“She’s in the backyard,” he said.
“But you said she can easily go over the fence.”
“I left her tied up for the moment,” he said. “I could hardly just bring her into your house without making sure it was okay with you.”
She shook her head. “Of course it’s okay with me. That dog saved Danny’s life. Twice.” She walked to the rear door, turned to look at him, and asked, “Do you think it’s safe?”
“I believe it’s very safe,” he said beside her, stepping out on the veranda. There on the corner, stretched out on her side, was Kona, the rope just letting her reach the veranda. He walked over, untied the end of the rope, and walked her inside the house. Stretching in front of the couch, Kona gave Danny a good sniffing over, then laid down on the floor right in front of him.
Danny had immediately slid off the couch and sat right up against the dog’s belly, then stretched out, with his chest over the dog’s chest. Kona just lapped up the attention from the little boy. She didn’t make any move to dislodge the boy. Not a twitch.
“We need to get her a collar and a lead,” he said. “This rope isn’t the best system.”
“Maybe not,” she said, “but it worked okay in the short-term.”
“It did, indeed.”
She motioned at it. “Do we leave it on?”
He hesitated, then nodded. “For the moment, yes.”
She frowned. “How will you go out and get a leash if she’s here with me? I’m not sure I’m capable of controlling her,” she said cautiously.
“I don’t think anybody needs to control her,” he said, “because she’s obviously pretty attached to your son.”
As they watched, Danny’s hand, which had been scratching Kona, slowed and eventually just stopped.
Jessica said, “Do you think he’s asleep?”
“Looks like it to me,” he said, “and that might solve your problem, since you said he wasn’t settling in so well.”
“Well, I knew he was tired, but this, this is too cute.” She shook her head, and Greyson smiled.
Then he got up with his phone, took a picture of it, and sent it to Badger. His response came back immediately.
Well, there’s the bond you mentioned.
Yes, but not necessarily the bond that will look after Kona, he responded. Then he looked at her and said, “I’ll crash here on the couch. Why don’t you take him up to his bed? He’ll sleep better.”
She nodded slowly and said, “Do you think the dog will be upset?”
“No,” he said, “Kona knows.” And he bent down, gently slid an arm underneath the little boy’s chest and legs, then passed him over carefully to Jessica.
She put him up against her shoulder and walked to the stairs. She stopped at the bottom, turned to looked at him and said, “Are you sure you are okay there?” she asked. “There’s not even a pillow or blanket.”
He pointed to a throw and said, “That’s there if I need it, so I’ll be fine,” he said. “I just want to have a short nap so I can recoup some of my lost energy.”
“All right then,” she said. “We’ll go have a nap and come down in a little bit.” He watched as she headed up the stairs, then he crashed on his back, his feet up on the armrest and his head on a throw pillow, then pulled out his phone. She’s gone to have a nap, and I’m standing guard. We need to find this guy before he comes back again.
Chapter 10
Upstairs, Jessica still couldn’t leave her son alone, so she tucked him into her bed and stretched out beside him. He never even woke after collapsing on top of the dog. That’s what she needed—a dog that could go from being half-wild when attacking somebody to being absolutely comfortable, even wanting close contact with a toddler like that.
But her thoughts couldn’t keep going around in circles because she was too damn tired. With an arm wrapped around her son, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
She woke after just a few minutes with that same sense of shock and realization, only to realize that Danny was still right beside her. She snuggled back on the bed, cuddling him a little closer, knowing that this would be something she had to live with for the rest of her life. She owed Greyson so much for recovering her son, but she didn’t have any idea how to thank him.
There he was, lying on the couch downstairs to make sure that nobody came in so they could sleep. And that’s when she realized that he probably wouldn’t sleep at all. As long as she was sleeping, he wouldn’t relax.
She shook her head at that. How completely different men could be. No way her ex-husband would have ever done that. He would have said he would stay awake, but he wouldn’t have. He would have just waited for her to crash, and then he would have crashed too. But somehow she didn’t think Greyson operated like that.
As she lay here, she thought she heard somebody coming up the stairs. She stiffened, her gaze on the doorway. And there was Kona, dragging her rope behind her, coming upstairs. The dog went into Danny’s room first, not finding him there, so Kona came into Jessica’s bedroom. Kona stopped at the doorway, raised her head, and sniffed. Then, as if sensing that both of them were here, she laid down in the open doorway.
On her heels was Greyson. He looked over at Jessica and smiled.
She whispered, “Was she checking on Danny?”
Greyson nodded and whispered back, “Looks like it.”
Kona gave a happy sigh, her tail thumping on the floor.
“She really is looking out for him, isn’t he?”
“I think so, yes,” he
