Heartsong Cottage (20 page)

Shannon sat at the edge of the pool and dipped her feet into the water. Heated. Very nice. Daniel ended the call and she asked, “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Just making arrangements for my upcoming trip. You look gorgeous.”

“Thank you. You look pretty fine, yourself. I like that shirt.” The color matched his eyes. Seemed like the sort of thing a girlfriend would give him.

“Thanks. My mom gave it to me for Christmas. You found breakfast?”

“I did. The poppy-seed roll was fabulous.”

Daniel hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “There's a bakery right across the alley. So, are you ready to go?”

“I am.”

“Let's head that way then.”

He grabbed the leash he'd bought in Eternity Springs the previous morning while she donned her sunglasses and a hat. They headed out. She sensed the tension growing in him with every block they walked. When they turned a corner and the bubblegum-pink siding of the Olivia Street Animal Clinic came into view, he sucked in an audible breath. “I'm a real head case. She's a dog. Just a dog.”

“No ‘just' about it, Daniel. She's
your
dog.”

And he didn't have many “yours,” did he? Not that he knew about, anyway. Yet.

At that thought, Shannon grew as nervous as he was. To distract them both, she said, “I've never been a fan of that shade of pink, but I must say, it's a happy color. Do dogs see in color, I wonder?”

Distractedly, he said, “I think so. I believe they're more limited than humans in the colors they see.”

They started up the front walk and Daniel said, “Justin liked hats. He was always putting things on his head. He had cowboy hats and baseball caps and a little football helmet one of my brothers gave him. But he also made hats out of Tupperware bowls and pots. His absolute favorites were those pointed birthday-party hats. And of course, Soupy had to wear one, too. Damned if the dog didn't let him put it on her.” A gruff note entered his voice as he added, “I'll never forget the two of them running around the backyard wearing birthday hats with red, blue, and yellow balloons on them.”

Shannon touched his arm in silent support and they walked into the clinic.

The receptionist seated behind a desk looked up at them and smiled. “Mr. and Mrs. Garrett?”

The “Mrs.” gave Shannon a bit of a jolt. She opened her mouth to correct her, but Daniel spoke first. “Yes.”

“I'm Polly. I gave your little lady a bath this morning. She's just a doll. If you want to have a seat, I'll tell Dr. Norris you're here.”

“Thanks.”

Shannon took a seat on one of the waiting area's chairs. She wasn't surprised that Daniel remained standing, his hands shoved into his pants pockets. Leaning against the wall, he stood staring intently at the door through which Polly had disappeared, as stiff as she'd ever seen him.

The door began to swing open. Daniel straightened away from the wall.

Shannon saw a smushed black muzzle surrounded by a salty, brindle coat, a cute underbite, and big brown eyes. But she only gave Soupy a cursory look because, once again, Daniel drew her gaze like a magnet. When he spied the dog, a spasm of emotion flashed across his face, a heart-wrenching combination of joy and grief. Soupy's nub of a tail wiggled happily, and she strained the vet's leash toward Daniel. Shannon watched with a lump in her throat as he sank to his knees and those strong arms of his wrapped around the dog's neck. A long red tongue licked at his face and Daniel laughed, a sound of pure, unadulterated joy that she'd never heard from him before. Then he buried his head against his long-lost Soupy's neck, and his broad shoulders shook with a silent shudder.

Shannon's heart melted as she tumbled the rest of the way into love.

*   *   *

“She looks good for a dog who's going on eleven. Don't you think she looks good?” Daniel knew he was babbling, but he couldn't seem to stop it.

“I think she looks great.” Shannon gazed at him with indulgent amusement. “I especially like the parrots on her collar.”

Daniel tried to frown, but he had trouble wiping the smile from his face to do it. “That's fine for Key West, but we'll have to get her something more dignified for Eternity Springs.”

“Celeste sells dog collars with angel's wings on them in the Angel's Rest gift shop.”

“A plain leather collar will be just fine. Maybe something red. So, have you figured out what you want to do?”

