He shot me a side-eye as he dropped our hands to my thigh. “Let me rephrase: You’re perfect for me. I knew it last September, and I’m even more sure now. I saw a Bob Marley quote that said there’s no such thing as the perfect woman, just as there’s no such thing as the perfect man or perfect place. The ocean is beautiful near the shore but becomes murky and dangerous the deeper you go. The moon looks lovely to our naked eye but has craters from where asteroids have pummeled it. Even the sky, which is so big and blue, gets covered in clouds or smog. But all of those things are still fascinating and beautiful. Well, except smog. That sucks.”
I laughed. “Don’t compare me to smog.”
His lips twitched under his beard. “Never even thought of that. Oh, and we’re here.”
He pulled into a spot near a large stone-and-wood building that looked relatively new. It had large windows and a huge, grassy lawn. Live oaks and other trees I didn’t know the names of dotted the space, offering relief from the intense sun.
“Oh my goodness,” I said, pressing my hand to my chest.
Also dotting the huge lawn were dogs. Probably a hundred of them. This was no regular day at the brewery.
Chapter 27
Chapter
Lennon
* * *
Vivian gasped. “Why are all those dogs here?”
“Those are the dogs we’ve reconnected with their owners in the past ten years. They’re having a little party today.”
She looked over at me, her eyes huge. “You’ve helped reunite that many animals?”
I nodded and tried not to fidget. Maybe this was a bad idea. Now that I was here, this seemed more like bragging than a way to show Vivi my caring side.
“How many people helped you?” she asked, her voice choked.
“In the beginning, I did it myself. I knew my brother’s dog, Duke, had been medically retired after Ruben died. I wanted Duke with us, the family, because it was kind of like still having a piece of Ruben, you know?”
“And you got him back?” Vivi asked.
“Yeah, but it took a while. I was a young teenager, and most people blew me off. Finally I talked to Ruben’s commanding officer—who happened to be Camden Grace—and he set up a meeting with his boss. It’s all about the chain of command. We found out Duke was going to be euthanized because he hadn’t been able to reacclimate after his injuries. I also think he missed Ruben. I pushed hard to see Duke, to get the lieutenant and general to promise that if I could show them Duke was calm around me, I could take him home. My mom had to sign lots of paperwork, too, accepting liability. Finally, I got to visit Duke. He was pissed, but it wasn’t really anger.” I swallowed the emotion in my throat. “Like you said a couple of weeks ago, it was grief. Duke was grieving my brother and scared about being stuck in that little cage.”
Vivian clasped her hand over mine. I flipped my hand over and held hers, enjoying the connection. “I’d brought one of Ruben’s favorite shirts. I couldn’t smell him on it, but Duke could. He calmed down enough to lay on the shirt. Then he whined.”
Tears welled in Vivi’s eyes.
“It took a few hours, but we were able to coax Duke out of the kennel, then into the car. He really connected with my mom, and the two of them became super close. In think having each other while they mourned Ruben helped.”
“That’s lovely. And heartbreaking.” Vivian took a breath, seeming to right herself. “How long did you have Duke?”
“Eight more years,” I told her, feeling myself smile. “Duke made it to fourteen.”
She squeezed my fingers. “I’m in awe of this work, of how you’ve improved the lives of dogs and soldiers.”
“Wanna go meet some of them?”
Vivian’s smile grew. “Absolutely.”
Cormac had been right. This was a damn good idea—though not for the reasons I’d thought. It was great because just seeing the soldiers with their dogs made me feel good about the work I’d been doing in my spare time. It gave me even more determination to work with Camden Grace to set up a more formal foundation instead of my simple nonprofit. With that in place, we’d be able to connect and rehabilitate even more veterans and K-9s.
“Let me introduce you to Arlo and Tobias,” I said after I’d helped Vivian out of my truck. I held her hand as I waved at my former teammate and his brother.
She didn’t bat an eye at Tobias’s prosthetic arm and leg. I fell even more in love with her for that. We had some lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening meeting and petting dogs and learning about what their veterans were up to these days. Camden had mentioned that vets with dogs tended to be more settled and have better employment outcomes in civilian society than those who never reconnected with their canine companion.
“Camden Grace wants to expand the program so former military personnel can request a former K-Nine,” I told Vivi as we stood on the porch. “There probably aren’t enough retired dogs, though, so we’ll need to train more to handle the issues most vets struggle with.”
