Chapter Four
“T his is the one, Mom. He’s perfect. We have to get him.”
Jenna looked at the floppy tan puppy in her daughter’s lap, all paws and ears and big, soulful eyes. She was watching firsthand the process of two creatures falling in love. The dog couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off Addie and her daughter was clearly already long gone.
“He’s the cutest dog ever. The very best dog. Please, Mom!”
She had envisioned them leaving the shelter with a small older dog. A Chihuahua or a little Yorkie, some kind of petite, well-trained lapdog who didn’t bark or chew or make messes all over the floor.
“He was one of a litter of six mini goldendoodles that were found abandoned down near Manzanita.”
The shelter volunteer helping them, a woman in her forties with a name tag that read Pam, gave the dog an affectionate pat. “We’ve adopted out all but him. You could call Theo here the last man standing, I guess.”
“Hi, buddy. Hi.”
The clever dog licked Addison’s cheek, completely sealing the deal, as if he knew exactly which of them really held the power in this situation.
Jenna was suddenly quite certain there was no possible way on earth she would be able to get out of here now without taking along this dog, who literally met none of the qualities on her own personal wish list.
Her daughter clearly loved him. That was the most important thing, she reminded herself. Jenna would simply just have to figure out how to readjust her own expectations.
“How old is he?” she asked Pam.
“We can’t say for sure,” the shelter worker said. “The vet thinks maybe three to four months? They were weaned puppies when they were found and he’s been here a month. That’s just an estimate, though.”
“Why would anybody abandon a litter of puppies?” Addie looked horrified, her arms tightening around the dog as if to protect him.
Because people can be selfish and cruel sometimes.
She didn’t want her daughter to learn that lesson yet, so Jenna only shook her head sadly. “Who knows?”
“I wish I understood it,” Pam said. “I can’t comprehend how anyone could think a litter of puppies would be better off there, in the middle of a forest, than here at our shelter. It makes no sense to me.”
“Me neither.” Addie hugged Theo, her cheek pressed against the dog’s fur. “Nobody’s going to leave you anywhere now, Theo. I promise. You’re coming home with us. You’ll love our house. We even have a ghost!”
Pam looked startled. “A ghost?”
Jenna gave a rueful smile. “We live in an old beach house. Brambleberry House? You might know it.”
“Oh yes. That wonderful place on the edge of town.”
She nodded. “Some of the previous residents are convinced we have a benevolent spirit who watches over all those who live in the apartments.”
She still wasn’t convinced and found it amusing that her friends Rosa and Melissa spoke about Abigail as if she were an old friend, though she had died more than a decade before either woman had lived in the house.
“A ghost!” Pam looked enthralled. “Oh, that’s lovely. How about that, Theo? Want to live in a house with a ghost?”
The dog’s tongue lolled out and he actually looked enthusiastic, but that could have been more evidence of his growing adoration for the girl holding him.
“Is he trained at all?” Jenna hated to ask but needed to know what challenges she might be facing.
“He’s getting there. He’s not a hundred percent but he is very smart, and it shouldn’t take him long to learn how to follow some basic commands, as soon as he adjusts to the routine of your house.”
“I can’t wait!” Addie’s eyes glowed. “I’m going to teach him to sit, to roll over, to shake hands and to catch a ball in the air like my friend Logan’s dog can do.”
“Those all sound great but first things first,” Jenna said. “We need to start with teaching him not to go to the bathroom inside the house. After that, we can work on the other commands.”
“We can provide you with some great websites and other resources that give good training advice,” Pam said. “We can also connect you with a few places locally that offer puppy training classes.”
“That would be very helpful,” Jenna said, again trying to push down her misgivings. She could handle this. She certainly had done harder things in her life than train a puppy.
“So have you decided for sure?” Pam asked.
Jenna gestured to her daughter and the dog. “I think these two have decided for me.”
“Oh great. And since you’ve already been approved for adoption, you can take him home with you today, if you’d like. We do have a few forms for you to fill out. Addison, would you bring Theo with you to my office?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed. Pam provided a leash from a hook on the wall and Addie attached it to the dog’s collar, then proudly walked with him down the hall to a small office decorated with pictures of dogs and cats and their happy new humans.
