Chapter 15

Red’s heart expanded with happiness as Sam locked the consortium door and they walked out into the twilit summer night, hand in hand.

They were halfway to her car when a white puppy toddled out into the road at the same time a sports car rounded the corner from Main Street, gathering speed on its way out of town. The dog was the picture of innocence, wagging from tongue to tail, blissfully unaware of the four thousand pound vehicle bearing down on it.

Suddenly Sam was tearing straight into the car’s path. From the center stripe down Highway 47 he raised a halting hand. Brakes screeched as sheer momentum propelled locked tires forward, leaving long, black skid marks on the asphalt.

While the car bounced on its springs, sending dust motes dancing in the evening sun, Sam scooped up the errant dog and jogged back to where Red stood rooted with her hand clapped over her mouth.

As the car zoomed away, a woman loped up with a leash looped around her hand. “Sparkle? Sparkle! Thank God. I’ve been chasing him for blocks.”

Sam transferred the squirming bundle into his mistress’s arms.

“Thank you so much,” she said.

She looked at Sam for a response, but he hadn’t uttered a word since the rescue. Hands on hips, he turned and walked several yards into the parking lot.

“You’re welcome.” Red dismissed the woman with a smile and a wave. Then she went to Sam, curled her arm around his shoulder, and guided him back toward the building.

He stopped when he saw the direction she was headed. “Thought you were going home.”

Her hand ran down his arm, her fingertips pressing stealthily into his inner wrist. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re pale, your skin is clammy, and your pulse is racing. Are you sure you’re—”

Before she could finish, Sam made a dash for the bushes.

By the time he turned back to her, his usual front was back in place. “Last time I order the lunch special at Casey’s.”

“Sam. You’ve been traumatized.”

“It’s nothing.”

“You love dogs that much?”

He scowled at her like she was the crazy one. “What else would it be? I couldn’t stand there and watch a—” His voice caught. “An animal get killed.”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked. I was thinking maybe it was your overdeveloped sense of powerlessness and injustice.”

“What kind of talk is that?”

“You risked your life for a dog. It was heroic. But seriously, Sam, you could have been killed.”

“I said it’s nothing. Forget it. I’m fine.”

“You’re a little green. Why don’t we go back inside and you can lie down for a bit. I’ll put a cool cloth on your head and take your pulse again after you’ve rested.”

“I said I’m good. Let’s go.”

She let him turn her around and walk her to the parking lot, where he opened her car door. She slid in, still concerned for his health.

“You know that book on kissing we’re going to write?” he asked. “Remind me to include a chapter about when not to kiss. Like after you hurl.”

“Owens. It’s not funny. I’m worried about you.”

He stood with one hand on the hood of her car and the other on his hip. “Told you, it was the lunch special.”

“Have you ever thought about adopting a dog of your own?”

His grin evaporated. He slammed the car door.

Red expected him to stomp off, but instead he just stood there, dazed, like a lost little boy.

Red’s heart went out to him. She cranked down the Impala’s window.

“What did I say to upset you?”

“Already had the best dog there ever was. Riggley. There’ll never be another one like her.”

Red smiled softly. “Riggley. That’s a nice name.”

Sam lifted a hand and turned to go. “I’ll call you about dinner.”

Red sat there in her car and watched him stalk away until he disappeared

around the corner of the consortium.

It wasn’t something Sam had eaten that had made him retch, she thought. It was something eating Sam.