Page 27 of Let Me Be the One
“Tell me,” she urged.
He got up to refill their coffees yet again. At this rate, he’d be riding a caffeine high all morning. “If we’re going to keep talking, I need to make a new pot.”
She stood too. “I’ll make it. You share how you got Blu.”
Leaning against the counter, Tanner watched her. Maybe because he’d always seen her as a pampered princess, he hadn’t expected her to be so comfortable in the kitchen. “Not sure I should. It’s a downer.”
“But it ended well, right? Blu is here, a part of things, and that’s a happy story.”
Yeah, she was right. Maybe he should rethink how he looked at things. “Fine, but this time I’m keeping it short.”
“You aren’t enjoying my company?” she asked, just to needle him, he was sure.
“I’ve talked more this morning than I have all month.”
She flashed him a smile before pouring the water into the maker. “Me, too. Everyone is so biased about everything that I can’t talk with them.”
Remembering how Glory had pressured her, he said, “They have their own agendas.”
“Exactly. But you don’t know me, and you don’t even like me.” With the preparations done, she reclaimed her seat. “So yours is a fresh take on things.” She nodded at his chair. “Come on, neighbor. While the coffee is perking, come spill the beans.”
Funny, but he was enjoying himself. Like she said, the stories sounded different with someone hearing them for the first time. Less traumatic, more manageable, because the happy ending was guaranteed. “All right.” He didn’t correct her on her assumption that he didn’t like her. Truth was, he liked her fine. A little more than fine, and that wasn’t a good thing. Keeping her slotted as a fantasy was easier than knowing her as a woman with a sense of humor, her own disappointments, and dreams that mirrored his own—minus Costa Rica. He had no real interest in leaving Kentucky.
“Stop stalling.”
From his seat at the table, Tanner glanced over his shoulder to where Blu rested peacefully, his paws occasionally jerking as he went through a dream chase with some furry foe. When he turned back to Callie, she was watching him intently, her gaze soft and interested.
In him or Blu’s history?
She tapped her fingers on the table. “Still waiting.”
“So on top of being a romantic—”
“And an interloper.”
“—you’re impatient. Got it.”
“Also a neighbor.” Her smile taunted as she not-so-patiently gestured for him to get on with it.
How many times in the past hour had she made him grin? Too many, for sure. “Blu was a little guy—just a pup still—and some asshole had him in a filthy outdoor kennel that was way too small. He could barely turn around. No water. I heard him barking and I heard some dude threatening him.”
“That happened around here?”
“A mile or so from the main intersection before you turn down this road.” Because old habits die hard, he added, “You’re not in some ritzy neighborhood.”
“Didn’t say I was. I grew up here, remember.”
He snorted. “Nothere. You were on the rich side of town.”
Her eyes narrowed again. “Being rich is about more than money. From everything you’ve told me, and having met Addie, I’d say you’re doing pretty damn well.”
Touché. “Anyway, I saw this old guy storming out to the kennel with a belt.” It had struck Tanner like a shock wave what that fucker would do. He knew, because he’d been at the receiving end of a belt too many times himself. “The dog was whining, the guy cursing…” Yeah, this was another memory he hated to relive, except that he’d ended up with Blu. “I intervened.”
“Good for you,” she said with deep satisfaction. “Please tell me you pulverized him.”
God, it had been tempting. Really making it short,he summarized with, “Let’s just say I took the belt from the guy, and I took Blu.”
She bit her lip. “Were there repercussions for that?”
