“I don’t think she wants to talk to you.”
“Ma’am, I know she’s your niece, but this doesn’t concern you. She’s got something of mine and I’d like to have it back. I’d really appreciate it if she’d come to the door and talk to me.”
The door closed. He thought he heard low voices on the other side. The door opened again and the skinny one stood in the doorway, blocking entrance. “Okay, you can come in. But only because you work for Harley and he’s a friend of ours. But mind you, we don’t want any trouble in here. If you start anything, you’ll have our local sheriff to deal with. And he’s our friend too.”
“And you might even have to deal with my husband,” the one named Debbie Sue added.
Nick had met the local sheriff, Billy Don Roberts, and he wasn’t worried. But getting crossways with Buddy Overstreet was a horse of a different color. “I don’t intend to start—”
Woof! Bwoof! Bwoof!
The deep barks came from behind a closed door, followed by staccato high-pitched barking, a humming snarling sound and frantic scratching on the floor and on the door. Dammit, they had Buster locked up. A new anger flew through him. “I know one of those sounds is my dog barking.” He looked around. “But I don’t see Miz Walker.”
“She isn’t here,” the aunt said.
“Why are we lying?” Debbie Sue said, her arms crossed over her chest. “She’s in the back room.” She yelled toward the closed door. “Sandi, come in here and take care of this.”
It was a good thing she had spoken up because he was out of patience. He just might call the sheriff himself, even if the guy was their friend.
The aunt walked over to the door to the back room and eased it open. Sandi stood there, holding a shivering, growling Chihuahua under one arm and with the other hand, hanging onto the leash of a little dog that yapped with such vehemence all four of his feet came off the floor with each bark. If she thought she was going to pawn some grouchy bald-headed Chihuahua or some yip-yapping thing that looked like a long-haired rat off on him instead of Buster, she had another think coming.
Buster scrambled to follow her, but she scolded them to “stay” and closed the door against him. He continued to scratch and whine and bark.
“You must’ve forgotten our appointment,” Nick said to Sandi.
“Of course I didn’t. I deliberately avoided it.” She heaved a shoulder-lifting sigh. “Mr. Conway, we might as well stop this nonsense. Your friend’s idea about sharing Waffle was dumb.”
Nick didn’t disagree.
Buster continued to create a commotion at the closed door. “Why don’t you open the door?” Nick snapped. “Afraid to let your allies see who Buster wants to be with?”
The Chihuahua bared its teeth and snarled. She ran her hand over his almost hairless head. “Pablo, be a sweet doggie.” The other little dog let out several loud barks. She yanked on his leash. “Hush, Adolph.” She slid a hand into her pants pocket, pulled out treats and fed one to the jittery Chihuahua, then one to the barker.
From out of the blue, the gentleness she showed to these two ugly dogs touched him. They were dogs with neurotic behavior and would never be claimed as pets. If not for her, no doubt they would have already been put to sleep. The woman was either the nut he had thought she was when he first met her or she had more heart than any one person's body could hold. The thought came to Nick that she would make a great mother. Whoa! Where had that notion come from?
Her attention came back to him. “I’m not afraid of anything and I’m not afraid of you. I don’t know if Waffle was your dog—past tense, Mr. Conway, past tense. You haven’t proved it. If he was, maybe you should’ve kept a closer watch on him. I found him when he was in terrible condition and nearly starved, eating in alleys and out of dumpsters. He had been living on the streets for weeks. He was lucky to be alive. I nursed him back to health and I’ve given him a home where he has good food, regular veterinary care and he’s safe.”
Nick reined in his temper, feeling sheepish and a little guilty. He had no explanation for why Buster had run off from him in the first place, but he knew one thing. In this environment and under these circumstances, venting his anger would get him nowhere. “Ma’am, you said your goal—”
“Please do not call me ma’am. I suspect I’m younger than you are.”
“Ma’am, I was taught me the polite thing to do was call women ma’am. It has nothing to do with your age. As I started to say, you said your intent is to find good homes for the animals you rescue. I’m here to tell you Buster did have and will have a good home with me. Always.”
“Finding homes for the animals I rescue is my intent, but Waffle’s different from the other dogs I’ve taken in,” Sandi replied. “I love him and he loves me. I’m not going to just give him to you. I’m willing to give you one or even both of my other large dogs, Ricky and Fred. I’m looking for homes for them. They’re—”
Nick stopped her. “Ma’am,” he said as softly as he could manage, given his state of mind. He hadn’t expected her to be so honest. “That just won’t work. I’ve had Buster since he was only days old. We’re friends. We’ve relied on each other for several years. Having him around helped me through a rough time. I’ve trained him to be a cattle dog. You’ve seen that he knows me. He wants to be with me.”
Her eyes began to glisten. “He and I are friends too.”
Tears? Shit. His memory flew backward to
