SUNNY BREATHED OUT a sigh of relief the next afternoon as she and the twins headed toward Mary’s store.
Working with the other teenagers in her mom’s program didn’t seem like it was going to be that bad. She liked the twins, and she liked Mary and the bookstore. Apparently, there was some work Mary needed done outside the place, and Mom had volunteered them.
That meant she didn’t have to watch the awkward interactions between her mother and William. Couldn’t they just admit they liked each other and get on with it?
It also meant she didn’t have to work with Caden and feel guilty about getting him discovered by his weird parents. That was a relief, especially since he wouldn’t even look her in the eye.
And then she heard a voice behind them. “Hey, hold up,” William called. “Caden’s going to be on your crew.”
They all looked back, and there came Caden, trudging toward them with all the enthusiasm of a prisoner on his way to the electric chair.
“What’s he doing this program for?” Aiden asked. “He’s not a dock kid.”
“He’s nice,” Avery said, and that made Sunny look at her with narrowed eyes. Did Avery like Caden?
“How do you even know him?” Aiden asked.
“Math Camp, a few years back. Hey, Caden.”
Caden brightened for a second, seeing Avery, and then frowned again when his gaze met Sunny’s. He looked away.
“Know anything about working with tools, building stuff?” Aiden asked. “Working at all?”
Sunny figured Caden would take offense at Aiden’s tone, but he just snorted. “Unfortunately. My parents are crap about fixing things, so I had to learn.”
“You fix stuff at your house?” Avery asked. “I’d have thought you’d get workmen in.”
“Sometimes it’s easier to just do it myself.” Caden clearly didn’t want to talk more about it.
And sometimes, Sunny thought, when your parents have issues, neither you nor they want outsiders to come in. That was why, according to William, the threat of having someone from the school interview Caden’s parents had pushed them into letting him do the program.
They reached the bookstore and got their instructions from Mary. She wanted big window boxes for flowers built, to cheer up the front of Lighthouse Lit. They hauled out her supplies and tools, and then they all stood looking at the stack of wood.
“Um, well...” Sunny actually wasn’t good with tools herself. She’d volunteered for this gig just because she liked Mary and the bookstore, not because she knew how to build things.
“Video?” Avery pulled one up on her phone and they all gathered around.
Except when Caden ended up next to Sunny, he made an excuse and moved to the other side of Avery.
Fine. She ignored him as they sketched out a plan and started sawing boards to the right length.
It was actually kind of fun. It was sunny, warmish, and lots of people stopped to ask questions and even admire their work. Pretty soon, they’d nailed together a couple of decent window boxes and were taking a break before figuring out how to paint and then attach them.
“So,” Avery said, “that was a pretty spectacular fail on your boat the other day.”
Sunny glanced at Caden. “Yeah, it was my fault. I was being stupid.”
“Why’d you do it?” Aiden asked.
Caden focused hard on his phone. Probably a blank screen, or he was telling someone how annoying Sunny was.
Obviously, he was leaving the explanation to her. “We were trying to find some information about the dog abuse.”
Caden frowned like he didn’t know what she was talking about.
Avery nudged her twin. “We heard about that. There’s some weird stuff happening to the dogs around here.”
Aiden nodded.
“Like what?” Sunny asked.
The twins looked at each other. “Sometimes we sneak out,” Avery said finally.
“Yeah?” Caden looked interested in that part. “Where do you go?”
“Ever go back to Victor’s Hummock?”
“Not for a while,” Sunny said. She knew the place as an old hunting and camping spot.
Caden looked up from his phone. “My dad used to take me there when I was little.”
“Weird place for a rich kid,” Aiden said.
Caden shrugged.
“Anyway—” Avery glanced at the two boys and then focused on Sunny. “There’s some dogs out there, in cages. They’re not treated very well.”
“A lot?”
“About five or six.” She paused, then added, “We think there might be dogfighting. There’s this pit, like, and some benches around it.”
Sunny’s jaw dropped. “Here? That’s awful!” She’d seen a TV special on Michael Vick and it had given her nightmares afterward.
Not to mention that Venus’s mom had done a painting of dogs fighting in a pit.
“There has to be an audience for that,” Aiden said, “and money. It’s all about betting.”
“So there’s gotta be some people around here who know about it,” Avery said, “but we’ve been asking around the docks, and so far, nothing.”
Avery looked at Caden. “Maybe it’s not dock families. You need to ask around the rich neighborhood, see what you can find out.”
“Considering I’m totally grounded except for this, that won’t be easy.”
“Hello, social media? Message some people.” Avery rolled her eyes.
“If we find out there’s dogfighting, what do we do?” Sunny asked slowly. “People who would organize that can’t be very good people.” She thought of the wounds on Xena and Muffin. “Anyway, our dogs are nice. How could they be trained to fight?”
Aiden shrugged. “Used as bait.”
Fury rose in Sunny, and Caden looked mad, too. “You don’t mean that.”
“Pretty sure it happens,” Aiden said.
“We have to find out about this and stop it,” Sunny said. “We should go to the police.”
“They’re not going to believe us, without evidence,” Aiden said.
“Then we find out when the next fight is,” Avery said, “and get the evidence.”
ON WEDNESDAY, WILLIAM felt a little happy about the fact that Sunny and Muffin were coming over for another training session. Working with the dogs helped him shut out his confusion for a short stretch of time each day.
