Now the dog tried to push up in earnest.
“Whoa.” Josh lifted one hand straight out, his wrist flipped and his palm exposed with fingers tightly together, the other still on the floor keeping him balanced. “Stay.”
To her surprise, the dog did just that. He seemed to freeze in place.
Slowly, Josh turned his head toward Kade. “Is this medically all right?”
One of the techs came forward. “It probably is time for him to get a bathroom break and it’s good for him to get a little exercise, but…” the woman twisted in place and retrieved a large canvas band from the wall, “he’ll need some help. It’s too soon to put all his weight on that leg.”
“I’m guessing he’s not very strong yet, either.” Eyes closed, Josh sucked in an audible breath and pushed himself upright. When he opened his eyes she thought she saw a flash of surprise. “I’ll take that.”
“Good idea,” the tech said. “He hasn’t been very happy with any of us and he seems to like you.”
Silently, Kade and Sara Sue bobbed their heads in agreement. Kade carefully watched man and dog, no doubt looking for any sign of trouble coming.
With measured movements, Josh carefully unpinned the gate to the kennel and coaxed Raider to come forward. Another couple of minutes and the dog was leashed with Josh holding the belly band under him for extra support. Like a parade, the three of them and the tech followed Josh and the dog through the nearby door to an open grass area.
Josh continued to murmur to the dog, almost like a man whispering endearments to a woman.
All of them kept their distance, keeping an eye on the pair, hoping that the connection between man and dog would last. But Katie was the only one who seemed to be in awe. The extreme gentleness that Josh displayed with the injured dog was nothing she’d ever seen before, except maybe from a nurturing mom. The guy was so tall, and strong, and muscular, and, well, handsome—not that handsome had anything to do with anything. From what she understood, he was a military man, a warrior. And yet, the man was so tender, she couldn’t help but think she would very much like to know more about the real Josh Coleman. For the first time since the stupid shutdown started, she hoped the politicians would take a good long time to settle their disagreements.
Chapter Six
Josh had no idea what was going on, but helping this service dog relax and lose some of his fear was the most useful he had felt since the day the convoy exploded.
He was just about to turn Raider around to return inside when the vet tech called out, “That’s probably enough. He needs to build his strength slowly.”
Just as he had thought. With a nod, Josh and Raider inched their way back inside and to the kennel. Unlike before, the towels and blankets were gone, and a canvas fabric with long poles at the sides, rested on the ground. Tired from his few minutes outdoors, Raider barely sniffed the fabric before pretty much collapsing in place.
“Now what?” Josh stood at the front of the kennel and faced the tech.
“Now,” the woman smiled, “you take him home. Is your vehicle ready?”
Kade nodded. “I’ll take one side of the stretcher.”
It took a second, but Sara Sue jumped in, moving forward beside Kade. “I’ll take the other side.”
Everything in him wanted to say,no, I’ll do it. But the risk of moving too fast, or too clumsily, and losing his grip on the handles and dropping the dog, was too great. There was nothing about having Sara Sue step in that sat well with him. As carefulas he had been with his steps and efforts, and as good as he seemed to feel today, all it could take was one wrong turn and it would be over. It simply made sense for someone else to help Kade. Still, Josh didn’t have to like it.
“What can I do?” Katie looked to the adults gathered by the kennel.
“I guess,” Sara Sue looked up from where she stood near Kade watching Raider, “get the door for us and be ready if we need a hand.” Without hesitation, she turned to Josh. “You too, but stick close, Raider may need to hear your voice once we start moving him or jostling him into the Suburban.”
He nodded. At least, though it was a crumb, having a job made him feel a fraction less useless.
Even though Kade was speaking softly to Raider, the moment he and Sara Sue approached him, despite clearly being exhausted from his brief effort outside, the dog lifted his lip and snarled.
“Okay.” Kade blew out a sigh. “Looks like you’re going to have to come close now and reassure our future houseguest so he doesn’t literally bite our heads off.”
Without nodding, he eased his way up to the dog and since he couldn’t lean over without risking imbalance, he carefully squatted. “I bet you’re tired.”
The dog’s upper lip stopped twitching, though his teeth were still very visible.
“I get that way too. Especially now. Just sitting around doing nothing seems to make me more tired than when I was up at the crack of dawn and going all day.”
Raider’s lip fell, covering all his teeth. Good sign.
Josh took a chance and extended his hand in front of the dog. It took a long minute before the dog diverted his gaze from Josh’s face to his hand. Another few seconds and the dog gavehim a long lick, then another. When Josh looked up, all three faces were grinning at him.
