SEVENTEEN
T
ripp rolled up to Willow’s house the next day in mid-afternoon.Her car was the only one in the driveway, so he parked beside it.The second he shut his door, a dog started barking in the backyard.Rufus.
The front door opened as he was grabbing his tool kit from the back of his truck.Willow appeared wearing a long T-shirt and paint-smeared jeans, her hair twisted up in a clip at the back of her head.“Hey, thanks for coming,” she called out over the sound of Rufus’s barking.
“No problem.Sorry I couldn’t get down here sooner.I was finishing up a commission that’s due for delivery in the morning.”
“No, it’s totally fine.I appreciate your help.”She paused on the porch as he rounded the back of the truck.Blinked.“Wow.”
He ran a hand over his trimmed beard, suddenly feeling self-conscious.He’d cut it short in preparation for this meeting.Before Willow had returned to the island, he hadn’t cared if he looked scruffy.Had actually preferred it, since it hid most of the scarring and made people tend to keep their distance from him.
This morning he’d decided it was time to clean up his look.Based on her reaction, she approved.“I look that different, huh?”
“Yeah, but in a good way.Angels would weep over that jawline.”
Yeah, right.She was just being nice.The trimmed beard made him feel almost naked.It showed all the thin spots and pockmarks where the scars were.
He glanced away from her, focusing instead on the fence line to the left of the house.“Want me to go around back?”
“Sure.I’ll go with you, just to make sure Rufus isn’t a complete lunatic.”She hurriedly slid on a pair of shoes, shut the door and hurried down the steps toward him.
“Your friend gone already?”
“Yeah, she’s on the ferry over to Vancouver now.Doing some research over at UBC.Something about old skeletons that I didn’t quite catch.”
“How did you two meet, anyway?”
“Undergrad.She’s Canadian but we lived in res together in first year at UW.She’s great.”
“Yeah, she seems it.Your place is in good shape,” he said as they moved toward the side gate.“Looks like it got a coat of fresh paint recently.”Everything was neat and tidy and he didn’t see anything of concern in terms of needed repairs.
“Yeah, I had it redone before I arrived, inside and out to give it a fresh feel.And Mae’s been a godsend getting it cleared out and organized for me.Not sure what I would have done without her.”
“She’s one of a kind.”
“Yep.Okay, Rufus,” she called out when the dog kept barking frantically.“Settle down.Tripp is a friend,” she added as she went through the gate.
Tripp stepped in with her and shut the gate, completely ignoring the dog while it ran around him, barking, hackles up.
Willow grabbed the dog by the collar and clipped the leash on.“Rufus.Stop,” she said firmly, giving a sharp tug.Rufus looked up at her in pure reproach, then aimed a warning stare at him and issued a low growl.“No.Enough.”Another tug and Rufus reluctantly sat, but kept his gaze pinned on him.
Tripp glanced around the yard.Rufus had been busy in the short amount of time he’d been here.Somehow the grass was completely destroyed all around the inside of the fence, and a few areas showed claw marks in the wood panels or signs of digging at the base.“I can see what you mean about him being fixated.But are you sure about this?”
