Chapter Nineteen
Two more weeks passed until the Christmas holiday was at hand. Mitch and Becca’s relationship grew stronger. They’d dated, publicly. A dinner here, coffee there, even a popular movie where they’d drawn attention.
She dealt with all of it with grace. Mitch continued to get requests for autographs, mostly from tourists, Becca had been quick to point out. Since Mitch had bought a house he intended to live in—not just spend weekends in town while skiing—he’d become a true resident. A part of Hope’s Turn. The town looked after its own, and he’d been happy to say people had started treating him just like anybody else.
Well, mostly. He hadn’t told her, but women continued to subtly inquire as to his status. Single? In a relationship? Lonely?
Mitch had been anything but lonely lately. When not dating Becca, he’d been moving on his plans to expand the town sports programs, had helped with the local teen outreach, and volunteered down at the animal shelter. He’d dragged Simon with him to help look after the animals needing adoption.
Mitch had privately donated a ton of money to both organizations a month ago. And though his contributions had gone through anonymous sources to the right people, the shelter coordinator acted like she knew he’d been the one to fork over the money.
His volunteer paperwork had been processed immediately, as had Simon’s.
While the two of them cleaned up after pets and played with the ones who were healthy and could handle human touch, Mitch had gotten to know Simon better.
Today as they worked side by side, he noticed Simon once again drawn to an older dog in the back. Not a huge “killer,” but a stray who looked part lab, part border collie, and part alien despite its black and white coloring. She had short hair, one ear permanently up, the other floppy, and a quiet manner. To everyone’s astonishment, despite acting shy and nervous around everyone else, she’d taken to Simon right off.
“Hi, Oreo.” Simon entered her kennel and crouched down, not looming over the dog. She wagged her tail so hard Mitch feared it would break off, and she licked any part of Simon she could reach.
Simon’s laughter was contagious, and Mitch joined the boy and dog, conscious to stay back and not scare her. Instead he petted her neighbor, a spastic Jack Russel terrier with more energy than an exploding star.
“She’s so cute,” Simon said as he attached a leash to her. “I’m going to take her outside for a walk.”
Volunteers had cleared a path through the snow so the dogs could walk and run unleashed. They’d had falling inches since Wednesday, just five days ago. It promised to be a white Christmas in…a little over a week’s time.
Mitch strapped a leash on the bouncing terrier and followed Simon out. While they walked, they talked, and Mitch knew the time had come for a heart-to-heart with Simon about his feelings for Becca.
“You know,” Simon said before he could, “my dad had a dog just like this one. I’ve seen pictures of him as a kid. Heck, around my age.” The boy stared at Oreo, who sniffed around with interest.
The terrier, Mr. Energy, as Mitch liked to call him, joined Oreo to sniff, though she ignored him.
“Every kid needs a dog.”Oh hell.He thought it but wasn’t supposed to say it. From what he gathered, Becca had been softening about the idea, but Mitch’s plan to give Simon a dog for Christmas needed more vetting from the Woman-In-Charge. “I told you about Candy.”
Simon grinned. “Yep, you did. Candy…and now here’s Oreo. What’s with naming dogs after food?”
“Who knows? But she’s got a chocolate and vanilla cream coat.” At that moment, Oreo dipped her head into the snow and came out with fluffy white eyebrows.
They laughed and played with the dogs, and Mr. Energy turned out to love playing fetch. It was fun watching him dive for a red tennis ball in piles of snow. Then Oreo joined him for keep-away, and they ran like jackrabbits.
“With the holidays close, do you miss your dad a lot?” Mitch asked.
Simon shrugged. “I love him, but he’s been gone so long. It’s not as real for me as it is for mom.” Simon turned and looked him dead-on. “You and Mom. It’s more than dating, right?”
The moment had come. Mitch forced himself to relax, looked Simon in the eye, and spoke from the heart. “It is for me. I can’t explain it, but when I first saw your mom, something in me knew. She’s special. So kind and giving, and such a pain in the ass about shoes on the carpet.”
Simon grinned.
“I feel a lot for her, but I worry about overwhelming her. Your mom needs time to adapt to—”
“That’s crap.” Simon scowled. “She’s had years to adapt. And yeah, I know she misses my dad. He was awesome. A responsible, terrific guy who took care of us. That freak car accident made no sense, but it happened. Then in seconds, I didn’t have a dad and she didn’t have a husband anymore.”
Simon’s eyes were glassy, but Mitch just listened.
“It was really hard seeing her go through that. I was little, but I remember. Hearing her cry was just...” Simon took a moment.
Mitch pulled him in a for a hug, unable to think about the turmoil Simon and Becca had to deal with.
Simon tensed, then eased into the embrace and hugged Mitch back.