A half hour and several signatures later, they walked out of the shelter with their new family member padding happily beside them.
All her misgivings came flooding back as she loaded Addie and Theo into the car. What had she done? She went through days when she felt as if she could barely take care of herself and her child. Adding another living creature to her responsibilities suddenly felt overwhelming.
“Can I go show Mr. and Mrs. Anderson downstairs? Theo also has to meet Sophie. Do you think they’ll be friends?”
The retired couple who lived in the first-floor apartment of Brambleberry House had a very cute—and very spoiled—toy poodle.
“I’m sure they will be great friends.” She hoped, anyway. “The Andersons left this week for their trip, remember? They left Sophie with their friend in Portland.”
“Oh right.”
“We’re going to have to pick up some supplies before we can take Theo home. Toys and food and a crate.”
She probably should have purchased all that in advance before taking home the dog, but she had been so busy wrapping up end-of-year school details, she hadn’t thought that far ahead.
“Can we take him into the store?” Addie asked. “I don’t want to leave him alone in the car.”
“No,” she agreed. “We shouldn’t do that. I know they let dogs into the pet store. We’ll go there.”
They parked at the pet store and headed inside, after stopping long enough for Theo to raise his leg on a fire hydrant conveniently placed near the door.
It didn’t take long to fill a shopping cart for the puppy. At this rate Theo would be as spoiled as Sophie, she thought.
They had nearly finished finding everything on the quick list they had made before coming inside when Addie suddenly exclaimed with delight. “Mr. Calhoun! Hi, Mr. Calhoun!”
Jenna whirled around and found her upstairs neighbor walking through the pet store with a bag of cat food.
“Oh. Hi.”
She hadn’t seen Wes since pizza night, nearly a week earlier, except for a few brief waves of greeting in passing. She had somehow forgotten how big and tough and intimidating he looked.
And gorgeous.
She hadn’t forgotten that part.
She could feel her face heat and hoped he didn’t notice.
“Wow.” He looked down at the gangly dog. “Looks like you’ve got a new friend.”
“This is Theo. He’s the best dog ever. And he’s our very own dog now! He gets to come home with us.”
“That’s very cool. Hi, Theo. Nice to meet you.” Wes crouched to the same level of the dog and reached out a hand, which Theo investigated with a sniff followed by vigorous tail wagging.
“I think he likes you,” Addie said, beaming.
“Hey, bud.” He scratched the dog’s ears and under his chin, which seemed to earn him Theo’s instant adoration.
“I didn’t know you had a cat,” Jenna said, gesturing to the food bag.
“I don’t.” He straightened. “But we’ve got a couple of strays that hang out at the shop. They’re good mousers but I still like to leave a little food for them. Plus I guess I’ll be cat-sitting for a couple weeks as Brie is bringing along Murphy when she comes to stay with me.”
“That’s nice of you.”
He shrugged. “If I have to take a bad-tempered elderly cat as part of the package in order to hang out with my daughter, it’s worth the sacrifice.”
He looked back at the dog. “You say his name is Leo?”
“Theo,” Addison corrected. “The nice lady at the shelter said his real name is Theodore because he looks like a teddy bear but they didn’t want to call him Teddy so they call him Theo.”
“Nice name.”
“I hope he doesn’t bother everyone at Brambleberry House,” Jenna said. “The shelter said he’s not one to bark a lot.”
“He’ll be great, I’m sure. I’m not worried. I hardly ever hear the neighbors’ little poodle.”
She decided not to point out that Sophie lived two floors below him and had been gone for a week, where Theo would be just downstairs one flight all the time.
“Fingers crossed,” she said.
He glanced into their cart. “Looks like you have everything you need to take the dog home.”
“And then some, right? I’m afraid we’ve gone overboard.”
“You can never have too many tennis balls when it comes to dogs. I can help you load your supplies into your car after you check out.”
