“I told you, I’m fine.”
“Is Keith still calling?”
“Not so much. From what I hear, he’s trying to get back with Liz.”
“I guess it doesn’t make much sense to lose both families.”
“I think that’s the logic he’s using.”
“Is she responding?”
Reenie remembered seeing them leave the diner together the other day. “She goes out with him occasionally.”
“If they reunite, do you think he’ll move her and her kids into your old house?”
“Hopefully not. That would be too creepy.”
“He could. He’s already living there. And if he sells, he’s going to have to pay you half the equity.”
“True. But maybe Liz has some money stashed away somewhere.”
“She wouldn’t be working at the grocery store if that was the case.”
“Thanks for cheering me up.”
“Sorry. Would you mind if they got back together?”
Reenie had certainly spent some time thinking about it. “Probably,” she admitted. “Besides the whole jealousy thing, it would make the girls’ visitations so much more awkward. Especially if Keith was taking them back to our old house every other weekend.”
“Yikes, I see your point.”
Reenie glanced at the clock in the corner of her computer screen. “I gotta go. We’re starting a new unit in my math classes tomorrow, and I still have to prepare the rest of my lecture.” She didn’t mention the stack of papers she had yet to grade, because she didn’t want Lucky to go back to telling her how she was running herself into the ground.
Lucky covered the phone and said something to her husband. “When does Isaac start at the high school?” she asked when she returned.
“A week from next Monday. At least, that’s when Ina goes on maternity leave.”
“Today’s Wednesday. Which means you have almost two weeks to get used to the idea.”
That was supposed to help?
“Does Keith have the girls this weekend?” Lucky asked, suddenly switching topics.
“Yes.”
“Would you like to go out to dinner with Mike and me this Friday? Get out of the house?”
“I can’t. I told Beth I’d go dancing with her.”
“Well, that’s hopeful, at least. Maybe you’ll meet someone new.”
“Here?”
“You never know. There’re always new people coming to stay at the Running Y. Sometimes they go into town to kick back with the locals.”
“That would be exciting,” Reenie lied.
Lucky hesitated, making Reenie suspect she saw through her inflated response. If so, at least she didn’t call Reenie on it. “Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Reenie sagged in relief as she hung up. She was growing to love Lucky like the sister she was. But even simple conversations with anyone seemed like hard work these days.
Wondering if Tara Benson, an old friend from high school who’d married and moved to California, had written her back, she clicked over to e-mail.
There weren’t any messages from Tara, but her mother had sent her a new cake recipe, her father had written to say he’d be home early on Friday and would like to take her to lunch, and Beth wanted to know if she could borrow something to wear on Friday night.
She told Beth she could borrow anything she wanted, then started to grade papers. A moment later, however, she noticed an instant message request on her screen. It was from [email protected].
“Speak of the devil,” Reenie grumbled. She immediately hit the reject button and smiled in satisfaction. “Take that, Dr. Russell.”
She graded more quizzes, then glanced up to see that he’d sent her another request. “What do you think, Bailey?” she asked. “Do we want to hear from him?”
Bailey opened one eye and nuzzled closer before dozing off again.
“My thoughts exactly. No way,” she said and hit the reject button again. She knew there was a way to block certain senders, but she’d never blocked anyone before and didn’t know how. Just as she was trying to figure out the process, the telephone rang.
The caller ID said I. Russell. How dare he call her! Especially at this hour. He had no business even e-mailing her. Sure, she’d given him her address. But that was before she’d known who he was.
She picked up the phone because she had a few things she wanted to say to him. “Hello?”
“I’ve found you the perfect puppy,” he announced.
It was Isaac all right, but his words, and the childish enthusiasm in his voice, took her off guard. “What?”
“He’s at an animal shelter in Boise. They just got him, and he’s great, so you’d better act fast. Do you have a pencil?”
“I don’t want a new puppy,” she said. How could she replace Bailey before he was even gone?
“I was thinking it might distract the girls from…you know, what’s to come.”
Isaac had a point there. She had been worried about how her girls would respond to the death of their beloved pet. And Bailey was so mild tempered and tired, she doubted he’d mind the company. He was getting to the point he didn’t want to be bothered by Jennifer, Angela and Isabella. He preferred to lie by Reenie all the time.
But Reenie didn’t have a chance to explain all that. Isaac gave her the URL, then, before she could say anything more, hung up.
She blinked at the handset. Was he right? Would it soften the blow?
Bailey wheezed as he shifted in his sleep. As she listened to him, her eyes filled with tears. The vet said he didn’t have much longer. They were going to have to say goodbye to him soon, and then the house would seem so empty.
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take a look.
She typed the address and hit enter, and her computer conjured a picture of the cutest puppy she’d ever seen. The caption below said he was a black Lab/chow mix only ten weeks old. But the fact that he wasn’t a bassett hound surprised her. Isaac had said he’d found her the perfect puppy. Wouldn’t he think she’d want another bassett?
Maybe he was as smart as everyone said. Maybe he understood that if she got a different breed, she wouldn’t be replacing Old Bailey.
She sighed, unwilling to give Isaac any credit for his insight.
“You’re darling,” she said—grudgingly because in her mind the puppy was connected to Isaac Russell—and clicked on the link below the picture. It would be nice to surprise the girls with a puppy on Sunday, when they returned from their father’s house after the weekend….