“Yes. The boy showed up at his office.?
?
It didn’t surprise her that he said no more than that.
Zach didn’t gossip. He didn’t chat. He respected Travis’s right to keep whatever secrets he wanted to keep, while nudging open a door so that he could reveal them if he wanted to.
What secrets was Zach keeping?
Thinking about that, she slid out of the car and reached for the dog, but Zach was there before her.
“He’s heavy, and you already have one damaged wrist.” He lifted the dog carefully and Brittany saw the dog give his hand a swift lick.
Her heart kicked against her chest.
“Can you believe that? He’s already in love with you. Are you sure it’s a he and not a she?” She was rewarded with one of those lightning-quick smiles that made her feel as if she’d touched a live wire.
It had always been the same between them and ten years had done nothing to dilute the strength of the attraction. She didn’t need to wonder if he felt it, too, because she knew he did.
She wondered if he was the reason she’d never become deeply involved with a man. She’d had relationships, satisfying relationships, but she’d never replicated the crazy chemistry she had with him.
It wasn’t youth or inexperience that had been responsible for those feelings that had swept her away in her teens.
It was Zach himself.
Her head spinning as if she’d just stepped off a merry-go-round, she followed him into the clinic where they were met by Sara, the vet nurse, who also ran the small animal sanctuary on the island.
“Zach!” It was obvious from the pink that gathered in her cheeks that she was a Zachary Flynn supporter. “Chief Cook called, so we knew to expect you. Go right on in. Dr. Brent is waiting for you. Hi, Brittany. Good to see you.”
“Hi, Sara.” They’d been at school together, a couple of years apart. Brittany remembered Sara as a gentle girl who had excelled at biology and taken the class fish home every summer. “How long have you been working here?”
“Since the start of the summer. Dr. Brent gave me the job. It’s great to be back on the island.” She stroked her hand over the dog’s head and said, “Oh, aren’t you adorable. What happened to you?” Jaws grunted gratefully at the contact and slobbered on her hand.
“Did you say Dr. Brent?” Zach shifted the wriggling dog. “What happened to Dr. Tanner?”
“Got a job over in Portland. Small animal practice. Dr. Brent is very good.” Her mouth tightened when she saw the wound on the dog’s neck. “Wire? If I found the person who did that I’d inject him with something that would keep him down for a week. Does he have a home?”
“None that he’s going back to.” Zach’s mouth was grim and Sara nodded in agreement.
“You can’t take him while you’re flying all over the place and he shouldn’t be near children until we know more about his temperament, so do you want him to stay in the shelter until we can find someone to adopt him?”
Brittany looked at the ugly, slobbering dog and felt a pang. Even she had to admit that his appeal wasn’t immediately obvious. He was the sort of dog most people would walk past on their way to a cute spaniel or a sturdy Lab. “You think someone will take him?”
“Why not? There’s someone for everyone, right? At least that’s what Gran tells me when I moan about still being single.” Ignoring the slobber and the risk to her life, Sara took Jaws from Zach and gave a tut of disapproval. “You’ve no flesh on your bones. We’re going to have to do something about that. You’re going to be eating gourmet food as soon as Dr. Brent has taken a look at you.”
Zach and Brittany followed Sara through to the surgery where the island vet, Gabe Brent, treated the wound and gave Jaws a thorough going-over. When they walked out an hour later, a bandaged and drugged-up Jaws had taken up temporary residence with Sara, and Zach was considerably poorer.
Reeling from the cost, Brittany pulled open the car door. “Holy crap, I paid less than that for my rent in Greece. Why didn’t I train as a vet? Do you want me to pay half or are you going to sell one wing of the Cessna?”
“I’ll manage. Are you going back to camp or do you want a ride home?”
“Home, but you don’t need to drive me. If you could just drop me on the corner of Main and South, I’ll walk from there.” She slid into the passenger seat. She still hadn’t touched on their conversation of the night before even though she wanted to. She wanted to know more. She wanted to ask him what he’d meant when he’d said that sometimes not trusting kept you safe. But she knew that Main Street in the middle of the day wasn’t the time to broach a subject Zach rarely touched. “You’re not going to offer to adopt Jaws?”
“No. That dog needs love and attention to feel secure. He deserves a stable home. I can’t give him that.”
“Why?”
“You know why. Love, stability and security aren’t words that appear in my vocabulary. If they were, we’d still be married.” He pulled into the flow of traffic and she felt her heart bump.