Creed and Hannah made their way across the yard to the main house. He opened the back door, releasing an amazing aroma. The familiar scents from Hannah’s kitchen helped soothe his lingering tension.
“Something smells good,” he said, holding the door open for her.
“I don’t know how much of an appetite we’ll have after talking about those poor dogs.” She caught his eyes as she crossed in front of him. “You okay?”
“Sure.” But there was no putting off Hannah. She knew him too well. “Makes me angry, if anything.”
She nodded and continued into the kitchen as if that was exactly what she expected to hear.
“It’s just you and me for dinner,” she told him. “Jason and Brodie have poker night at the Segway House.”
“That’s right. I forgot about that.” He greeted Hannah’s dogs, Lady and Hunter, but they were more excited to see Grace. “How do you think that’s going?”
“Poker night?”
“Yeah. Every time I ask Brodie all she says is that she’s learning a lot. But she says that about so many things.”
“Truthfully, I think she’s having a ball. She trusts Jason’s friends, and I think she feels safe at the Segway House. The one person who has a problem with it is Taylor.”
“Taylor? Did Jason tell you that?”
“Uh huh. She’s been working some nights at the hospital so she can get extra time off for Christmas to be with her little boy. But poker night lands on her only nights off.”
“I’m sure they’ll work it out. He’s crazy about her.”
“Speaking of Christmas, the boys are asking when we can put up the tree.”
Hannah’s boys were still young enough to believe in Santa. In years past, they’d have the tree up and decorated the day after Thanksgiving.
“You’re worried about Brodie?” Creed asked her.
“Aren’t you?”
It was just over a year ago that Creed found his sister. After sixteen years, he’d almost given up.
Brodie had disappeared from a rest area during a family road trip. She was eleven at the time. Creed was fourteen. Hannah called it a miracle when Brodie was found in an old, abandoned farmhouse. It was nicknamed the Christmas house because its previous occupant had been committed to a nursing home just before Christmas. The family hadn’t bothered to take down the decorations. Instead, they simply abandoned the house.
“Has she ever talked to you about it?” Hannah asked.
He shook his head. He didn’t like to think about what his sister had gone through. And he certainly didn’t want to remind her. She had been working with a therapist, but their sessions were becoming less frequent.
“She seems to be doing really well.” But he looked to Hannah for reassurance.
She waited too long to agree, then said, “Maybe I’ll ask Jason.”
“Jason?”
Hannah raised an eyebrow at him. “You didn’t notice? Those two have been thick as thieves since y’all got back from Nebraska. I think worrying about and looking for you brought them a lot closer.”
Maybe he’d been too concerned about Grace’s injuries, and Maggie’s revelation that she loved him.
“How close are we talking?” He matched her raised eyebrow, and she immediately waved a hand at him.
“I don’t mean like that. You’re right when you said Jason is crazy about Taylor.”
But Creed had noticed the way Brodie sometimes looked at Jason when Jason wasn’t watching. He would never claim to be an expert on women—far from it—but he thought he recognized that look.
“Also, speaking of the Segway House,” Hannah had moved on, “your tuxedo arrived.”
As a dog handler, Creed had trained himself to control his emotions, but he now allowed an audible groan.
“Stop that!” she laughed at him. “You’re always the most handsome man at the ball. I love how all the other women are so jealous of me. Plus, I only ask you to do this once a year.”
“You’re right.”
“It’s for a great cause.”
“I know.”
“You sure Maggie’s not coming?”
“For the ball?”
“Yes! It’s a chance to get all fancied up.” She looked up from the chopping board. “You didn’t even ask her?”
“I’m pretty sure it’s not her kind of thing. Besides, it’s already a challenge for her to take off an entire week and come down here for Christmas.”
“You sound like maybe you’re expecting her to back out.”
“I just know it’s a big deal. It’s a lot to ask.”
“Did you ask? I thought it was her idea.”
“It was.”
“But?”
Creed wasn’t sure how Hannah could sense things about him that he wasn’t able to identify himself. His relationship with Maggie O’Dell had been complicated from the first time they worked together. Since then, over the course of about two and a half years, they had saved each other’s lives, exchanged secrets, confided vulnerabilities and learned to trust each other. And all of this happened before they admitted that they loved each other.
Creed knew that admission came at a tremendous cost to Maggie. It made a huge difference to her. But for himself, he didn’t think it changed much. Not in the way he thought about her or how he treated her. And unfortunately, confessing their love for each other certainly didn’t change their circumstances.
Their jobs, their homes, their lives were rooted in separate places. Places that were sacred to them. Places they’d worked hard to create for themselves. And those places were about a thousand miles away from each other. Admitting they loved each other didn’t change that. He didn’t expect it to. He didn’t expect Maggie to pack up and leave Quantico, her home, her brother, and her friends. He wouldn’t ask her to do something he wasn’t willing to do.
This place, this acreage with the training facility and kennel and the dogs. He and Hannah had worked hard to build what was much more than a business. It wasn’t something he saw himself ever leaving.
Just then, he realized Hannah was still waiting for a response, looking at him with her hands on her hips.
He shrugged. “I just know it’s a big deal. And besides, I already have a date for the ball with the most beautiful and powerful woman that’s going to be there.”
She smiled and rolled her eyes at him as she filled a bowl with lettuce and freshly chopped vegetables. He could tell she knew there was more, but she wouldn’t push.
The fundraiser reminded Creed of Sully and Gunner again. And he was anxious to change the subject off of him and Maggie.
“Hannah, does the Segway House allow dogs?”
“I don’t see why not. Jason and Brodie took Scout and Hank with them. I know for a fact those two dogs will be under the poker table.”
“Yeah, everybody knows them. Knows they’re connected to you. But if someone who’s homeless and has a dog comes in for a meal or needs a place to stay, would they let the dog come on in? Would they let the dog stay in a room with them?”
She stopped to think about it. “I don’t recall anyone staying with a dog. But I helped write the rules. You know I wouldn’t have put something in that said no dogs allowed.”
“But if dogs aren’t mentioned in the rules, is it possible some of the employees and volunteers don’t allow them?”
“I guess it’s possible. Are you saying someone with a dog was turned away?”
“This guy named Sully told me most places won’t let him bring in his dog. I’d hate to think he couldn’t go get a hot meal just because he couldn’t bring his dog inside.”
Creed realized he wasn’t just thinking of Sully and Gunner. In the back of his mind, he knew he’d never leave his dogs.
No, it was more than that.
If anything, the conversation with Dr. Avelyn simply reaffirmed his priorities. His dogs would always come first. All their dogs had been abandoned. Creed had rescued them. They depended on him to be there. To make things right. To make sure they were never hurt or abandoned ever again. He would put himself in the line of fire before he’d ever let anyone hurt one of his dogs. He’d already done that a few times.