She shook her head. “Did you steal a whole bag from my mom?”
Ignoring her, he sat along the edge of the ramp and set his feet in the bottom of the canoe. He stretched his hand toward the blanket he set up for the dog and dropped the treat. “Go get it, boy!”
Hesitation gone, Gibbs leapt after the morsel quicker than Logan anticipated. The small boat rocked as if hit by a massive wave, eliciting a squeal from Abbie. “Logan!”
He clutched the edge of the canoe, using all his strength to steady it before she or Gibbs fell overboard. The lethal glare she shot his way once everyone was righted made him laugh. She sure was cute, all riled up like this. Man, he missed that.
“It’s not funny!” But she was having a hard time holding in her laughter, and through those pursed lips, a smile broke free. “You realize we all could be drenched right now? Including Gibbs.”
Treat gone, the dog perked up at the mention of his name, tail wagging. It took a second treat to convince him to lay down.
They laughed together as Logan untied them from the little dock and paddled out toward the middle of the lake. It felt remarkable, this unguarded moment between them, an experience he worried they’d never share again. Even if Abbie refused to forgive him, at least he had this one memory to carry with him. That radiant smile, brighter and more breathtaking than the setting sun.
“You laugh,” she finally said now that she’d calmed herself, “but it’d be your truck that smelled like a wet dog.”
“Are you sure he’s a dog?” He turned the canoe toward a small offshoot creek they knew well. He suspected Abbie might already know what he was up to, but if she did, she didn’t try to stop him. “Think he might be part grizzly bear or something?”
“No one wanted him, you know.” She stroked Gibbs along the back of his neck. So far, he was doing okay sitting in the canoe and watching, though his inquisitive eyes kept locking on the reeds in the water. Hopefully, he wouldn’t leap out after any. “At the shelter. They weren’t sure what to do with him.”
“Where did he come from?” he asked, wondering how a Newfoundland ended up in a Starlight shelter.
“Someone dropped him off late at night.” Her brown eyes dimmed. “They attached his leash to the bench right outside the door, and that was it. Not even a note.”
“That’s terrible.”
She shrugged. “There’re worse places they could’ve left him.”
He didn’t want to think about that. All in all, Gibbs was one lucky dog. “What are you going to do when he doubles in size? He’ll outgrow that cottage.”
He watched her lips part, as if she were about to tell him something important. But she looked away instead. Twisted a lock of hair around one finger. She’d let her guard down for a few minutes, but for some reason, it was back up. “I’ll figure something out.”
“He’s very lucky to have you, Abbs.”
“Spoiled rotten is more like it.”
“You’ve always had a big heart.” He wished there wasn’t a dog between them so he could reach for her hand and give it a squeeze. But putting Gibbs on one end or another was a recipe for disaster, especially if he decided something in the water was more enticing than hanging out in the little boat. Keeping him in the middle kept the weight balanced.
“I did a story about the shelter.” Abbie bent her knees and folded them into her chest, wrapping her arms around them. He couldn’t tell if she was cold or just relaxed, but she refused the blanket he offered. “I wanted people to know about these wonderful dogs. The shelter was getting full, and they weren’t sure what they were going to do.”
Gibbs eased into position, resting his head on Abbie’s feet.
“That’s the kind of stories you always wanted to write.” He remembered long conversations about the differences she wanted to make with her written words. The lives she hoped to touch, and the hope she wanted to showcase.
“Vince didn’t want to print it.”
“What?”
“He didn’t think it would help sell papers. The shelter didn’t have ads with us, so . . .”
Abbie had worked at theStarlight Gazettesince her high school days, when she was an errand girl with a paper route. She’d worked her way up through the ranks, but she and her uncle had always had slightly different views on how the newspaper should operate.
“Your grandma would’ve printed it, no doubt about it.”
She relaxed into a smile, some fond memory dancing through her mind, no doubt. “Yeah.”
He steered them down the creek as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon. The nearly full moon had lingered low in the sky, just waiting for the stars to make their debut. He wondered if she remembered what very special events had taken place all those years ago, right here.
Their eyes met across the canoe as Gibbs began to snore. They shared a quiet chuckle, and for a moment, he believed things could be repaired between them. Could they still have the life together they’d planned?