She was a tough, independent woman who had been forced by circumstance to learn how to stand on her own two feet. Still, it was nice to have the option to lean on someone once in a while.
“That would be really helpful. Thank you.”
As he only had one item, he checked out first, then waited while she did the same. The final tally made her gulp. Having a pet was not a cheap undertaking.
When her items were bagged and she had paid for them, all three of them walked outside.
“When is Brielle coming to stay with you?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“How exciting. I bet it’s going to be wonderful to have her there.”
“Sure. It should be great.”
She thought she picked up a note of hesitation in his voice, but she didn’t have a chance to ask him about it before they reached her SUV.
She popped the cargo gate and he helped her load all their supplies into the back, including the heavy bag of puppy food.
“Thank you. I really appreciate your help.”
“My pleasure.”
He gave a smile, or as close to one as he seemed to offer. It wasn’t really much of a smile, mostly just a small lifting of his mouth, but it still made her toes tingle.
“I guess we will see you.”
“Yes. Leave the dog food by your car and I can carry it upstairs for you.”
She could manage, but it seemed ungracious to refuse. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“See you later, Addison. Bye, Theo.”
Addie waved and Theo wagged his tail with delight.
After she made sure Addie had her seat belt on, Jenna drove away, wondering how on earth she had shifted from fear to this wary fascination in such a short time.
Wes had never smoked but some nights, he really longed for a cigarette.
He knew there were guys in prison who had picked up smoking there as a way to relax and beat the boredom. He had preferred other methods. Working out, reading. Studying.
He had taken Spanish lessons in prison as well as a couple of community college history and rudimentary law classes. He also volunteered for a couple of service programs.
Anything he could do not to sit in his cell and feel sorry for himself and angry at the world.
Now he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Maybe that was why he felt so...restless. He still didn’t quite know what to do with that freedom.
He thought the hour run he had taken earlier might ease this edgy discontent. It hadn’t, nor had the long, pulsing, delicious shower after.
He ached for something but wasn’t sure what.
After changing channels a dozen times, picking up his book, then putting it back down, scrolling on his phone through news stories he didn’t really care about, he decided to take a ride on his bike down the coast. Maybe a little sea air on his face would calm him.
He walked down the two floors of Brambleberry House, sensing, as he sometimes did, the faint, barely perceptible smell of flowers on the stairs.
Rosa Galvez Townsend, who had rented him the apartment, had told him there were rumors that a benevolent spirit walked the halls of the house, the ghost of a longtime owner of the house, Abigail Dandridge.
She had died with no direct heirs and had left the house to two friends and tenants of hers.
She apparently had loved the house so much she had not wanted to leave.
He remembered staring in disbelief at the woman, who had given him an embarrassed sort of laugh. “You do not have to believe it. Most people don’t. But I felt like it was only fair to warn you about the rumors before you move in.”
A hint of flowers on the stairs was not exactly a convincing argument. Even if there had been a real ghost, how could he pass up a beautiful apartment in a rambling old house on the seashore? He had no problem putting up with the random scent of flowers and the occasional waft of cold air that seemed to come out of nowhere.
As he walked outside, the night smelled of lilacs and lavender, with a salty tang from the Pacific fifty yards away.
And he was not alone in the Brambleberry House gardens, he realized. Jenna stood in the grass, holding the leash of her gangly new puppy.
She spotted him coming onto the porch and waved.
“Hello. Don’t mind us. This is about our tenth trip outside this evening. We’re working on potty training. I’m not quite sure Theo understands the concept completely yet, so I imagine we’ll be coming out frequently to reinforce. So much for my relaxing summer vacation, right?”
She smiled, a white flash in the moonlight, and his entire body seemed to tighten.
“He’ll figure it out,” he said. “Consistency is the key to training puppies.”
She moved closer, and he could smell the scent of her, an intoxicating mix of strawberries and vanilla and sunshine.
“You sound like you have some experience in that area. Have you trained many dogs?”
For a brief moment, he debated how much to tell her and finally decided there was no good reason to withhold the information.
