April could relate. Her not-so-canine hormones got all skippy at the prospect of the Godiva store.
“Who is this we have here?” Jack knelt, holding his closed hand for Mayonnaise to sniff.
And sniff she did, licking the whole side of his hand. Yeah, yeah, April liked how he smelled, too. But she’d never lick him.
“This is Mayonnaise,” April said, eyeing the dog to ensure she was going to behave.
She did, usually. But she had a propensity for stealing April’s bras from the laundry bin because they made the best chew toys, in her elderly opinion. And she had the bladder control of an elderly basset hound…or Lola.
“Isn’t that an interesting name?” Jack gave her a good massage under her floppy left ear. Mayonnaise ate it up, then let out aharrumphand dropped to the floor.
“She came to us with the name. It just sort of stuck.” Of course, Mayonnaise hated her name. At least, April was pretty certain of this once she’d learned to understand how the dog operated. But, by that time, April hadn’t wanted to confuse her by changing it. Instead, she bought her a rhinestone collar in apology.
If Harmony was the queen diva of eight-year-olds, then Mayonnaise was the queen diva of basset hounds.
Temperamental to the core with a cold shoulder that could ice the entire Denver metro area. She did not accept her age, did not accept the frequent veterinarian visits that came with it, and wanted nothing to do with the car.
For goodness sakes, April even had to slip her a special pill from the vet just before loading her up for any outings. And that was a feat because Mayonnaise didn’t care for the way they tasted and could sniff them out of even the most delicious Italian meatball from Barolo Grill.
“So you like dogs?” April asked, toying with the fine hairs at the base of her ponytail.
They were going to be working together, building a plan in person. So she should probably get to know him. Understand what he liked and didn’t like.
He looked up at her from where he crouched, a mega smile spread across his face. “Who doesn’t?”
Mayonnaise let out a sigh, totally lapping up Jack’s magic.
His hand at Mayonnaise’s ear scratched harder and her tail thumped faster. Given her advanced age, he needed to be careful, getting her worked up like that.
Even the littlest bit of excitement and she’d—
The dog made the sound she made right before she—
April gasped.Oh no.“You’re going to want to step back.” April doused her voice in the urgency taking over as her pulse beat faster.
“Why?” He refocused on the dog.
Mayonnaise whined and, son of a biscuit, she relieved herself all over his fancy-looking loafers.
He bolted to his feet, taking a giant leap backward.
Welcome to my life, Jack Gibson. Welcome to my life.
Chapter Nine
“As long as they are breathing and can move under their own power, everything will be all right.”
—Elizabeth, Texas, United States
April
For the second time in as many days, April handled bodily fluids like a professional.
“You should go get settled,” she suggested, her cheeks still flushed from the utter humiliation of—all that would never be mentioned again.
Because everything that had happened in the past forty-eight hours was going in the vault of things she didn’t talk about or think about. Like her marriage. And that time Kitty had convinced her to buy sports bras from her sister’s online lingerie company.
Yes, Jack should go get settled so she could erase her memory. She needed a minute alone to handle that task. Or many minutes.
