Candace Havens - Her Last Best Fling

I am losing it. Now dogs are talking to me.

“Did you just say, let me in?”

The dog pawed his shoulder.

Yep, he was crazy.

“Oh, girl, sorry, I don’t have a key. I’d let you in if I could, but I don’t have one. And I have a code I live by. Breaking and entering isn’t an option.”

She barked and then leaped off the porch.

As quick as his sore leg allowed him, he got up and followed her around the side of the house.

When they reached the back porch, she pawed at the door handle and attempted to open it with her mouth. She snarled when it didn’t budge.

“Well, we tried,” he said.

She cocked her head, and he swore she rolled her eyes.

Taking off to a chipped birdbath in the middle of the lawn, covered with dirt, she pawed the rocks surrounding the base of the concrete fixture and barked. Blake limped out to the fountain, more to appease her than anything.

There on the ground was a key.

“Okay, dog. Now you’re freaking me out.” If she had had two legs instead of four, she could pass for human. And she had to be one brilliant pup to relate the key to the door.

As he unlocked the door, he noticed someone peeking over the fence.

He pointed an accusatory finger at the dog. “Fine, but if we get arrested you’re taking the rap.” He patted her on the head. Before he could turn the knob and open the door himself, she nosed it open and stood in the small kitchen, as if waiting for him to come inside. Once he was in, she closed the door with her nose.

Blake had never seen such a thing. The few dogs he’d had when he was a boy could sit and lie down, but that was about it.

Harley woofed and trotted to the living room, where she sat in front of a wingback chair. She nodded at him, as if she wanted him to sit down in it. More out of curiosity than anything, he did. A paw shot out and pushed so hard on the chair he worried he’d go head over heels.

But he didn’t fall.

The dog ducked beneath the chair and tossed out several stuffed animals, a ball and chew bones that had seen better days. Once she had her stash from under the chair, she moved the items one at a time to the charcoal-gray sofa. The booty soon became a pillow as she lay atop her toys, sighing as if she’d been on a long journey.

“Poor girl,” Blake whispered. The sight of her relaxing choked him up.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen her sleep since he passed,” a feminine voice whispered.

Head snapping around, he took in Macy Reynolds’s tight jeans, pink hoodie and those furry boots women wore when the thermometer dipped below seventy. The town was having an unusually cool October, and the temperature hung around the fifty-degree mark. A sleepy angel with no makeup, and more beautiful than she’d been the day before.

“I saw her running past my mom’s house when I left this morning and I decided to follow.” He held up a hand. “I swear she made me unlock the door. She showed me where the key was.”

“I believe it. Evidently the drama was about her missing toys. I don’t blame her,” Macy continued to whisper. “I’m kind of fond of my stuff. I don’t have that much, but what I do have is precious to me.”

Odd since he’d learned she inherited her uncle’s house. He assumed she had tons of stuff.

“What?” She checked her clothing as if she might have missed a button.

“Nothing. I...heard last night that you inherited your uncle’s new mansion.”

She scrunched her face. “Yes, he— Yes.”

“For the record, I haven’t been stalking you. Some of the gossips at the party were talking about it.”

She smirked and moved to the sofa to sit beside Harley.

“Is there an expiration date or something on being the subject of town gossip? I’ve never lived in a place where other people were so in your business. Usually, as a reporter, I’m the nosy one. It’s disconcerting. And I don’t think they like me very much, although I’m doing my best to turn their local into a paper that resembles more than tractor reports.”

He laughed, and the dog opened an eye and glared at him.

“Unfortunately, until the next interesting person moves to town, it’ll be all about you.”

“Yes, but the hero has returned.” She nodded in his direction. “Can’t you be the subject of conversation for a while?”

“Nah. I’m not nearly as interesting as a Yankee woman who wears pencil skirts and sky-high heels. And according to the gray hairs, you have a scandalous past where you combed the world reporting on everything from celebrities to wars. Some man broke your heart, and you’re here hiding away.”

Her eyes opened wide. “Wow. They are good. I wish they’d be as generous with their words with me. Honestly, I know heads of state who give more in an interview than people in this town.”

She hadn’t bothered to deny any of what he’d said, so it must have been true about combing the world and the man who was in her life. He wondered if that relationship was really over. He shrugged. “Give it some time, they’ll come around.”

“Will you talk to me?”

He frowned. “I thought that was what we were doing.”

“No—I mean, yes.” She waved her hand. “In an interview. The Tranquil Waters News should do a feature on the town hero.”

That was the last thing he wanted.

“There isn’t a lot these folks don’t already know. I’ve been gone for about seven years. I’m back, a little worse for the wear but alive. There isn’t much more to tell. I was doing my job but happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

She sighed, not unlike the suffering sound the dog had made. “I should have known. You’re no different than the rest.”

The disappointment in her voice forced him to do something he promised he never would.

