Chapter 19
Ali realized with a little jolt she’d been pacing the floor. She never did that. But the house felt so…empty.
She walked over to where Ziggy was wrestling happily with his stuffed owl.
He hadn’t managed to break the hooter yet, so the quiet sounds still emanated from the little thing, seeming to inspire Ziggy to keep pawing at it.
She didn’t mind the noise. She’d bought the toy specifically because she figured she’d be hearing a lot of it, and it was the least annoying sound of all the squeaking things she’d heard as she stood there in the pet store.
She leaned down and picked up the pup, who was surprised, but judging by the way he immediately began licking at her face, happy.
Which was an improvement on this morning, when he’d spent an hour or so exhausting himself—and her—by searching every corner of the house repeatedly, looking for his missing playmate.
She understood. She missed Cutter, too. She adored her little imp, but she couldn’t deny there was something about that dog, something special.
When he was here she was petting him so often, just to prove to herself that she hadn’t imagined that odd feeling of comfort, that gentle soothing, that he somehow managed to transmit.
She’d noticed, when they’d been at the Foxworth headquarters, that Colby did it, too.
And he got the same puzzled but smiling expression she probably wore every time she did it.
She missed Hayley, too. She was a little surprised at how wound up she’d gotten in all this, and above all how much she wanted to help Colby Kendrick somehow get out of this awful situation. Sure, the big mistake—marrying that harridan next door—was his, but how long should he have to pay for it?
And Grace, sweet, smart little Grace shouldn’t have to pay for it at all. She hadn’t chosen her mother.
Ziggy wiggled in her arms, demanding to be let down. She set him gently on the floor, and he scampered off. She didn’t bother to follow him this time, because she knew the path. He’d be checking every room in the house just in case Cutter had been hiding, or had snuck in in the last ten minutes.
The house must seem as empty to him as it does to me.
She assured herself it was just going to take time to adjust. And Hayley’s visit, in the guise of her college friend, was over anyway.
She’d made her assessment of the creature next door, which had been even more severe than Ali’s own, given Hayley had more experience dealing with the type.
But while Cutter had gone home with his mom for the weekend, he would be back, Hayley had promised.
“Working undercover?” Ali had joked.
“Exactly that,” Hayley had said, with a knowing look that said she wasn’t joking in the slightest.
As Ziggy trotted busily down the hall toward her office, Ali found herself wondering if Colby had moved into the Foxworth headquarters.
Maybe he’d be doing that this weekend, while Grace was gone.
And—entirely unrelated, she assured herself—she had the thought that before she even broached the idea to Liz, she should find out exactly how long it took to walk from here to there, especially taking into account Ziggy’s curiosity about everyone and everything, and his much shorter strides.
Decided now, she went back to the bedroom to change from her comfy sheepskin boots into some sturdier shoes for walking.
The rain appeared to have abated for now, but as she well knew, it could return with a vengeance at any moment, so she grabbed her slicker with the hood from the rack by the front door.
She stuffed a small towel in one pocket in case she needed to dry Ziggy off, put her phone and ID and keys in another, and they were off.
By the time they were two blocks down, she was laughing at herself.
She had so underestimated how long it would take for Ziggy to walk even this far.
When the time came she might have to carry the little one, and let the well-trained to keep pace with a human Cutter set the speed.
Then Ziggy could walk all the way home. Colby and Grace wouldn’t have quite as much time together as she’d hoped, but she was sure they’d both think it was better than nothing.
And if she ended up in trouble with the Hollens in case they discovered it had been not accidental but planned, then so be it.
She’d count it as a matter of pride to have people like them mad at her.
Legal trouble would be a little rougher but with—she still grinned inwardly at the thought—Gavin de Marco on their side, even the Hollens would think twice about starting that gear grinding.
In the end it took them just over twenty minutes. If she carried Ziggy and hurried, she thought she could cut at least eight minutes off that. That would give them that much more time together.
And you have to give it to them. No staying and hovering just because it makes you feel good to see them together.
