Puppy Love. Kelly Moran

On us. Next time, we'll have something she can eat. How's that?”

      God. Everyone was so…so nice. “Thank you.”

      Still shell-shocked and contemplating whether the town was really inhabited by Invasion of the Body Snatchers, she edged her car to the outskirts. Dusk was descending, bringing a nip to the air and making the shadows longer. As she pulled up to the row of rental cabins, Cade unwound himself from the porch steps and rose.

      “Crap on a cracker, that man is sexy.” He had on a pair of well-worn jeans, snug in all the right areas, and a T-shirt under a waist-length leather jacket. His dark blond hair was windblown and brushed his brow. She shook her head. “He's your boss, you nutcase. Get a grip.”

      Hailey squealed. I heard that, Mommy.

      As she unsnapped Hailey from the backseat and turned to face him, he…grinned. At Avery, then at Hailey. The breath left her lungs, and she got a little lightheaded again.

      Chapter 4

      Cade used his rearview mirror to glance at Hailey in her booster, then turned his attention back to the road. The pet supply place was forty minutes north, but Hailey seemed content with an iPad and headphones. It was odd seeing a little person in his backseat.

      He cleared his throat. “If you don't mind me asking, where's her dad? You're from San Diego, right?”

      “San Francisco.” Avery turned to check on Hailey and resumed her spot in his passenger seat. “I got full custody in the divorce.” She went quiet for a beat. “My ex didn't contest it.”

      “The divorce or custody?”

      “Either.” She turned her focus to the side window while Cade's head swam. Some people were too stupid to know good when they had it.

      They drove alongside the Klamouth Mountains, heading toward the Southern Coast Range in a contented quiet. With the occasional curve, glimpses of the Pacific came into view, the shoreline and cliffs rocky. The fog was heavy near the bank in the late dusk, but not nearly as much as his thoughts. Her words slammed around in his skull.

      Granted, he'd never been married, nor was he a father, but he couldn't see himself giving up rights to his kid. He'd probably learn more from Redwood Ridge's Twitter page than from Avery, but he was curious about her. “Was he a total prick, your ex? Pardon my language.”

      She breathed a laugh. “Doesn't matter. He's not in our lives anymore.”

      Good point. “What's his name?”

      For that, she turned to study him with intense brown eyes. There was so much hiding in her gaze that he had to force his away or wreck the car trying to figure her out.

      “Richard. That's his name.”

      He grunted. “So he is a dick.”

      Covering her face with her hand, she laughed. It sounded rusty at first, but it gained momentum. She had the kind of laugh that drifted into corners and made a person stop to listen. His chest did that funny twisty thing again at the sound, but damn, it felt good to make her laugh. He hadn't known her long, or at all, but it seemed to him she didn't do it often.

      She sighed and laid her head against the seat. “I suppose it's no secret, anyway. Yeah, he's a jerk. I think he just wanted a trophy wife, which was fine, I guess, until he started treating Hailey like she wasn't there. I filed for divorce two years ago and just got it granted last month. He stretched out the proceedings that long.” She tilted her head toward him. “Word to the wise, don't marry an attorney.”

      He fisted the wheel. She didn't strike him as a trophy wife, and the whole ignoring Hailey thing pissed him off. There was a wealth of information she wasn't telling him, but he let it go. “What do you call fifty lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean?”

      Her grin stole his air. “A good start.”

      He laughed. “A woman who knows her lawyer jokes. Impressive.”

      “Why don't snakes bite lawyers?”

      He shook his head. “Why?”

      “Professional courtesy.”

      Laughing, he scratched his jaw and made a couple of turns before speaking again. “So you left the big city to come home to Redwood Ridge.”

      She appeared to mull that over. “I don't know if it's home, but my mom's here and I think it's a better environment for Hailey.”

      If he traveled a thousand places, Redwood Ridge would always be home. Crazy and annoying and irritating as it could be sometimes, it was home. “You'll settle in. Might take awhile to get used to things, but the people care about each other, take care of one another.”

      She nodded. “It only took an hour for half the town to know I'd passed out at the clinic.”

      “Only an hour?” he joked. “Aunt Rosa's usually faster than that.”

      She grinned, but it fell flat. “I met your mom today, and your other aunt. The mayor?”

      He made a dismissive grunt. “Aunt Marie. My brothers and I call the three of them the Battleaxes. An impenetrable force of evil wrapped in good intentions. They meddle. A lot. Kind of frightening, actually.”

      Another laugh. He was on a roll, even if he was only half kidding.

      “Your mom seems nice.”

      “She's certainly the tamest of the three. Still, don't stand too close or look in their eyes. It's a trick.”

      “Noted.” She paused with a lazy smile. “What about your dad? What does he do?”

      Dear old Dad. A pang of longing hit his gut. “He passed away from a heart attack nine years ago.”

      “Oh wow. So young. I'm sorry. That must've been hard.”

      No sugarcoating that. “Took us all by surprise. He started the clinic thirty years ago. My brothers and I never thought of doing anything else but following in his shoes.”

      She nodded. “Has Flynn always been deaf?” Her cheeks flamed. “Is that too personal?”

      “Nothing's too personal around here. And yes, he was born deaf. Fluke of nature.”

      “And Drake? I didn't get to see much of him, what with my eyes closed and me on the floor.”

      He barked out a surprised laugh. “Drake. What to say about him?” Nothing she wouldn't find out via town gossip. “He's…mourning. He married Heather, his high school sweetheart, right out of vet school. She died from an aggressive form of ovarian cancer three and a half years ago.”

      Avery was silent as she stared out the window, rubbing circles over her collarbone. As he was about to ask if she was all right, she cleared her throat. “I would be devastated.”

      Drake had been beyond devastated. He'd been wrecked. He was getting better, but it had taken Cade and Flynn a year to even get him to go anywhere besides the clinic, and another year to pack up Heather's things to send for charity. Seeing his brother like that made Cade never want to fall that hard for someone, never sink that deep.

      “He took it rough. You haven't met her yet, but Zoe was Heather's best friend. Zoe's our groomer. She has a little workshop attached to the back of our building.”

      She seemed lost in thought as he made the turnoff for the store. “Who did the murals in the clinic? They're wonderful.”

      He grinned, happy for the topic change. “That would be Zoe. She paints when she's not wrestling dogs into bathtime submission.” He parked and cut the engine before turning to look at her head on, his arm on the back of her seat, hand inches from her soft brown waves.

      “Are you really okay with hiring me?”

      Something told him not to brush off her question too casually. And