Yesterday, he’d hoped working with the teens would provide similar solace, and he and Bisky had managed to avoid each other, but he’d still been incredibly conscious of her. Conscious of how she was keeping her distance, so he had, too.
He wasn’t even sure why anymore. He just knew that being around her made him risk staring at her in longing, or sweeping her into his arms, and neither seemed appropriate when he felt like such a bad bet for a relationship.
He liked Pleasant Shores. He didn’t know if he wanted to go back to his old job. He even felt like he was getting better, mentally and emotionally. Like maybe life could be worth living even amidst his pain about Jenna.
It was being around Sunny and Bisky that did it, but the good feelings weren’t unmixed. The connection with them was in equal parts wonderful and painful. He wanted a family, but he didn’t trust himself with one.
He was out in the yard, putting Xena through her paces to get her warmed up, when he saw Sunny and Bisky approaching with Muffin trotting beside them.
Immediately, he went hot and cold inside. Xena whined.
He watched them come, trying to settle himself. “Didn’t know we’d have an audience,” he commented when they were within earshot. Then he could have smacked himself in the head for how unwelcoming that sounded. “Want something to drink?”
“You didn’t tell him I was coming?” Bisky scolded. “Sunny, you know better than that. You can’t just bring an unexpected guest to someone else’s house.”
“You’re not an unexpected guest, you’re an old friend,” Sunny said, shrugging. “Anyway, I figured if I asked, he’d say no.”
“I wouldn’t have said no,” William protested. He looked at Bisky, who looked back at him and lifted her hands, palms up. Kids, you know how they are, was what her gesture implied.
He did know how kids were, because of Jenna. He remembered her blundering ahead doing something that turned out to be socially awkward for him and Ellie. The memory made him smile a little, because Jenna’s “so what” shrug had been so similar to Sunny’s.
“Let’s train!” She brought Muffin closer to Xena. “We were about, what, six feet apart last time? Is she warmed up?”
“Yes and yes,” he said.
“Watch how she’ll let Muffin get closer this time,” Sunny said confidently, so William commanded Xena to sit, showing her the beef jerky she’d get for good behavior.
Sunny walked Muffin past, first at about five feet away, then about four.
“Good girl!” William fed her the jerky and rubbed her chest. “She got a little tense on that last pass. Maybe we should stop there for right now.”
“You’re doing good!” She high-fived him. “You’re reading dog body language. Pretty soon, you’ll be a pro.”
He smiled at her enthusiasm. She was a good kid. A great kid, really, and so much like her mother that he felt like he was looking at Bisky sometimes, instead of Sunny.
“Here, Mom, hold Muffin. We’ll do the ‘Come when called’ command. Xena can practice not getting hyper about it.” Sunny walked to the other side of the yard. “Let her go when I call her.”
“Really?” Bisky hesitated and looked at William. “Won’t she run away?”
“Nope. Your daughter is good.”
“Okay.” When Sunny gave a high-pitched call, Bisky let Muffin go, and sure enough, the dog ran directly to her.
“Now do it with Xena,” Sunny ordered.
“Hope you don’t mind being bossed,” Bisky said to William as he handed her the leash.
“Not by someone who knows what she’s doing. Sunny’s terrific.” In fact, he thought Sunny was ten times better with dogs than the woman Mary had hired. Though, apparently, that woman had gotten angry when Mary had given her feedback, and she hadn’t gotten along with a couple of other dog owners she’d spoken with. It didn’t look like she’d be in the job for long.
His hand touched Bisky’s as she took the leash, and William felt the contact all the way from his fingers to his heart. He had to fight the desire to grab her and hold on.
He tore himself away and jogged over to Sunny’s side of the yard.
“Call her,” Sunny encouraged.
He did, and Bisky let go, and Xena came racing to him, tongue flopping out of her mouth, what looked like a smile on her face. She barreled into his arms and he rubbed her scarred sides, his heart contracting with something like love.
“Give her a treat,” Sunny said, “but her real reward is getting that attention from you. You’ve built a bond with her.”
It was true, and William realized that whatever his future plans included, Xena would have to be a part of them.
They banged some trash can lids together to practice having the dogs stay calm despite loud noises. Then Sunny had Bisky approach to pet Xena, to make sure she could sit politely rather than hiding behind William.
It worked, and Bisky looked up at him, still petting Xena. “She’s doing great.”
“She is,” he agreed, and knelt to pet her as well. She’d sat politely for Bisky, but when William petted her, her whole back end wiggled, a clear display of happiness.
“Look at that! She’s crazy about you!” Bisky’s genuine happiness made William smile, and she was smiling back.
William got a little lost in Bisky’s eyes, and then it was like they both remembered their issues. Simultaneously, they looked away and backed apart. William’s face felt hot.
“I’m taking the dogs inside for a drink of water,” Sunny announced. “You two make up.”
“But...”
She was gone.
Bisky looked up at him. “Whatever I did to offend you, I’m sorry,” she said.
“You didn’t offend me,” he said. “I just...” He trailed off, not sure how to explain his complicated feelings about the boat ride and Sunny’s rescue. How he’d wanted to do more, do it all himself, but how he was starting to realize that he might be looking at things the wrong way.
She raised a hand. “It’s okay. I understand.”
Did she, though? Did she get how much he cared for her, how he wanted her, but wanted the best for her?
“Hey,” he said, and reached out. They hugged, and he patted her back.
“I just miss the friendship,” she said against his chest.
“Me, too.” She felt so good in his arms.
Maybe it wasn’t just the friendship he missed.