The back door slammed. Nick and his fiancée Tess had arrived.
“Hi, all,” said Tess as she entered the kitchen arm in arm with Nick.
“Oh, man, Mom, you read my mind. I was hoping for fried chicken!”
“Go wash up, all of you. As soon as I take the biscuits out of the oven, we’ll eat.”
MJ followed Nick and Tess out of the room and into the bathroom where they took turns washing at the sink.
“Where’s Rob?” Nick asked.
“He had other stuff to do tonight. He’s planning to work with me and Maverick when I get home.”
“How’s that coming?”
“Really well. Rob’s a great teacher and gives me a lot of feedback and support. He can tell I’m getting more confident.”
“Does that mean he’ll be leaving soon?” Her brother gave her an expectant look, as if he couldn’t wait.
“I don’t know. We talked about dating.”
Tess squealed. “Seriously? How neat!” She engulfed MJ in a big hug.
Her enthusiasm was contagious, and MJ started to feel better. “I don’t know where it will lead, but I like him, and he seems to like me. We’ll see where a relationship can go.”
“Well, kiddo, I’m happy you’re finally climbing out of your funk. Trevor was a good guy, but I hated to see you put your life on hold,” Nick told her.
A wave of grief hit as it always did when she thought about Trevor. “He was Rob’s best friend, so he’s grieving too. It makes it okay for us to remember Trevor and talk about him.”
“Well, I wish you the best, MJ. You’re my sister and I want you to be happy.”
Mom’s voice interrupted, calling them to dinner.
“Thanks, Nick,” MJ said as they walked into the dining room. Her family was the best.
After stuffing herself with Mom’s wonderful cooking, she gave everybody a hug, and drove home, ready to see Rob and Maverick. Her heart leaped as she pulled into the driveway and shut off the car. She’d do whatever it took to make things right.
As she got out of the car, the back door opened, and Maverick ran to meet her. “Hi, Maverick.” She dropped to her knees and hugged him, and he responded with a cheek lick. She heard a laugh and looked up. Rob. He opened his arms, and she stepped into them.
“I’m sorry. I was a jerk this morning,” he said into her ear. “I was embarrassed about last night. I made an appointment with the VA clinic. I hope they’ll be able to help me with the PTSD. I couldn’t get an appointment for two weeks, though.”
“Oh, Rob. I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. It hurt my feelings that you didn’t want to come be with my family. I thought maybe you didn’t like them.”
“No, it’s not that. I didn’t want them to judge me because of the PTSD.”
They spent moments talking in each other’s arms, and then Rob lowered his mouth to her lips and kissed her silly. When they finally broke apart, Maverick had gone into the yard, sniffing around a bush along the back fence.
“We’d better get to work,” she reminded Rob, although she didn’t really want him to stop kissing her.
“Damn it. You’re right.”
She laughed and called Maverick over. He seemed reluctant to stop his sniff-fest, but when she called again with iron in her voice, he came to her, and she attached his leash.
“This time, let’s go around the block in the other direction. You want him to be flexible and listen to your directions as to where you want him to go. We’ll go around the block and then, when we’re about three-fourths of the way around, we’ll turn around. I also want you to use ‘stay’ and ‘sit.’ I’ll walk about ten feet behind you. I want you to be on your own more.”
She did as he’d suggested, and she and Maverick made several trips around the block going different directions, without Rob being on their heels. It pleased her that he had confidence in her ability to manage the military canine. They’d come a long way in a relatively short period. He brought out her strength and encouraged her determination. Now she planned to use that determination in their relationship. She wanted to see where it could go.
Chapter Seventeen
They’d settled into a routine for the past two weeks. Coming clean about his PTSD had opened the floodgates to nightmares nearly every other night. Rob didn’t know which was worse: nightmares or flashbacks. He seldom had flashbacks unless a truck backfired, or he heard gunshots. Both were frequent in this part of rural Tennessee as old cars and trucks seemed to be around every corner, and hunting or homemade shooting ranges contributed to the sound of gunfire.
Rob’s nightmares added the element of creative horror as he dreamed of his buddies blown up and falling to the earth in a million little pieces, children getting murdered by their own parents when the suicide bomb strapped onto a mother’s belly detonated early, and all other manner of man’s inhumanity to humans and animals played through his dreamscape like a horror movie.
Maverick slept in MJ’s room because, apparently, his nightmares disrupted the poor dog’s sleep or triggered Maverick’s own PTSD. How did MJ manage living with two emotionally crippled former warriors? At least she’d stumbled on a system for waking him up without putting herself at risk.
He’d woken more than once to the light in the guest room flashing on and the sound of her voice from the bedroom door, ordering him to wake up. Occasionally, Maverick added his barking to the chaos that swirled around him as he woke from the depths of horror-filled images.
Today was the day he’d tackle his demons with the help of a psychologist from the VA’s outpatient clinic. As
