Good Guys Love Dogs (28 page)

and turning the key in the ignition.

Disappointment assailed her as he
eased back out onto

the main road. The feeling was
inexplicable, unjustifiable. He

was doing as she'd asked. Why then
did she feel so

miserable?

The drive to the high school parking
lot seemed to take

forever. Colby ached for him to
touch her, to cover her hand

with his, wrong as she knew it to
be. She focused on the

road ahead, telling herself she'd
done the right thing. When

he stopped beside her car, she slid
out of the passenger side

and held the door open. “I
think it's better if we don't see

each other anymore. For all
concerned.

“Colby—

But she wouldn't let herself stop
and listen to him. She

turned to her truck, fumbling to get
the key in the lock. He

cal ed out again, but without
looking back, she tore out of

the parking lot while she stil had
the will to leave.

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41

olby pul ed into her driveway at
nearly three a.m.

CPhoebe sat on the front porch
waiting for her,

huddled up in Frank's old varsity
football jacket.

Colby got out of the truck and
jogged across the

yard. “Phoebe,
are you all right? What's wrong?

Phoebe sniffed and wiped her cheek.
“How about

what's not? It'll take less time.

Colby sat down on the step and put
an arm around

her friend's shoulder, almost
welcoming the distraction

from her own troubled thoughts.
“Come on, tell me

about it.

“There's not much
to say. One day I thought we had

a great marriage, and now. . .now
everything's a mess,

she said with a broken sob.

Colby hugged her closer. “Where
are the kids?

“At their
grandma's.

“Come on, then,
she said, getting up and pulling

Phoebe to her feet. “I'll
make coffee. You'll talk.

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INGLATH COOPER

Phoebe followed Colby into the
kitchen and sat

down. In a couple of minutes, Colby
had the coffee

made, filling a cup for each of
them. She took a fortifying

sip. “What
happened?

Phoebe's face crumpled. “He
said he had some kind

of business dinner tonight. And he
wasn't home when I

left at midnight.

“He could have
had a flat tire. Anything might have

happened.

“He always takes
me with him if he has business on

the weekend.

“Have you talked
to him about any of this, Phoebe?

“I'm afraid to.
What if he's having an affair? I don't

think I want to know. And, on the
other hand, I think I'll

die if I don't find out something
soon.

“What good does
it do to assume the worst,

Phoebs?

“What else could
it be? She sighed, looking

miserable. “Our
fifteenth wedding anniversary is coming

up next week. I never thought I'd be
celebrating it like

this.

Colby hadn't wanted to believe Frank
would ever do

such a thing. But maybe she was just
being naive. Why

was it so hard to believe? Why had
she thought him any

different from most men? Any
different from Ian

McKinley, who had kissed her
tonight, who had wanted

more than that? Ian McKinley, who
belonged to someone

else.

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She'd driven home, ridiculing
herself for letting

things get so out of hand. How far
would they have gone

if they hadn't been interrupted? She
would like to think

she'd have come to her senses, but
who was she kidding?

She forced her attention back to
Phoebe. “Did you

leave him a note? she asked.

Phoebe nodded, sniffing.

“Then why don't
you stay here tonight? Lena's

staying at Millie's. You can sleep
in her bed.

“Are you sure I
won't be putting you out?

Colby squeezed her shoulder and
said, “Never.

Phoebe stayed until almost ten the
next morning.

The two of them were up early,
though, talking and

drinking coffee. Colby listened
while Phoebe talked.

Hearing the strain in her friend's
voice, she realized

Phoebe had been holding her worries
in, hiding behind

her usual front of good spirits. She
felt guilty for not

having taken Phoebe's concerns more
seriously. She'd

felt sure there had to be some
explanation for Frank's

behavior, but now, she honestly had
no idea.

Once Phoebe had left, she
straightened up the house,

admitting to herself that she didn't
know about a lot of

things anymore. Her relationship
with her daughter. Her

growing preoccupation with an
unavailable man.

What had happened to her steady, if
somewhat

predictable, life? How many times
had Phoebe accused

her of being set in her ways? Of
refusing to open herself

up to the possibility of falling in
love? If that meant she

didn't have to walk around with a
knot in her stomach

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INGLATH COOPER

and a yearning for something she
couldn't have, then

she'd choose that option any day of
the week.

She took a shower, got dressed and
drove to the

clinic to check on a Springer
Spaniel named Hermie that

had been hit by a car on Friday. The
dog had been badly

hurt with internal injuries and a
broken leg. Andrea

Morris, the dog's person, as she
liked to be known,

absolutely doted on the dog. She'd
been nearly hysterical

when she'd brought him in. Colby
opened Hermie's

kennel now and stepped inside. He
raised his head and

looked at her, his eyes noticeably
more alert than

yesterday. She bent down and rubbed
his ears. “Hey,

fella. Glad to see you're feeling
better.

The dog whimpered again. She stroked
the fur

beneath his chin, and he tipped his
head back a little

farther, obviously enjoying the
attention. She looked at

the cast on his leg, checked his
temperature, relieved to

see it was normal. He had also eaten
some of the food in

his bowl, another good sign. She
went to her office and

called Mrs. Morris to tell her that
Hermie was doing

much better. The woman's relief was
tangible.

“If you'd like to
come see him, someone will be here.

Just knock at the back door.

“Thank you, Dr.
Williams. I'll do that.

