Chapter 27
Doreen and her animals walked along the river, and it was cold, the wind biting at her cheeks. The animals didn’t seem to be affected and were happy to trundle along beside her. She really missed the warm weather right now. Just a chance to sit by the river and to let some of these questions wander through her brain. She hadn’t realized just how much she needed to let things churn away in her mind, not until this cold weather hindered part of her process. She had a slight idea of what was going on with the two unidentified bodies but needed more information to convince Mack.
Mack was happy enough to send her the little bit they had on the John Doe and Jane Doe they had in their missing person’s files. They were cold cases, but, because they didn’t have any real information on these two bodies, they would need DNA in order to solve anything to do with them. Even then, the DNA did them no good as far as IDs went if that DNA did not match some other DNA on record somewhere.
Doreen thought she might come up with something where they could go after these old cases, but now she wasn’t sure.
For all she knew, even more people were missing in this valley, which, given the number of years these cold cases went back to, really wasn’t out of the question. A lot of transient people came through Kelowna looking for work, people moving in, then leaving, and, in this Rose-related case, husbands leaving their wives, and then ending up who-knows-where, like Bartlet Jones. There were certainly a lot of families damaged, if not completely blown apart, by Rose’s philandering actions, who seemingly didn’t care about those families that she had hurt too.
Doreen stopped at one part of the river to just let the animals sniff away. When she heard a yell, she looked up to see Lynon’s son, Nate, walking toward her. She looked at him and smiled. “How’s your father doing?”
“He’s doing okay,” he replied, with a note of hesitation in his voice. “Has my… Has my nephew been making a nuisance of himself?”
“No, not at all. He’s come by several times,” she replied. “Gavin brought me the puppy he and Randy found.”
Nate winced at that. “Right, and now Gavin won’t leave me alone about it.”
“It might be a good answer for him though,” she pointed out. “I get that, for you, it’s one more thing to look after, one more chore, but for Gavin? It’s something he can love, and I think he’s really missing that right now.”
He stared at her. “I don’t know that I’m up for it though,” he admitted.
“I get that,” she said, “and I’m not trying to tell you one way or the other. I’m just saying that, to help Gavin and maybe as an answer to his pain, having something else that he can love right now might be the thing that changes his behavior. He must be held responsible for the puppy too.”
“Definitely something in his behavior has to change,” Nate declared, as he stared across the river. “And I don’t know if this would do it or not. I don’t even know how we would tell. The problem is, I’m not cut out to be a father,” he muttered. He pushed his hair off his forehead. “Honest to God, I think I’ve bitten off too much to chew as it is.”
She looked at him in alarm. “You’re not thinking about giving up on Gavin, are you?”
“I don’t know what to do,” Nate admitted. “Gavin’s caused me no end of trouble, and I’m not sure I’m the answer. I’m not sure I can give him what he needs.”
“No, you can’t,” she stated. “Nobody can give him everything he needs. Right now, he’s grieving. He’s lost his mother, and no easy answer will fix him. But replacing some of that which he lost with something he can love could help.”
“But it could also make it worse,” he pointed out, “and then I’ll have a puppy to get rid of because I can’t possibly keep a puppy either.”
“Are you traveling a lot?”
“I was, but I changed my job and reduced a lot of the traveling because of Gavin.”
“Of course,” she replied. “And he doesn’t appreciate that because he’s still too caught up in his own pain to even realize that you are making sacrifices.”
“Right,” Nate muttered. “I would absolutely love to go back to my old job, but it seems as if that time is over.”
“That time maybe,” she pointed out gently, “but that doesn’t mean it can’t come back again at another time.”
He smiled. “You’re really an optimist, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “I’ve been through a lot myself sometimes. However, when I hear about all these hardship stories of other people, I realize I got off easy.”
He tilted his head to stare at her quizzically. “Most people wouldn’t say you got off easy.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “People are funny. If you didn’t suffer enough, they’re not happy. Yet, if you suffer too much, apparently they’re not happy either.”
He burst out laughing. “So true. Did Gavin mention to you how I won’t take in the puppy?”
“Oh, yeah, he sure did,” she confirmed. “I don’t know what his life was like beforehand, but I know how he feels about his life now, and it feels very much like nobody cares about him, and nothing he wants or says or does will make a bit of difference.”