While Daniel had been going over the results of Soupy's exam with Dr. Norris, Polly had given Shannon a list of pet-friendly tourist activities in Key West. He'd admitted to a measure of concern about parading the boxer around in public—the last thing he wanted was for a kid to coming running up and thank him for finding his lost dog, but Polly had soothed those fears, saying, “I wouldn't worry. Anyone looking for her would have called the SPCA and the vet offices on the island. That didn't happen. As much as I hate to say it, people dump older dogs all the time.”

He knew that to be true, so he relaxed and decided he'd enjoy the day. After all, he was in a beautiful place with a beautiful woman and man's best friend. And, he'd gotten laid last night. What could be better?

“I wouldn't mind visiting the botanical gardens; I'm a sucker for plants and flowers. But we'll need to take a cab.”

“Actually our driver from last night is on call. He said to text him with an address whenever we wanted to be picked up.”

“Seriously? You know, between private planes and personal cars, I could get accustomed to hanging around with wealthy people.”

Daniel sent the text. “Having money does make life easier in many ways, but in my experience, it doesn't necessarily make them any happier than the average Joe.”

“True. That's very true.”

The comment resonated with a note of knowledge that he found curious, and he was about to ask her about it when Soupy spied a squirrel and suddenly started barking and yanking at the leash. “Whoa there, honeybunch. You don't need to go chasing squirrels.” Tossing Shannon a grin, he added, “Guess she still has some get-up-and-go in her, after all.”

They spent a couple of hours exploring the gardens. Shannon expressed a love for plants and flowers, and Daniel filed away the bit of information about flowers. He'd have to send her flowers sometime. Admittedly, he was out of practice with this sort of thing, but surely women still liked getting flowers from men. He tried to recall if Eternity Springs had a flower shop, but he couldn't remember seeing one. So what do the men do for romantic gestures? He'd have to ask.

Of course, that would mean going public with his relationship with Shannon. Was he ready to do that?

Shoot, don't be ridiculous. It's a small town. They know what you eat for breakfast, where you hide your money, and when was the last time you went to church. Of course they know who you're sleeping with.

Returning to Old Town from the botanical gardens, they killed the rest of the morning at the dog park and beach. Daniel discovered that Soupy loved playing fetch in the surf and that Shannon looked like a million bucks in a swimsuit. Neither fact surprised him.

After burgers at a restaurant that not only welcomed Soupy, but served her a burger of her own, they returned to the house for a nap. Together. Now Shannon slept soundly beside him, all pink and rosy from lovemaking. It was shaping up to be as nice a day as he could remember in … a decade.

A decade. Memories fluttered on the edges of his mind and chased him away from Shannon's side. In the kitchen, he downed two full glasses of water, then cracked a beer and stepped out into the backyard. Soupy followed on his heels, seeming to be as anxious to remain at his side as he was to have her there. She plopped down at his feet when he sat on a bench beside the pool.

Daniel idly scratched her above the collar and allowed the memories to come. For the first time in a very long time, he thought about Gail.

He had loved her with all the passion and innocence of youth. She'd been his first—his only—until long after her death. Starry-eyed high school sweethearts, struggling young marrieds, parents head-over-heels in love with being parents. They'd basically grown up together and she'd left a handprint on his heart that remained today, almost a decade after she had left him.

He hadn't forgiven her for that.

Beyond the heat of the moment, he'd not held losing Justin against her. He'd have done exactly the same thing had he been in the food court that day. What he hadn't forgiven her for was killing herself. Why should she be at peace when he lived with this crushing grief all the time?

He needed to let that go. He needed to find forgiveness in his heart for the weakness that grief had carved into hers.

He'd never quite been ready to do that. Until now.

Until Shannon.

He sensed that in order to move forward, he needed to let go of the resentment, the anger, and the blame he'd nursed toward his wife because she'd left him to grieve alone.

He lifted his gaze to the cerulean sky above where a snowwhite gull sailed on the salty sea breeze. Not exactly a dove with an olive branch, but close enough.

“And there's your sign,” he murmured.