“All right, if you want to talk, that’s cool, but not right now. I need to get to the feed store to help my mom.” Small white lie, but he had to stall to gather his thoughts. “I was on my way there when I saw Harley.” At least that part was true.

She glanced from the dog to him as if she were trying to discern the truth. “We could do something a little less formal, if that would make you more comfortable. How about tonight? I could make you dinner at my place.”

He almost laughed at the look on her face as if she couldn’t believe she just asked him to dinner.

“If food is involved, I’m there. If you’re sure?”

She nodded. “How about seven-thirty?”

“See ya then.” He stood.

“Don’t you need the address?”

He chuckled. “The house is where the old Gladstone farm used to be, right?”

“Yes. It overlooks the lake.”

“Trust me. I know that area very well.” More than once, he and his friends had thrown a party at the old barn, which had been torn down years ago.

“Do you need help with the dog?”

“No, I’m going to go grab my laptop and work here so she can rest. I have a feeling she’ll follow those toys wherever I take them.”

“Okay, see ya later.” He patted the dog and walked out the front door.

He had a date. Well, it was technically an interview, but he was practiced at giving nonanswers. He’d done it his entire military career. All of his assignments were classified, so he couldn’t share anything.

Hope she won’t be too mad when she finds out I’m as tight-lipped as the rest of Tranquil Waters.

He started the truck engine. The last thing he wanted was the sleepy angel mad at him.

* * *

“WHAT WAS I thinking?” Macy blurted into the phone. “You don’t invite people you’re interviewing to dinner.”

“Yes, you do. It’s just the dinner’s at a restaurant most of the time,” her friend Cherie chimed in. “Chill, girl. You’re going to have a heart attack. This guy must be superhot to make you so nervous.”

Macy slipped on a pair of flats. After his comment about the heels, she realized she’d been trying too hard. Except for those over sixty, this was more of a jeans and T-shirt town. She was perfectly comfortable in that attire.

It wasn’t until her breakup with Garrison that Cherie, her nearest and dearest friend, forced her to leave Boston and took her for a makeover in Manhattan. They tossed out everything she’d owned and decided to start fresh with a sexy new wardrobe. Add a brand-new haircut that was perfect for her shoulder-length curls. And a newfound passion for accessories. Cherie had convinced her that shoes and purses were really works of art.

She didn’t have to twist Macy’s arm very hard.

But if Macy wanted to fit into the landscape of Tranquil Waters, she’d have to scale back on the big-city wardrobe, etc.

“Superhot doesn’t cover it,” she said honestly. “Scorching might come close. He puts that gorgeous action-adventure star Tom Diamond to shame.”

“Wait. Hotter than Tom Diamond? The man who will be my husband someday, even if I have to shoot him with a tranq gun and stuff him in my trunk? I think it might be time for me to visit Texas.”

“You are welcome anytime. I certainly have the room. And yes he’s that handsome, and he’s sweet to dogs and loves his mother. You know how tough that is for me. He’s like a triple threat. But I have to keep this professional. The last thing I need in this gossip-hungry town is to date its hero.”

“So you want to date him. Hmm.”

“Stop analyzing me and putting words in my mouth,” Macy complained. Cherie never stopped being a psychiatrist, but it was her only vice so Macy put up with her.

“You said the words. I’m just placing them in the proper order for you.”

“Privacy is impossible at any of the restaurants in town. I’m sure that’s why I came up with making the dinner. I wanted him to feel comfortable, to share as much as possible.”

“He’s a war hero, you know there’s not much he can say,” her friend warned.

“This isn’t my first time.” She’d been to almost every war zone in the world the past five years. It had only been the past twelve months that she’d decided to take a permanent position out of the line of fire. Little did she know it was just as dangerous at home.

She’d been shot at, kidnapped twice by insurgents and lost in the middle of the desert. None of that had been as bad as her ex’s betrayal.

“Stop thinking about that jerk. He’s not worth it.”

“How did you know?” Macy laughed at her friend’s incredible insight.

“He called here looking for you again. For a hotshot newspaper publisher, he’s not very good at finding people.”

Macy snorted. He was one of the best reporters ever, and if he truly wanted to find her, he would. But she’d told him if he did, she’d only turn him away again. It was the truth.

“Of course, I told him to stuff it up his—”

Lights flashed across her bedroom window. “Oh, man, he’s here early. Darn those marines and their punctuality.”

Macy stared down at the melee of clothing on her bed and picked up the frilly black blouse on top.

“Put down the black, and choose the red. Men love red.”

“That was scary. Fine. Red it is. I love you and I wish you’d come see me. It’s a nice town but—I still feel very outsiderish.”

“Oh, girl, don’t you worry. They’ll love you as much as I do. Just give them some time and the chance to get to know you. Charm the pants off that marine. That will be a great start.”

The doorbell rang and Harley barked twice.

The big dog had settled in just fine. Macy had even bought the dog her own couch for the family room. The fence had been finished that afternoon, and they’d reinforced the gate with two different kinds of locks.