could be closer to Lottie, stretching herself out at the child’s side.

  Instead of freaking out at the child’s uncomfortable movements and darting away from the little girl, Sissy put her head across Lottie’s chest and gently licked her chin until the seizure had come to an end.

  Was there such a thing as an epilepsy-support dog? Jake had never heard of such a thing, but then, he hadn’t ever heard of an autism-support dog, either. The way Sissy was acting right now, it seemed as though the dog instinctively knew what was happening. Now that he thought of it, Sissy had alerted them even before Lottie showed signs that she was going to have a seizure.

  Finally, Lottie’s seizure wound down, and Jake met Avery’s compassionate gaze as she stroked the hair away from his daughter’s forehead.

  “Epilepsy?” Avery whispered.

  His heart aching until he thought it might burst from pain, Jake nodded.

  Chapter Four

  Avery ran Sissy through the agility course at A New Leash on Love, which included jumps, tubes, ladders, balance beams and weaving poles. There were several ways to run through the course, so the dogs didn’t get too used to any one pattern and always had to pay attention to their handlers for instructions.

  Though for Colorado it was a mild winter day in late January, Avery could still see her breath as she jogged alongside Sissy and gestured her through the course for the third time, encouraging her to run through a long, curved tunnel that was one of the dog’s favorites. When Avery had first left the house just after lunch, she’d worn an orange Broncos puffer vest over her thick white Aran Celtic-knot sweater, but she’d since divested herself of the coat. Agility was a great workout for humans as well as dogs, and she was feeling the burn.

  Though Sissy had lots of puppy energy going today, she wasn’t quite as mentally focused as she usually was, something the dog needed to be in order to pay attention to Avery and successfully run the course. Twice in one run, she veered off in a different direction after an obstacle and dashed the wrong way, and Avery had to whistle and gesture to bring her back in line.

  Sissy wasn’t the only one veering off course today. Avery’s mind was likewise all over the place, and she couldn’t seem to pull it back to attention, no matter what she did or how hard she tried. No doubt Sissy, as with any sensitive dog, was picking up on her human’s anxiety, and that was part of the problem as to why the normally obedient pup was so off-kilter today.

  Avery rued the day Jake Cutter had entered her life and made things so complicated. She so wanted to dislike him and his fancy suits, polished cowboy boots, shiny red Mustang and toothy-grinned charm, but how could she, when she’d seen what a loving, compassionate father he was to Lottie?

  If only she hadn’t noticed. But she had. There was a caring heart beating under that annoyingly swaggering exterior.

  This was not good.

  Really not good.

  A warning beacon went off in her own heart. She needed to figure out how to take on Jake and his company over her bed-and-breakfast cabin—not only for herself, but for the sake of the town itself. It was crucial that she maintain her emotional distance from him so she could k
eep her head on straight to fight the good fight and win.

  What she did not need to do was get any closer to him and sweet Lottie. She knew herself well enough to know how easily her mind and heart could be turned. It had happened before, leading to the worst heartbreak of her life—one which she never intended to repeat. And the best way to avoid becoming involved with Jake was to stay as far away from him and his family as possible.

  Brilliant idea, and yet she’d done the exact opposite of that. Directly after Lottie had had her epilepsy episode, Avery had blurted out that the little girl could come visit Sissy at the farm and see the other rescue dogs, as well as the petting zoo, and they’d made specific plans to do so. Of course, she’d already made that invitation to Jake’s mom that day at church.

  Suddenly an idea occurred to her.

  She might be able to salvage this disaster of a day after all and make it work to her benefit. Jake would be relaxed spending time with his family and not thinking about his job, right? So, wouldn’t that be the perfect time to charge in and try to work things out to her benefit? Show him firsthand the benefits of small-town life?

  She saw the dust on the dirt driveway before she actually saw his car. He was still driving around in that completely impractical red Mustang, which he must be taking through the car wash at least once a day, as it remained in sparkling condition as always. Yet, the impracticality of such a vehicle was glaringly obvious, not only because he was driving around in a mountain town with plenty of bumpy dirt roads, but with the knowledge that today he had a child with him. Had the man never heard of a child-safe sports utility vehicle?

  At least he was driving with some modicum of caution this time and not rip-roaring down the drive at a race car’s pace as he’d done last time she’d seen him behind the wheel.

  Even though her anxiety instantly shot through the roof the moment she saw his car, it actually didn’t take much to force a smile on her face as she called Sissy to her side and put her in a down-stay position.