“I was part of a canine training initiative in prison. We did the initial basic training with puppies that might eventually become service dogs. I was lucky enough to have three great puppies during my time. All of them eventually graduated and are working as trained service animals now.”
“That sounds like a wonderful program.”
The dogs had truly been lifesavers to him, bringing peace and comfort and purpose during those dark years.
“It was a good fit. You have a bunch of people with nothing but time on their hands. That’s what dogs need most, especially in the beginning.”
He missed those puppies. He had given his heart to each of the three dogs he had worked with in prison and had been gutted when it was time to pass them on for the next phase of their training.
Now that he was on the outside, Wes had been thinking about getting a dog of his own, though he wasn’t sure he was ready to start over with another pet.
He supposed some part of him still worried things might change in a heartbeat, that something could happen to throw his life back into chaos. He didn’t know what that might be, but didn’t want to take any chances that he might not be ready for that kind of complication and commitment.
That was the main reason he was working as a mechanic at the Gutierrez brothers’ shop. He was good at it, for one thing, but he also needed something fairly straightforward to do right now while he tried to figure out the rest of his life.
Before his arrest, he had been running a highly successful security company in Chicago with thirty employees and multimillion-dollar contracts.
All of that had disappeared in a blink. The company. His life savings. And most of his trust in humanity, Wes had to admit.
He wasn’t sure he had the bandwidth right now to start over and rebuild everything from scratch.
He knew he had to start somewhere, but he had no idea where the hell that somewhere might be.
He wasn’t about to spill his angst all over Jenna Haynes. If she knew the tangled morass of his brain, she would probably be more afraid of him than she had been when he first moved in.
She didn’t seem as afraid of him now.
He found that awareness both exhilarating and vaguely terrifying.
Some part of him wanted to warn her she had every right to be afraid. Around her, he felt like the proverbial Big Bad Wolf. He wanted to swallow up a sweet thing like Jenna Haynes in one delicious bite.
“I could use any pointers you have with Theo here,” she said before he could tell her any of those things. “This is my first time training a dog. My first time being responsible for any pet, actually.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t have a dog growing up?”
“No. Believe me, I wanted a dog desperately but it never quite worked out.”
“Why not?”
“I grew up with a single mom, with no dad in the picture,” she said after a slight hesitation. “I don’t even have a name, since he took off before I was born and my mom didn’t like to talk about it. Mom always worked two jobs to support us, and she didn’t think it would be fair to have a pet when we weren’t home very often to take care of him. Also, money was invariably tight so she could never quite justify the cost of pet food or vet bills when she was working so hard just to take care of us.”
“Is that one of the reasons you gave in to Addie’s pleas, even though you’re nervous about taking on a dog? Because, like most parents, you want to give her what you always wanted but never had?”
Her gaze sharpened at his insight. “Yes. That’s exactly why. Good guess, Dr. Calhoun. I must say, I feel a little called out right now.”
He gave a short laugh. “I’m not all that brilliant. I only understand it because I’m the same way. I told you my dad died when I was ten. I missed him fiercely when I was a teenager, so I’m determined to be as present as possible in Brie’s life. To the point of being obnoxious about it.”
Wes paused, then added, “What about after you married? Why didn’t you get a dog then?”
“Multiple reasons, I suppose. We wanted one but our first apartment didn’t allow pets. We moved into our first home after we had been married two years, but I was pregnant at the time and we decided to wait a bit until adding a pet into the mix, on top of first-time home ownership and new parenthood.”
“Sounds sensible.”
“Sometimes I wish we hadn’t been so sensible. I only had six years with Ryan. We should have done all the crazy things we dreamed about. Flown to Paris. Quit our jobs and lived on the beach in Mexico for a time. Gotten a puppy. Or a half dozen puppies.”
Life’s cruelties never ceased to infuriate him. A sweet woman like Jenna deserved to have a long and happy life with the man she loved. “How did your husband die?”
“Cancer. Melanoma. He was only thirty.”
“That’s tough.”
“Yes. Addie was barely three when he was diagnosed. He died a year later. It was a very painful time.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, the words feeling painfully inadequate.