For a long time and in ways he'd not allowed himself to do since coming home to find her that horrible spring day, he reflected on his past with the woman whom he'd loved and honored. With the memories, the stormy seas of a decade began to calm. Finally, with Soupy snoring contentedly at his feet, he sensed that he had turned a corner. He repeated a gesture he'd seen Gail do in the weeks after they'd buried their son. Daniel kissed his fingertips and blew the kiss toward the sky. Softly, he said, “I forgive you, baby.”

When Soupy nudged his leg and then licked his hand, he felt as if Gail and Justin had sent him a kiss in return.

With a newfound sense of peace in his heart, Daniel went inside and opened his laptop, intending to do a little work while waiting for Shannon to awake. Two hours later, he finally heard her stir. “That's what I call a power nap,” he said when she exited the bedroom.

“I'm sorry. I'm embarrassed. I guess I still needed to catch up on my sleep.”

“Hey, don't apologize. It helps my fragile masculine ego to think I wore you out.”

“Fragile. Right.”

She snagged a leftover cinnamon roll and scarfed it down. When she licked her fingers lustily, it was all he could do not to drag her back to bed. But it was her first time in Key West and since they were leaving tomorrow, tonight would be her only sunset. They had to go to Mallory Square.

“Are you ready to get out and play tourist some more? I thought we could wander through the shops and grab a snack on our way to watch the sunset. We'll do dinner afterward if that suits you?”

“Absolutely.”

Daniel wasn't a shopper; he was a buyer. If he needed something, he went to the store and bought it. So he never had been one to wander from store to store gawking at baubles, but he knew that's what most women liked to do. He followed her inside the ones that welcomed dogs on a leash and waited patiently outside those that didn't. She bought gifts for the manager at Murphy's and Celeste, but mostly, she jotted down notes in a little leather notebook she carried in her bag.

“Okay, I fail as a detective,” Daniel finally said. “What's with the notes?”

“This is a tropical Eternity Springs on a larger scale. I'm doing intel to share with our shopkeepers for items they could carry in their stores.”

“You're always working, aren't you?”

“I like to keep busy.”

They puttered their way up Duvall Street toward Mallory Square, and as the afternoon wore on, the street grew more crowded—and Shannon went quiet. What had he done wrong? he wondered. He was picking up a signal of some sort, but he didn't know her well enough to read exactly what. While she tarried in an art glass shop similar to Gabi's Whimsies, he reviewed their conversations. “I'm a typically clueless male,” he said to Soupy.

She bought a new pair of sunglasses and a filmy scarf in one shop, a second sun hat with a big floppy brim in another. “You could be a Hollywood star going incognito,” he told her. “That's a movie star look if I've ever seen one.” He hesitated a beat, then added, “Though I can't think of any actress as beautiful as you.”

“You're blind, but thank you.”

She seemed to relax after that, so he guessed his compliment made up for whatever slight he'd given her.

They arrived at Mallory Square an hour and forty minutes before sunset and watched the street performers do tricks on a unicycle and walk a high wire. A juggler whose performance sign read
MARK THE MAGNIFICENT
juggled plates and knives and flaming torches. Soupy seemed a little too interested in the performing cats, so Daniel moved them along. He bought minty mojitos from a stand—virgin for her, since she claimed her head was already spinning from people-watching—and thick, warm pretzels, which they ate while listening to a talented steel drum trio.

“This is a zoo,” she said, when a couple wearing clown paint and orange wigs walked by, followed by a man walking on his hands.

“Definitely an experience.” Daniel secured them a prime viewing spot as the drone of a bagpipe rose from somewhere to their right. “Looks like there are just enough clouds to make this a spectacular sunset.”

“I remember reading something about ocean sunsets. The salt in the air reflects light differently and changes the intensity of the colors. It's been a very long time since I've seen an ocean sunset.”

“You should take your sunglasses off so you see the colors, honey.”

Shannon hesitated a moment before following his suggestion. “Wow, it is gorgeous, isn't it?”

He glanced down at her and discovered he couldn't look away. An ocean sunset had nothing on Shannon O'Toole when it came to gorgeous. “Fiery like your hair when sunlight hits it.”