She hadn’t counted on Ziggy somewhat hysterically realizing, no doubt by scent, that this was Cutter’s place. The little guy pulled on the leash until she was afraid he’d choke himself.
“He’s probably not here, Ziggy,” she explained. “He’s home with Hayley and Quinn, not here.”
But what about Colby?
She yanked her mind off that path, and tugged the pup toward the open meadow behind the building.
She didn’t think the Foxworths would mind, given it was their idea.
And Ziggy seemed willing enough, since she wasn’t pulling at him to leave.
And he could apparently scent Cutter in the lovely open space as well, because he went back to sniffing madly.
He was so excited, his tail wagging so fast, that if it had been longer and he lighter she thought he might lift off like the helicopter she assumed that pad on the other side of the building was for.
She laughed as Ziggy took a short tumble off the small rock he’d tried to climb over, rolled and came up on his paws, looking at her as if to say, “I meant to do that!”
“Very graceful,” she complimented him.
“Ali?”
She spun around, startled. She hadn’t heard a thing, she’d been so focused on Ziggy. Her heart gave another jump. Colby. He was here. Standing there, just a yard or so away, smiling at her. He had the best smile, and she wanted to see it more often.
She realized she was just standing there, gaping at him.
“Sorry,” she said, flustered. “I didn’t know you’d be here already.”
But I hoped…
She raced on before she let that thought slip out.
“I wanted to find out exactly how long it would take to walk here. Turns out with Mr. Little Guy, it takes longer than I thought, so I figured on the way here I’d carry him and then he can get his walk on the way back.
We don’t want the mother to get mad at how long Grace and I are gone, or worse, get suspicious about it. ”
He was staring at her now, and she thought she must have sounded like some wound-up idiot.
She tried to think of something to say, something calmer, less jittery, but she couldn’t.
And she couldn’t trust herself to deliver it calmly even if she did think of something, because he made her so darned… edgy.
“You sound just like Grace when you say that. ‘The mother,’ I mean.”
“She does have it down,” Ali agreed, able to smile almost normally now. “So, you’re moved in here, temporarily at least?”
He nodded. “Didn’t take much. Not like my place is too far away, for whatever I forgot.” He hesitated, then said rather quickly, “I just put coffee on. Want to come in?”
She couldn’t think of anything she wanted more just now, but only nodded because she was afraid of what she might blurt out.
“I still have trouble believing these guys,” he said as they stepped inside, waving at the interior as if to indicate the Foxworths in general.
She bent to let Ziggy off the leash. He was fairly well house-trained already, although not perfect, but since he’d just spent a long time outside she figured it was safe enough. Just sniffing out where Cutter had been would keep him busy for a while.
“What really impresses me is how little they blow their own horn,” she said as she straightened up. “You go looking and aside from brief mentions in some news reports—many of which the reports say they limit—the only things you can find are posts and comments from the people they’ve helped.”
“I know.” He shrugged as he poured coffee into the two mugs he’d gotten from one of the upper cupboards. Obviously they’d showed him around. “I did some looking, too. Mostly out of shock.”
They took the coffee and sat in front of the fireplace.
Ziggy, interestingly, immediately trotted over to Colby and nudged at his leg.
Then he raised up and put his paws on the seat beside him.
And Ali couldn’t deny that she liked the fact that he immediately and very gently lifted the pup up onto the couch between them.
Ziggy circled a couple of times then plopped down. He let out a long sigh as if utterly exhausted. As perhaps he was, walking that distance on his short little puppy legs.
“Yep, I’ll definitely carry him here,” she said, reaching out to stroke his soft fur.
A moment of silence spun out, then Colby said, his voice sounding a little tight, “I really don’t know how to thank you for this. For offering to do this, to take all that time to get Grace here.”
“We don’t have the mother’s permission yet,” she cautioned.
“I know. But that you’d offer to do it at all…” He trailed off, staring down into his coffee mug as if it held the answer to all the world’s questions.
She only wished it were that easy, especially for him. He deserved it. Grace deserved it. And she was more certain of that than she had been of anything since Josh had died.