“Thank you. But I’ve learned since Ryan died that everybody has something, you know? I don’t have the monopoly on pain.”
He knew so many people who could take a lesson from her, who considered themselves permanent victims of whatever hardship that came their way and refused to accept that someone else might be struggling, too.
“What about you?” she asked, obviously eager to change the subject. “Did you have dogs when you were growing up?”
He nodded. “When I was young, we lived on the small hobby farm where my dad grew up and there were always dogs around. We didn’t really have house pets but we always had horses and dogs and chickens.”
“Oh, that sounds lovely.”
“It was a pretty good childhood, for the most part. Then my dad died and my mom couldn’t keep up with things. She sold the restaurant and the farm and we moved to the Chicago area to be closer to her family.”
How differently might his life have turned out if his father had not died? Wes probably would have stayed in the Denver area. He might even still be there.
Instead, they had moved to Chicago, where he had struggled in school and became friends with people who hadn’t always had his best interests at heart.
Wes had been involved in a few scrapes during his teen years and had even served a brief stint in youth corrections.
He might have continued on that path, except he had one teacher who had given him the straight truth about the dead-end direction he was headed. For some reason, Wes had listened.
He had determined to change his life. He had enlisted in the Army, where he had worked first as a mechanic and then as a military police officer. He had met and married Lacey while he was still in the service and taken her first to Germany and then to Japan.
Even before he got out, he and a buddy had decided to start a security business. Hard work and determination had turned their fledgling enterprise into a success beyond his wildest dreams.
And then everything had changed.
“Were you going somewhere?” Jenna asked.
It took him a moment to realize she was referring to his leathers and helmet. He suddenly didn’t feel like taking a ride anymore. He wanted to stay here with her in this moonlit garden and enjoy the sound of the waves and the scent of a lovely woman beside him.
That was a dangerous road. He would be much better off climbing on his bike and riding off into the night.
“I was going to take a ride. Nowhere special. I do that sometimes. It’s cliché, I know, but I like to feel the wind on my face.”
“I’ve seen you leave at odd hours and wondered where you go.”
He wasn’t sure how he felt to know she had watched him from her window as he sped off into the night, trying to outrace demons that always seemed to be racing right behind him.
“How long ago did you lose your husband?”
“It’s been four years now. I can hardly believe it’s been that long. It feels like only yesterday. Addie has spent half her life without her father. She hardly remembers him, which I find so sad. Ryan was a wonderful father and adored her from the moment she was born.”
“She won’t completely forget. Ryan is part of her, just as she is part of him.”
“You’re right. I see him sometimes in the way she loves to read every sign we pass on the road or tilts her head when she’s studying something she doesn’t quite understand.”
“He lives on in her.”
“Yes.”
She was pensive for a moment, then smiled. “I’m sorry I kept you from your ride. Thanks for the encouragement with Theo. Don’t be surprised if I become annoying and bring you all my many questions.”
“You shouldn’t expect veterinarian-level answers,” he warned. “I spent a year training puppies. That’s the extent of my knowledge.”
“That gives you a year more experience than I have.”
Her smile flashed in the moonlight, and he had to curl his hands around his helmet to keep from crossing the space between them and reaching for her.
“I’m happy to help with whatever I can do.”
“Thank you. Good night. Enjoy your ride. And I apologize in advance if Theo and I make too much noise going in and out at all hours.”
“Don’t worry about that. I can’t hear anything up on the third floor except the wind.”
“Are you sure you’re not hearing Abigail? If you smell freesia, that’s supposed to be her.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Do you really buy into all the ghost stuff?”
She shrugged with a rueful smile. “Originally I was skeptical when we moved into Brambleberry House. Since then, I don’t know. I’m less skeptical, I guess. I hope that doesn’t make me sound too out-there. I don’t usually believe in that sort of thing, but for some reason living in Brambleberry House leaves you open to all kinds of ideas you might once have thought were unlikely, bordering on ridiculous.”
“I’m surprised there wasn’t a ghost clause in my rental agreement.”
