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September broke into a run back to the house when Shadow yelped. “Baby-dog, I’m coming, everything’s okay.” He sounded frustrated but without the warning snarls she’d learned to recognize and heed. He fed into her emotional state and mirrored it back, and she felt equally attuned to the pup. She no longer questioned it. They were family.
He paw-punched the garden gate and his woofs punctuated the metal jangle. At least his torn claws had healed, but she winced at the memory of the bloody damage. September trotted around to the garden.
Shadow flattened his ears when he saw her. He yawned and voiced a squeaky trill and wagged with clear relief.
She took a big breath herself, mentally shedding the stress from the argument with Sly. “I’m fine, baby-dog, did you worry about me? Sorry for all the noise.” She unlatched the gate and knelt for a moment to thwart his impulse to jump up, squinting her eyes shut and laughing as he nosed and washed her face in a proper exuberant doggy greeting. “Okay, already, I love you too. Ready to go inside? Gotta call somebody about Sly’s car.” He stood tree trunk solid when September braced against his broad shoulders to lever herself upright.
Shadow raced her to the back door, sat, and waited for her. “Good-dog, Shadow.” He wriggled and grinned, watching with expectation for her next words. “Shadow, open.” She coupled the command with a wavelike hand signal, and the young shepherd lunged onto his rear legs and punched the door with his chest and paws.
The door rebounded from the dog’s weight. September bit her lip to keep from smiling, instead tipping her head with one raised eyebrow until Shadow backed out of the open doorway and planted his tail. “Good-dog! Inside.” She gave the final command in the chain, and watched him sprint across the kitchen’s slate floor, nails a tap-shoe clatter on his way to slurp mouthfuls from the oversize water bowl.
She hip-bumped the door closed, kicked off her boots and walked past the stained glass table to retrieve her cell phone from the dark counter. September noted the missed call. Humphrey Fish. She made a face, and deleted without listening. If he’d partnered with Sly on some hair-brained scheme she had even less inclination to return the call.
Her website traffic exploded after the national news turned her into an overnight superhero, and the real pet problems got lost in the tidal wave of curiosity seekers. Good for Fish, his dream came true, but she didn’t need the aggravation or the money. Well, maybe the money. At some point, the lottery winnings would run out, even with her careful investments and management. Meanwhile, the news coverage painted her with a huge bull’s eye. Anyone could easily find her now. It was only a matter of time before she’d have to deal with Victor, for real.
Shadow whined and pressed close as if he could read her mind. He wiped his wet muzzle on her sweats and she absently stroked his head as she dialed the insurance company and explained the situation. Sly would pay for the damage.
The big dog stiffened, muscles rock hard against her thigh. A low growl bubbled in his throat.
“What?” She disconnected but hung on to the phone as she followed the trotting shepherd from the kitchen through the music/office to the front door. His hackles raised, he stared at the door, head tilting to one side. The growls erupted into alarm barks, and he danced around the door with his tail flagged high, begging for it to be opened.
She thumbed one of the deadbolts home before peeking through the adjacent window. A huge cobalt pickup pulled into the drive, and September’s shoulders relaxed. Aaron was early.
He swung down from the driver’s seat with the practiced grace of a cowboy’s dismount. She knew Aaron still rode as often as he could despite her brother’s worried disapproval. She pasted on a smile, opened the door, and used one sock-covered foot to boot Sly’s gift box inside. She’d toss it later.
Aaron loped toward her, one hand waving behind him toward the highway. He yelled something unintelligible.
“What?” She shivered. Despite the clear sunny day, the wind cut like glass.
“Nearly hit it.” Sun-bleached eyebrows shaded his gray eyes, and the corners of his mouth turned down, accentuating his dimples. Women still hit on Aaron, and it drove Mark crazy, but Aaron laughed it off.
“Oh, that car off the road? I called for help.” She gestured with the cell phone. “He missed the curve.”
He didn’t act mollified. Aaron never lost his composure. He balanced Mark’s emotional highs and lows the way her husband had steadied her. When she’d lost Chris she’d run home to Heartland to hide. She bit her lip, and stared at the box she’d kicked into the corner. She hadn’t run far enough. Reminders, even fake ones, reached out to bite when least expected.
She and Mark shared dark hair and a tall slim build, and had also inherited Dad’s tender heart. In the past few months, she’d managed to toughen up. Aaron knew she’d kick his butt if he hurt Mark, and it didn’t bother him because, well, Aaron was that genuine and nice, despite her own initial suspicion of anything good. She hoped Aaron would never lose his fresh-faced optimism.
Now something beyond bad driving had him riled. “Come on inside, you’ll freeze your nibblets.”
