I rolled my head from shoulder to shoulder, trying to ease some of the tension away. “Gramps is pissed. All he wants is to move back to the ranch.”
Char dropped the underwear. “We’ve been over this. There’s no way he can live all the way out there on his own. I tried that with him. He fell while he was trying to move some stuff around in the barn and if the mailman hadn’t found him, who knows how long he would have laid out there?”
“I know. I just wish . . .” My voice trailed off as I thought about how to share the feelings of guilt I’d been trying to process.
“Wish what?” Char pressed.
“Forget it. It’s just weird being back.” I couldn’t quite put into words what had been bothering me. Some sense of misplaced guilt? That’s probably all it was.
“I’m here if you want to talk. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I know.” But I had no intention of wasting my breath on words. Words weren’t going to build a penguin habitat. And that needed to be my sole focus over the next couple of weeks if I wanted to get back to my way of normal.
CHAPTER 14
ZINA
I gotout of the truck and held tight to Buster’s leash. It had been his turn to spend the night last night. He was such a good dog, I had half a mind to adopt him myself. Maybe I would if he didn’t find a family during the big adoption event I had coming up this weekend. I’d managed to avoid making a commitment to any of the pups up to this point, but where had it gotten me?
It was my favorite time of day. The sun hadn’t woken up yet, and the town was still quiet. So was the warehouse. With Alex and Toby working until the late evening hours on the penguin habitat for the past two weeks, I’d embraced any chance I got to enjoy the peace and quiet.
That was the main reason I preferred the early morning shift . . . so I could have a chance to think while I went about the routine of feeding the dogs and letting them out a few at once. Thinking time had been at a premium lately, especially since it seemed Alex was standing around every corner, muscles bulging, dimple winking, lips curling into any number of smiles.
Seemed like I’d memorized all of his smiles, and he had quite the collection. My favorite had to be the cocky-into-vulnerable-grin combination. He didn’t share that one very often. I’d seen plenty of the plain ol’ cocky grin. If I didn’t know better, I’dassume that was the only one he had. But when he let down his guard, especially around one of his nieces, the unsure, unconfident, vulnerable part of him came through. That was the Alex I’d started falling for. Which was no good at all.
The way he’d barged in, taken over the warehouse, and kept making assumptions should have been driving me up a wall. But I could tell it was all a front. Hopefully he’d be long gone before he let down his guard for good. Because he was the kind of man who could ruin me if I let him.
I opened the door, and Buster went in first. The lights were on in the back of the warehouse, where I kept the dogs. My stomach clenched. Did someone forget to turn them off last night?
Before I had a chance to check, the thump of a deep bass came from the radio I’d set up in the back. Morty’s voice punctuated the silence. “Who let the dogs out? Me! Me!”
I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep myself from laughing out loud. I crept closer, trying to see if he had the moves to go with the song. But then Herbie barked and ran over to greet me.
Morty reached out to silence the music.
“Good morning.” I bit down on my bottom lip at the shock on his face.
“How long have you been here?” He whipped a comb out of his back pocket and ran it through his hair.
“Not long.”
“Good, that’s good. I just came out to lend a hand. I’m an early riser so I figured I’d pitch in with the dogs.” He smiled but didn’t make eye contact.
I was afraid I might lose my semblance of control if he did. “Thanks. You don’t have to keep doing that though.”
“I don’t mind. Makes an old man feel useful.” He nodded, slipped his comb back in his pocket, and called to Herbie. “I gotthem all fed. Do you mind if I take a couple out back so they can get some exercise?”
“That would be great. Thank you.”
He disappeared through the back door, and I let out the laugh I’d been holding back. What would Alex think about his grandpa jamming with the dogs? I unclipped Buster from his leash and filled a bowl of kibble for him.
As I bent to set it down on the ground, Alex came through the door.
“Hey, have you seen my gramps?”
“He’s out back with a couple of the dogs. What are you doing out here so early?” The sun had yet to peek over the horizon. This was supposed to be my “me time” before the Sanders men got going for the day.
“They’re bringing in the pool feature today, so I wanted to make sure everything’s ready. Gramps isn’t bothering you or getting in the way, is he?”