“Did you read all the fine print? There might have been. I don’t know. It’s been more than two years since I signed my agreement, and to be honest with you, when I moved in, I didn’t care if there were a dozen ghosts living here. Addie and I just needed a safe place, which we certainly found here in Cannon Beach.”
He frowned. A safe place? Why? What had threatened them? Her words did certainly explain her general air of unease, especially around him.
Was she still running? Somehow, he didn’t think so.
Even in the short time he had known her, she seemed calmer than she had in the beginning, when he first moved into the apartment. Maybe that was only because she had come to know him a little.
He wanted to press her, but she certainly looked as if she regretted saying anything at all.
“I hadn’t realized how late it is,” she said quickly, confirming his suspicion. “I should go back in with Addie. Thank you again.”
“You’re welcome. Good night.”
He gave the dog one last pat. “Good night, Theo. Be good.”
“Considering he’s already chewed up one of my flip-flops and a pair of Addie’s socks, I think we’re past that.”
“He’ll outgrow the chewing. Get him a couple of nonrawhide bones he can chomp on. Or you can freeze some wet puppy food in one of those sturdy chew toys you bought at the pet store and give him that. When he’s outside, of course, where he can keep the mess in the grass.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks. Come on, Theo.”
With that, she hurried back inside the house, leaving the scent of her, strawberries and cream, floating on the breeze. Along with lilacs and...was that the smell of freesia? He wasn’t sure he even knew what that was and didn’t know how to find out. Maybe he would have to make a trip to the garden center to see if they had any of the flowers so he could do a scent test.
The concept made him roll his eyes at himself. Was he really buying the idea that the house might be haunted?
It didn’t matter. He was staying put, no matter how many ghosts the house might hold.
Jenna hurried up the steps to her apartment and closed the door behind her. Theo plopped down immediately, as if their trek out to the garden had completely sapped him of all energy.
She could only hope.
“You had better sleep all night now,” she said sternly. “I don’t feel like going out there at 2:00 a.m.”
The puppy yawned, stretched and closed his eyes, right at her feet.
“Nope.” She scooped him up. “You need to sleep in your crate.”
She set him in the large crate the shelter had suggested. Theo seemed completely comfortable in the space. He immediately curled up on the soft blankets she had folded into the corner.
She could only hope she would sleep as well, but something told her she might be up for a while, remembering that conversation with Wes.
Had she really blurted out that she believed in ghosts?
The encounter played back through her mind, and she suddenly realized something that had been haunting the edges of her subconscious since he moved in.
Wes Calhoun was lonely.
She did not know why she had that impression, but she was suddenly convinced of it. He had come out of the house with a glower she wasn’t even sure he was aware of. Nor did she think he realized how that glower had lifted when he spotted her and Theo.
Poor man. He had moved to Cannon Beach to be closer to his daughter and likely knew few people except those he worked with and his ex-wife and her new husband.
She understood where he was coming from. She had certainly felt alone when she first moved to town, though she had had Rosa, her dear friend from college.
Rosa had convinced her to come here in an effort to escape the numbing terror she had lived with for months because of Aaron Barker.
She thought she had fled far enough away so that she and Addie would be safe here in Cannon Beach. Aaron had no idea one of her dearest friends lived here. She knew she hadn’t mentioned Rosa during any of their three dates, before she broke things off when his obsessive control began to manifest itself.
She had been wrong about being safe here in Oregon.
By a cruel twist of fate, an accident, really, he had discovered where she had fled and had followed her here, with horrifying consequences.
She pushed the darkness away. She could not let him intrude further in her life. She had already given him far more than he deserved. He was gone now. She was safe, at least physically.
She had attended counseling after Aaron had ultimately been arrested. She had worked through much of her trauma from the long months of relentless anxiety. She had come far, especially if she could chat with a big, dangerous man in a moonlit garden beside the sea.
She hadn’t been completely comfortable, but she suspected that might have to do with her growing awareness of him as more than simply her neighbor.
The man seemed in dire need of a friend, someone he could turn to when the nights seemed long and empty.
She wasn’t sure she could be that person, nor could she completely understand why she suddenly wanted to try.