“And yet if he would just cooperate a little bit…”
“Maybe you should have that talk with him,” she suggested. “Maybe you should discuss with him what life would be like if you did give him the puppy and how much he would have to smarten up. Otherwise the puppy has to go.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Listen,” she said, interrupting his protests. “I am an animal lover to doomsday, and I would hate to have a puppy used as a tool for behavior, but Gavin does have to understand and to respect the fact that life and death happens. It has already happened, and it’s been a bad deal for both of you,” she noted, “and, if Gavin wants something like a puppy so badly, it’ll require monumental changes on his part.”
Silence came from Nate.
Doreen continued. “Maybe you could take the puppy in as a foster scenario for a month or two and see if Gavin’s prepared to turn things around or not. He is old enough to understand that. It’s a risk, and I certainly don’t want you to take the puppy, then have to give it back, because I think the pup herself rather desperately needs to be loved too. I don’t know what happened to her or how she ended up in such dire straits to begin with, but the fact is that Gavin literally saved her life by getting her out of the river and bringing her to me. If you take her on, I would absolutely want you to keep her, to give her some stability and love. However, if Gavin isn’t willing to put in the time, effort, and work, then I understand your original decision,” she stated. “On the other hand, if Gavin is motivated by this puppy, it could be a brilliant answer for both of you.”
Nate groaned, as he stared back at the river. “You do put up a convincing argument.”
“At this point we don’t even know for sure if the puppy is okay or if she’ll need something else other than what you can give her. That could potentially get you off the hook too.”
He snorted. “Doesn’t seem as if anything will get me off the hook right now,” he muttered, almost morosely.
“What would your life be like if Gavin adapted, if he went to school and didn’t cause you problems? What’s the biggest thing in your world that he’s destroying right now?”
“Probably the fact that I can’t sleep at night because of the phone calls from the school, telling me that I’ll have to put him into some special care facility, or a military school, or whatever soon.”
“Then maybe that’s what you need to tell him. Tell him that’s the one big thing that you cannot live with and that’s the one big thing Gavin has to change.”
Nate regarded her with a contemplative expression. “That,” he noted, “is smart.”
“I don’t know about smart ,” she replied, “but Gavin can’t change if he doesn’t know what the problem is, and if he doesn’t see any motivation to change. He has to realize that change needs to happen, or nothing else will improve. If he keeps up the same old, same old, then he can’t expect a different outcome.”
“Maybe.” Nate nodded. “I’ll think about it.”
“You do that,” she said, “and maybe you should go take a look at the puppy yourself.”
“You think I’ll fall in love with it?” he asked, with an eye roll.
“No, I don’t think you’ll fall in love with it, but you might see why Gavin did,” she shared. “And that understanding alone might help the two of you get onto the same page.”
Nate laughed. “I do hear what you’re trying to do,” he declared.
“Not sure it’s working, but a puppy is only an issue if you make it an issue,” she replied.
“A puppy will chew things, terrorize things, destroy things,” Nate described. “It requires food, medicine, vet visits, walks every day. Taking on a puppy is not a simple commitment.”
“Yes, and that’s why you must speak with Gavin because it also needs to be his commitment.”
Nate just groaned again. “Okay, fine, fine. I’ll think about it, but no promises. However, the foster puppy thing? That’s possible,” he muttered. “ Maybe anyway.”
“Exactly, so you must talk to the vet clinic,” she added. “I don’t know exactly how that works because I’ve never had to take in any foster animals, but it would be something I would do in a heartbeat if necessary.”
“Of course you would,” Nate declared, “because you’re already set up for that.”
“I am, though I hadn’t really considered it.” She looked down at her animals roaming about and particularly Mugs, who was sniffing away at the river, trying to get himself as soaked as possible.
“Oh, boy,” Nate muttered. “Just the thought of a wet dog is bad news.”
She laughed. “A wet dog dries, and broken things can be replaced,” she clarified.
Nate grumbled, “What can’t be replaced are broken hearts over lost parents. And, for a young boy who needs something special to get over this, a puppy won’t be enough.”
“No, it isn’t,” she agreed, “but it’s a step in the right direction, one that would allow Gavin to reach out and to trust you a little bit more. Obviously this has been a huge change in Gavin’s life, and unfortunately you’re the face of it, so he doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” he muttered, swearing under his breath. “If I get one more phone call from that school, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“And that’s what you need to tell him because it’s not just your life you’re fighting for. It’s his too. Yet, if Gavin doesn’t want to make changes, then maybe he does need to go into special care, and that would break everybody’s heart,” she said gently. “But it’s also not necessarily a good idea for him to be with you if you can’t stand being around him.”
“I love him dearly,” Nate grumbled. “That’s not the issue.”
She smiled. “In that case, all the rest can be worked out.”