He finally laughed. “Yeah, I hate when that happens.” Aaron pulled the door shut behind him before he noticed Shadow’s raised hackles. His scowl returned. “Are you okay? Where’s Macy?”
Aaron was a cat guy and Macy knew it. “He’s around somewhere. Had to separate them for a while, so he’s probably sulking somewhere with his Mickey toy.”
White eyebrows climbed higher, but Aaron had the good manners not to say anything. “You don’t let Macy outside, do you?”
“Perish the thought.” She gave a theatrical shiver. “He’d take on a coyote if he got the chance, but Macy’s no match for them. Shadow’s run off a few, and I worry they’d gang up on him, big as he is.”
“I nearly hit an animal up by the gate. Maybe it was a big skunk, but it’s the wrong time of day. I only caught a glimpse. Yeah, I know Macy isn’t black but it was in the shadows and moved more like a cat.” He craned to see up the sweeping front staircase, and then turned to scan the living area. “Are you sure Macy’s inside?”
September glanced around, uneasy. Unlike many cats that dove under the bed with anything new, Macy loved visitors. And the big cat especially loved Aaron, almost to an embarrassing degree. “Macy? Kitty, where are you?”
When he didn’t appear, Shadow kept by her side, the frown on his furry brow mirroring her own concern. She checked the cat’s favorite perch atop the refrigerator. Empty. She opened the cabinet and pulled out Mickey, but the cat wasn’t there. She crossed to the kitchen stairwell to call. “Macy, come! I have treats.” She waited, head cocked to listen. Shadow woofed under his breath at the “treat” word and licked his lips.
Macy wouldn’t snub both Aaron’s visit and the promise of treats. Granted, even a trained cat wasn’t above blowing off requests now and then. She peeked back over her shoulder, where Aaron leaned against the kitchen island with an odd, vacant expression on his face. “You’re sure you saw him, that he got out?”
Aaron raised his eyebrows as if surprised to see her there. “Who got out?”
Shadow whined, and barked more sharply. He poked his nose at September’s hand for the mentioned treat.
The dog’s bark sharpened Aaron’s focus and he straightened and blinked hard. “That’s...Shadow, right?” He shook his head. “Not firing on all cylinders lately, haven’t been sleeping too well. Better keep the dog inside, he’ll get in my way. I brought the fertilizer mix for the first section of the garden.”
“You said a cat dodged across the road on your way in. I can’t find Macy.”
“Oh, yeah.” He rubbed his eyes. “He’s not in the house after all? I’m sure it was a cat.”
“Maybe he snuck out when I let Shadow into the garden. Macy loves spending time in the garden, but at least it’s fenced and more or less cat-proofed. He’s only been out there on leash, though, with Shadow to keep tabs on his furry butt.” At his name, the dog barked once more.
“Want me to go out the front? You do the garden. We’ll cover more ground that way.” Aaron held up his own phone. “I’ll call you if I catch a glimpse.”
She waited until Aaron left before pulling on heavy tracking boots from the laundry room, and grabbing Shadow’s halter and leash from the wall hook. He cued on the tools and could barely contain himself from bouncing up and down, muttering doggy comments under his breath. The newly trained hide-and-seek game had become one of his favorites, almost as adored as Frisbee fetch or Bear-tug-o-war. “Calm down, baby-dog. Sit.”
He sat. His tail polished the kitchen floor, ears slicked back against his head as she put on his halter and attached the leash. Shadow’s muscles trembled with the effort to contain himself. The dog finally exploded in joyous bounds aimed at her face when the last clasp snicked into place. “Shadow, settle.” He leaned against her, sighed heavily and slurped her hand. “I love you too, baby-dog.” She whispered so that only he could hear, and then stood and squared her shoulders. “But you’re not the only fur-kid in my life. Shadow, want to play seek?”
His head cocked to one side, ears came forward with interest and his happy panting paused. She’d begun teaching him the hide-and-seek game so he’d be able to track missing pets, a skill that would have saved her much heartache a month ago. He’d been successful a few times, but now Macy counted on her, on both of them.
Most cats that got out of the house stayed close to home but remained hidden, and wouldn’t even answer a beloved owner’s call. A tracking dog, one trained to trail pets, was the answer.
After she grabbed Mickey, she led Shadow to the kitchen door, manhandled it open, and stepped outside. If Macy got out, it would have been from this door. September took a deep breath, and waited a moment until the dog’s full attention focused on her. She held the stuffed toy for him to sniff, just as they’d practiced, so that he’d know the scent to track. “Where’s Macy? Macy’s hiding. Shadow, seek Macy!”
Shadow’s eyes lit up, he woofed understanding and his nose dropped to the ground.
