“I don’t mind. Maybe she can come with me to check out the dogs?”
Arella immediately smiled. “Pups?” she asked excitedly.
Julia laughed. “You’re more than welcome to try, but I’m afraid you won’t really get to test their abilities. They love that little girl and will dote on her.”
“That’s all right,” Kashif said with a smile. “I don’t need to see them run today. What do you say, Arella? Want to play with the puppies with me?”
“Yes! I want puppies!”
There was an unreadable expression on Julia’s face when she bent over and picked up their plates. “I know you didn’t come back to this farm just to race. Don’t give up on her yet.”
“I tried to come back and see her before.”
“I know,” Julia said sadly. “Wyatt told me. You’re lucky her father didn’t shoot you on the spot. He’s so protective over Kristy. He’d be here now if Kristy hadn’t pushed him out. It had always been his dream to travel when he retired, but he wanted to stay for Arella. Kristy wouldn’t hear of it.”
“He lied to her, though. She spent this whole time thinking that I didn’t care.”
“Can you blame us? Your bodyguard didn’t have any nice things to say about Kristy. We wanted to spare her any more pain that you might cause her.” Julia leaned forward and wiped Arella’s mouth. He couldn’t help but notice that the toddler got more food on her than in her.
Kashif handed her another napkin and mulled over the information. He could imagine how Kristy felt. Abandoned and betrayed. He knew because he’d felt the same. Still, the past was the past. “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore. She obviously found someone else. I only want her to be happy.”
“He’s not, you know.”
“What?”
“Arella’s father. He’s not around at all. And she’s not seeing anyone. If that’s what you wanted to know.”
Smiling gratefully at Julia, he unbuckled Arella from her booster seat and lifted her down. “I get the feeling that it won’t be easy.”
“No, but it will be worth it.”
Arella kept a tight hold on his hand while she tugged him away from the kitchen.
Even if he didn’t remember the way to the dog runs, it wouldn’t have mattered. Arella knew exactly where she was going. Although they called it the dog run and the dog kennel, Kashif knew that the dogs didn’t stay there. Kristy always had a soft spot for the huskies and let them sleep inside the laundry room.
A young man waited for him by the fence where about a dozen or so dogs ran around inside. He eyed Kashif and Arella and grunted. “They won’t want to run when they see her.”
“That’s all right,” Kashif said with a smile. “I’m just observing them today.”
As if on cue, the dogs immediately rushed to the gate and tried to lick the little girl through the fence. Kashif was surprised when Henry opened the gate to let her in. “Is she safe in there?” he asked instantly.
“Absolutely. The two alphas, Dusty and Jane, wouldn’t let anything happen to that girl, but the rest of the pack loves her. It’s almost crazy when you watch them play. They’re usually hyper, but with her, they’re so gentle.”
The dog handler wasn’t wrong. As soon as she was in the gate, the atmosphere changed. They jumped around her, licked her, and chased her, but they never did anything to hurt her, and if she accidentally fell, they all surrounded her to make sure that she was okay.
“Does Kristy still train them?” he asked curiously.
“She trains the new pups, but she doesn’t have time to look after them like she used to. I do most of the conditioning, but she checks up on me, and I’m very good at what I do.”
Henry clearly thought Kashif was concerned about the dogs, but really, he was concerned about Kristy. She used to love training the dogs. It was important to him that she be happy.
“Dusty and Jane are retired, and Punkin is still too young to race, but you’ve got some great choices here.”
“Punkin?” Kashif asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Kristy let Arella pick the name. First it was Doody, so I figured Punkin’s not so bad.”
Kashif laughed, and shook his head. As he leaned over the fence, he heard Arella talking seriously to the dogs. “I’m a Princess. You haft