not going to worry about anything else.”
Larry hesitated. She was right. People didn’t have to decide their future up front. But he also knew that the more time that went by, the greater the risk one of them would get hurt.
He could handle it, if it was just him. He couldn’t handle it, if it was Crystal who paid the emotional price.
“Things can change,” she continued. “Look at my employment and my apartment situation.”
Larry couldn’t help but smile. “Wasn’t that a waste of a day?”
“We learned a lot about the seamy side of Charlotte.”
“Sweetheart, those were things I didn’t really want to learn.”
“Pocono,” she repeated. “I’ll even stay in that fancy-ass castle suite with you,” she cajoled.
“You will?”
She nodded.
He sighed. What was he going to do, cancel the weekend? Not much chance of that.
“You going to work tomorrow?” he asked.
She nodded. “Better talk to Kenny and make myself some money. You?”
“I have to head up to Myrtle Pond and work on the house.” He’d been putting it off all week. “Pick you up on Friday?”
She nodded, as he started to rise.
“You don’t have to leave,” she pointed out.
Oh yes, he did. “The kids are in the next room, and I have this sneaking feeling your mother’s waiting to see my taillights exit the parking lot.”
Crystal gave in graciously, and he headed home, telling himself Stella, Steve and Dean were all wrong, and that Crystal might change her mind about children.
The scientist in him knew he was grasping at straws. But the mathematician in him understood chaos theory. Despite all the complications, he couldn’t completely discount the notion that he and Crystal might have been preordained.
AFTER DROPPING THE KIDS off for the second-last day of school, Crystal spent the morning alternating between working on her cookbook and daydreaming about Larry.
He couldn’t have children.
What did that mean?
Did it mean anything at all? They’d barely started dating. It was way too early to be thinking about a white dress, a dog and a picket fence.
As if he read her mind, Rufus rose from where he was sleeping on the mat and padded over to the sofa. He nudged her laptop a few inches and rested his head on her knee, squinting his eyes against the breeze that wafted in through the open window.
“Okay, so we’ve got the dog part already,” she told him, scratching between his ears, trying not to feel maudlin at the choice between Larry and children.
For goodness sake, she didn’t even know if the choice was hers to make yet. Their feelings were deep, but it was the first blush of romance. And Larry was clearly having second thoughts, after her mother and his son had expressed their opinions.
Rufus gave a heartfelt sigh that seemed to echo her own emotions.
He’d spent the night sleeping on the foot of David’s bed, and David hadn’t made a peep. The dog had clearly bonded with David. As he had with Larry. Crystal smiled. He’d even started spending more time with her. Memories of his original owner must be fading.
She leaned down and cupped his head with her hands, stroking the damaged ear. “We’re going to be okay, you and me,” she promised.
His brown eyes gazed up at her with trust and adoration.
There was a knock on the door, and Rufus immediately went on alert. He didn’t bark, but he trotted into the kitchen, positioning himself at the end of the hall, watchful while Crystal moved to the door.
Through the sheers on the window, she could see a strange man on the porch. The man didn’t look particularly dangerous. He was about sixty-five, wore a neat business suit and was carrying a briefcase. Still, she was glad of the dog’s presence.
She twisted the lock and opened the door, wondering if he was selling something. Her little apartment tucked behind and atop of the Softco complex didn’t normally attract salespeople. But you never knew.
“Ms. Crystal Hayes?” the man asked.
“Yes?” Her curiosity grew.
“I’m Fred Smythe, attorney for Mr. William Chandler.”
The name meant nothing to her, and for a second she wondered if it was a scam of some kind. She leaned against the end of the door, her skepticism rising.
“Can I help you with something?”
“I tried to call but I seem to have the wrong phone number.” He glanced around. “Would it be possible to come inside and talk?”
“I don’t think so.” She felt Rufus’s body against the back of her knee and wondered if her body language had brought him closer. Smart dog.
Fred Smythe cleared his throat and straightened his tie. “In that case.” He paused. “I’ll get right to…Mr. Chandler was involved in an automobile accident on May twenty-second.”
Were they looking for a witness? “I didn’t see-”
“He was, unfortunately, killed in the accident.” The man’s gaze strayed to Rufus. “I understand you may have been caring for his dog?”
Crystal’s stomach hollowed out, and her shoulders slumped. They’d come for Rufus?
No. She couldn’t let them.
“May we talk inside?” Fred asked again.
“Of course,” she choked out, stepping back to let the man in.
She gestured to her small kitchen table. “Please.”
Fred glanced around before taking a seat on the small, wooden chair, laying his briefcase on the table.
Crystal sat across from him, while Rufus took a position at her feet. She swallowed, folding her hands on the tabletop. “Do they want him back?” she rasped. “The family?”
Fred flipped open the clasps on his briefcase. “Mr. Chandler didn’t have family.”
Hope rose within Crystal.
“I was left with the task of finding the right home for Aldo.”
Rufus perked up at the sound of his name.
Crystal looked down at Rufus. “Aldo?” she asked him.
He cocked his head and blinked at her, seeming to confirm she’d finally got it right.
She patted him on the head. “Aldo,” she repeated. “Never would have guessed that one.” Then she turned her attention back to Fred.
“You were a difficult woman to find,” said Fred.
“I found him tied up to a tree,” she explained. “I left my name at the Treatsy-Sweetsy.”
“It took them a while to remember you had. And the scrunched napkin was difficult to read.”
Crystal thought back to the young clerk. She could see how the napkin might have gotten lost. “I guess I should have called back again.”
She glanced back down at Rufus, Aldo. Maybe, subconsciously, she hadn’t wanted to be found. She certainly knew that she didn’t want to give him up now, for David’s sake if nothing else.
“I have this nephew,” she told Fred, “he and Rufus have really bonded. And, well, Rufus and I…” She scratched between his ears. “It took us a little while longer, but we’re pretty cool now, too. Is there, like, an application form or something I could fill out to try to keep him?” She just hoped it didn’t involve a credit check.
If money was an issue, maybe she could get Larry to apply. They could have joint custody or something. And Larry had a backyard. He might be an all-around better candidate.
“You want to keep the dog?” asked Fred.
She gave a quick nod. “Absolutely. He’s a wonderful dog.”
Fred glanced at Rufus, took in the food and water dishes and the leash hanging on the coat hook in the
