Taking hold of Olivia’s hand, I turned and nearly plowed into another man. It took me a second to see the badge and realize I was looking at none other than Sheriff Thomas.
“Mr. Calder,” he said, hands on my biceps, smiling at me like I didn’t think he would. If it were me, and some guy came out of nowhere and was showing me up, I would have been pissed. But the older man seemed quite pleased to meet me. “I hoped you would come by the office when you hit town, but I’m happy to get the chance to finally say hello.”
Why in the world would I have gone by his office? I was in town to be a nanny, for crissakes. What the hell was with him?
“Stop in and see me as soon as you’re able.”
“Sure,” I said, offering him my hand. “Thank you, Sheriff.”
He took my hand, leaving his other on my bicep, and really, he looked way too happy. Why the hell was he so happy?
“Jared tells me that you were a Navy SEAL, is that right?”
Oh for the love of God. “Yessir,” I almost growled at him, because didn’t he know he was supposed to be talking to Tavares and Noguchi and not shooting the shit with me?
“And no family back in Chicago.”
I did a slow nod. “No, sir. I—”
Bigger smile. “Excellent.”
He made no sense. “I’m off to get my girl to karate sign-ups,” I said, letting go of his hand and taking a step back.
“Of course, of course,” he said kindly, patting Olivia’s head before trotting over to the two men waiting on him.
I walked through a gauntlet of people who wanted to thank me and pat my back and shake my hand, and then we were out of the throng, and Olivia was leading me down the street.
“We’re walking?”
“Yeah,” she explained as we turned a corner to a park. “We just have to take the shortcut.”
It was a beautiful space, all lush and green and more for running and walking than anything else. As we went by a small duplex that had a sign up in front of it, a woman stepped out onto the porch.
“Ollie.”
Both of us stopped and looked up at her.
“Sweetheart, I know we told you all Monday, but Winston’s ready to come home if you want to pick him up now.”
From the delighted squeal, I knew this was her pet.
Walking into the veterinarian’s office—I finally actually read the sign—we were greeted with some barking, lots of cats in carriers, and two nurses beaming at us.
“Who’s this, Ollie,” the nurse sitting behind the desk asked, smiling at me.
“This is Brann, my nanny,” she told them.
Their expressions were priceless. And I would have thought that they’d be confused or judgmental, but they both sort of melted and sighed. From their reactions, I was guessing that maybe men who took care of kids were high on their list.
I shook both their hands, and the second nurse held on a bit too long, her eyes mapping my entire frame, top to bottom.
The nurse who had called us in came out with a pocket-sized thing that was darling and lost his mind when he saw Olivia. She dropped to the floor and the two of them hugged and kissed and loved on each other, to the cooing of the entire room. No one was impervious to the adorableness of the cute little girl and her precious dog.
“What kind of dog is he?” I asked Olivia as Winston turned to me, started smelling my shoes and wagged his tiny little tail as I leaned over to pet him.
“He’s a Westie, a West Highland Terrier, and we got him right after Mommy died.”
“Gotcha,” I said as the nurse passed first the leash to Olivia, then one of those plastic bones filled with poop bags. “Is there a balance on the account?”
“No, it’s all paid for,” she said, staring up into my face. “He’s good to go.”
Once we were outside, I started down the sidewalk because I could see the karate dojo now, but realized Olivia wasn’t with me.
“What?” I asked as she caught up with me.
“All those ladies were staring at you.”
“I’m sorry?”
“There were ladies watching you at soccer too.”
“It’s ’cause I’m new in town,” I explained to her as she took my hand and Winston trotted along beside her.
“I think it’s because you’re pretty. Daddy said that people used to stare at Mommy too.”
“Well, thank you for thinking I’m pretty,” I said, chuckling over her noticing weird things. “Hey, what was Winston at the vet for?”
“Because he’s dumb and he ate bees,” she grumbled like she was really put out. “I told him to stay away from the flowers, but he wouldn’t listen to me, and then he started eating them like they were treats and ended up with three stingers in the roof of his mouth.”