“Thanks,” she whispered. “This is so hard that I didn’t think about how difficult it must be for you.” She turned and looked at the dog that rested his head on his paws and looked back at her with sad eyes. “And for Maverick.” The Belgian Malinois raised his ear when he heard her speak his name before he turned to look at Rob for direction.
“We’ll stop back tomorrow. What time do you get off work?”
“Five. I’m usually home by five-thirty.”
“Okay. We’ll see you then. Andiamo, Maverick.” The dog got to his feet and followed Rob out the door, jumping up into the front seat of the truck as soon as Rob opened it. He looked back at the house and saw Mary Jane’s petite body framed in the doorway. Shit. What had Trevor gotten him into? How could he help Mary Jane, when he could barely deal with his own grief? This might be the most difficult thing he’d ever done.
Chapter Two
When her alarm went off the next morning, Mary Jane groaned and rolled over to silence it. She knocked it off the nightstand, and it continued to beep, the sound getting louder as the volume intensified. It was designed that way in case you slept through the alarm, but jeez, this wasn’t what she needed right now. She fumbled to find where it had landed on the wood floor and finally silenced it. She sighed. After tossing and turning, thinking about Trevor’s death all over again, she’d cried herself to sleep after three.
She rubbed her forehead, wishing she could make not only her headache disappear but also the intense loss that Trevor’s declaration of love had triggered. Why hadn’t he told her? Didn’t he know she’d loved him forever?
She stumbled into the bathroom and groaned when she saw herself in the mirror—eyes swollen and face blotchy from crying. She could call in sick, but she’d have to get one of the volunteers to cover for her, and there would be questions she didn’t want to answer. Better to buck up and go in. Maybe it would take her mind off Trevor and Maverick—and Rob.
She’d research military service dogs and how to handle them. She snorted. As if she could learn any of that from books. Her old tried-and-true method of researching what she wanted to know wasn’t likely to be of much help actually managing Trevor’s dog.
She patted a cold washcloth over her eyes, and the swelling went down a bit. She dressed and dabbed on a little makeup, to even out the worst of the blotches, and added only mascara. This was Ridgeview, and the people who frequented the library wouldn’t expect her to be all dolled up.
Before going out the door, she texted her mother to let her know she’d miss their weekly dinner. Typically, she and her brother Nick had dinner at Mom’s every Thursday night. They’d been doing it for years, recognizing that Mom needed some regular companionship since Dad died. Why her mom didn’t date didn’t make sense to MJ. Her father had been gone, driving a semi all over the United States, only coming home every two weeks. Her parents loved each other deeply, but she’d never seen signs that they had one of those great love affairs that would make him her mother’s “one and only.” Not like her and Trevor.
Her phone rang, and she wasn’t surprised to see her mother’s name appear on the screen. “Hi, Mom. You got my text, I see. Hang on a second. I’m getting into the car.” She fastened her seat belt and turned on the Bluetooth attachment. “Sorry. I should have called last night. Trevor’s buddy came by to bring me a letter.”
“Oh, sweetheart, what did it say?”
“That Trevor loved me. That he was sorry he hadn’t told me. That he was sorry he died.” She sniffled, trying to keep back the tears. “Listen, I can’t talk about it. My eyes are already swollen. Anyway, Rob, that’s his friend’s name, is coming over after work. Trevor wanted me to have his military dog, Maverick. He was injured during the same explosion that k-k-killed Trevor. Rob is going to teach me how to talk to Maverick and how to take care of him.”
“That sounds like a lot of responsibility.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. I’ve never had a dog before. Now I’m getting a military dog who responds to hand signals and Italian spoken with an East Tennessee accent.”
“Goodness. I can’t imagine! Honey, why don’t you invite Rob to come with you for dinner? That way, we can help support you.”
“Let me think about it, Mom. It might be nice to have your backup. Rob is kind of intimidating.”
“Just let me know. I’m making spaghetti, so you know there’ll be plenty.”
“Thanks, Mom. I don’t want him to think I’m too incompetent to do anything without the help of my mommy and big brother.”
“Pfft. That’s just silly. Nobody would think that.”
“We’ll see.” She hit the button that disconnected the call and pulled into the library parking lot. Maybe working in her safe, familiar job was exactly what she needed.
***
Rob woke with the sun shining in his eyes, after a night filled with nightmares. He’d woken in a cold sweat around zero three hundred to Maverick’s nose nudging his shoulder. Eventually he’d managed to go back to sleep.
Now, Maverick had moved the threadbare drapes in the window of the seedy room in The Ridgeview Motel and stood at attention watching something outside. Rob slid out of bed and into his workout shorts before checking to see what had the dog so interested. A motorcycle engine started and roared away from a nearby space in the motel’s parking lot. “What is it, buddy? What do you see?” He sneaked a peek and saw a leathered rider moving rapidly
