Was that true? Would they still be married?
“Jaws will be gutted,” she said casually. “It was love at first sight.”
“It was gratitude. If you’d cut that wire off his neck, he would have bonded with you.”
“If I’d cut that wire off his neck, I’d have two damaged wrists by now. You showed some serious animal magic there, Flynn.”
“Being kind to animals isn’t magic.”
“It is when you do it. You have this quiet way about you—” She frowned as she tried to put her observations into words. “It’s as if animals know that they’re safe with you.”
“They are safe with me.”
She saw the Warrens’ barn out of the corner of her eye and turned to look at him. “You were supposed to be dropping me back there.”
“I’ll drop you at your door.”
“I was planning on walking. Do you ever listen to anyone?”
“Depends on whether they’re saying something I want to hear. Do you ever stop arguing?”
“Depends. I enjoy a good argument. It wakes my brain up.” Smiling, she sat back and let herself enjoy the view, trying not to think about the powerful length of his thigh only inches from hers or the conversation they weren’t having. “It’s hot today. That last half hour through the forest was sweaty. It’s at times like this I hate having this cast on my arm. Actually that’s not true. I hate having it on my arm the whole time.”
“When does it come off?”
“With luck at the next appointment.”
“I’ll fly you there.”
Last time she’d argued. This time she didn’t want to. She told herself it was because it made sense to accept his offer, but knew it was really because she enjoyed spending time with him. “Thank you. I appreciate that. And when I get home, the first thing I’m going to do is swim in the sea.”
She hoped the freezing waters of the bay would cool her down because nothing else was working.
A WEEK LATER Zach delivered a group of bankers on a corporate team-building exercise to their exclusive lodge on the banks of the Kennebec River and then flew back to the island.
He’d taken on more flying jobs than usual recently. He figured that the less time he spent on Puffin Island, the less likely he was to bump into Brittany.
She was still spending most of her time up at the camp, despite the fact that the last of the children had now left.
Encouraged by Philip, she was pulling together plans for the following year and liaising with the university. Sometimes, when he was passing, he heard her laugh coming from Philip’s office, that rich, infectious giggle that always made him want to smile, too.
That was just one of the many reasons he’d decided to spend more time in the air.
It was his bad luck that a storm had been forecast, the result of which would mean spending more time at the camp.
To delay his arrival, he stopped at the vet’s practice to check on Jaws.
“He’s doing so well!” A delighted Sara led
him through to the kennels at the back of the practice that led onto open fields and farmland so the dogs had room to run around.
Zach watched as Jaws pounced on a squeaky toy. “You bought him that?”
“No, Brittany brought it a few days ago. He loves it.”
“She’s been visiting?”
“She’s been coming by every day. She didn’t mention it?” Sara looked surprised. “I guess she forgot or something. She spends at least an hour with him and yesterday when we were crazy busy, she took him for a walk, although I think she ended up carrying him most of the way. Can’t have been easy with one arm in a cast.”