Colby hung up, taking satisfaction
in knowing she'd

relieved the woman's worries. She
drove back home and

spent the rest of the morning
preparing lunch for Lena,

who was supposed to be home by
twelve o'clock. But her

mind was only half on what she was
doing. She kept

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reliving last night, hating herself
for it but unable to stop

thinking about Ian. She wasn't naive
when it came to

chemistry between a man and a woman.
There was

definitely chemistry. That and then
some.

The memory of last night was both
sweet and

poignant. Poignant, because she knew
it couldn't happen

again. She was a God-fearing,
churchgoing, small-town

veterinarian and mother. Women like
her didn't have

affairs with engaged men from
Manhattan who looked as

at home in tailor-made suits as she
did in manure-

spattered rubber boots. It wouldn't
be anything more

than an affair. And in the light of
day, she knew that an

affair was out of the question.

The front door opened, then closed.
“Lena. Is that

you? she called out.

No answer. Lena appeared in the
kitchen doorway,

her expression stony.

“Hi, honey, Colby
said cautiously. “Did you have a

good time last night?

Lena folded her arms across her
chest and stared at

her. “I was about
to ask you the same question.

She faltered under the criticism in
Lena's voice.

“What do you
mean?

“Mom, how could
you? The whole town's talking

about you and Mr. McKinley.
Everybody knows he's

engaged, and the rumor is that
you're moving in on him!

The attack left Colby stunned.
“What?

“Well, aren't
you?

“Where did you
get that idea?

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INGLATH COOPER

“Maybe from the
way you were hanging all over him

at the dance last night. I guess
that's why you haven't

gotten in touch with my dad yet.
You're too busy trying

to steal Mr. McKinley from his
fiancée to bother.

The injustice of the accusation cut
like a knife. Colby

had been walking on pins and needles
for the past few

weeks, waiting for Doug to call,
hoping he would want to

meet his daughter. “Regardless
of whatever resentment

you're feeling toward me, Lena, I'm
your mother, and I

won't tolerate that kind of
disrespect.

Lena's mutinous expression wavered a
bit. Colby

never spoke to her in that tone of
voice. But she'd just

about reached her saturation point.
She turned around

and went outside, sitting down in
the rope swing attached

to the maple in their backyard.

She pushed off with her feet, taking
the swing higher

and higher. Higher than she'd ever
allowed Lena to go.

Higher than she should have.

The rebellion felt good. It eased
the anger inside her,

anger quickly followed by an
avalanche of guilt. How had

things with Lena gotten so out of
control? She ached for

the kind of relationship they'd once
had. How she would

have talked to her about last night.
For the light-hearted

moments in which she joked with her
about bad dates

and bad days.

Not once had she ever imagined
things would be like

this between them.

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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS

Lena's accusatory words played
through her mind

again.
Maybe from the way you
were hanging al over him at the

dance last night.

Had she been hanging all over him?
Did the rest of

the town think that, as well? If her
face revealed the

feelings swirling around inside her,
then they couldn't be

thinking anything else.

She had fallen for a man who
belonged to another

woman.

She, who had been perfectly content
with her life.

She, who had not gone out looking
for this. Who

considered herself immune to the
kinds of feelings she'd

known last night in Ian McKinley's
arms.

She'd let things get out of hand.
Way out of hand.

She'd embarrassed her own daughter
and made a fool of

herself in front of half the town if
what Lena said was

true.

She stopped the swing with her feet
and sat staring at

the grass beneath her shoes. She'd
made the correct call

in telling Ian they couldn't see
each other anymore. As

much as she might have wished for
things to be different,

she'd simply met the right man at
the wrong time.

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42

n Monday, Lena skipped school and
hitched a

O ride to the health department in
the next

county.

Getting the appointment with a
doctor had been a

breeze. She'd cal ed that morning,
and the doctor would see

her at two o'clock.

She arrived at the clinic two hours
early and sat in a

diner across the street, drinking
lemonade and trying to stil

the butterflies in her stomach.

There were a couple of moments when
she nearly

chickened out and headed home. But
this was the right

thing to do. If she wanted Luke
McKinley to like her, it

was the
only
thing to do.

Colby had just gotten in from work
on Thursday when

the phone rang. She dropped her
grocery bags at the door

and dashed for it.

“Hi, Dr. Wil
iams. This is Millie. Is Lena in?

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“Hi, Millie. Just
a minute. I'll check. She covered the

phone and cal ed up the stairs for
Lena. No answer. “She

must have gone out for a run or
something.

“Oh, shoot. You
don't see her algebra book anywhere

nearby, do you? I need to borrow it
if she brought it home

with her.

She craned her neck for a glimpse of
Lena's book bag

and spotted it on the living room
couch. “Just a sec. She

put down the phone and reached for
the backpack. There

were two books inside. English Lit
and Algebra. She put the

bag back on the couch. It caught the
side of a cushion and

slid to the floor, spilling the
contents beneath the coffee

table.

She sighed and picked up the phone.
“It's here, Millie.

“Great. I'l cal
her in a little while and come over and

get it.

Colby hung up, then picked up the
contents of Lena's

bag. She dropped to her knees and
gathered up what she

could readily spot: pencils, paper
clips, a notepad. She put

everything inside and zipped the
bag. Just as she got up

from the floor, she saw the edge of
something sticking out