He had the grace to look embarrassed. “I guess I’m the last person you want around. But I saw you out here by yourself and thought maybe you are stranded or need help.”
Pointedly, she looked back to the town square a quarter mile behind him. “I’m fine. I got a call about a stray dog that needs rescuing and I’m out her looking for it.”
“Alone?”
She sighed. “Yes. Alone. It’s not likely that anything will happen to me. And if the dog turns out to be more than I can handle, I’ll call one of my coworkers to come out and help me with the rescue.”
“I’ll help you.” He offered. “I feel like I owe you after what happened earlier this morning. Gage Lewis to the rescue.”
Thank goodness. Now she knew his name. She put her hands on her hips. “You don’t owe me anything other than your word that you’ll be more careful in the future. Besides, you’re not trained for this.”
He glanced around, looked her over, and said, “I don’t think it’s all that complicated, right? I mean we’re just going to get the dog into your car, and you’ll take it to your shelter. Correct?”
She threw her hands in the air. “Fine. Park your car while I get my gear out of mine.”
She took two rope leashes with no ring on them from the car. They didn’t have a buckle on them. Instead the rope threaded back through an opening in the rope itself so that it adjusted to the size of the dog’s neck. Very handy for getting a leash on a skittish dog without getting your hands close to their mouth. She grabbed the white paper bag with two sausage biscuits in it she’d bought earlier, then, she opened the door of the medium size crate that was crammed in her back seat. A Civic didn’t have a lot of room for a crate and she hoped the dog was as young, and the size, that the caller had told her.
She glanced up at the sound of footsteps. He was back. And, fortunately, wearing boots that would stand up to hiking.
She handed him one of the leashes and a wrapped sausage biscuit. “If you see the dog, be very calm. Very slow. And speak gently. Persuade it that you are its friend and will help it. If you can get close to the dog, put this around its neck.” She hesitated. “Actually, if you see the dog, just signal me. I’ll take it from there.”
He took the leash from her hand. “No worries. I can handle this.”
“You don’t have to help me. I’m perfectly fine on my own. I don’t need anyone to look out for me.”
His eyes met hers. His reflected concern. She couldn’t imagine what hers might be reflecting. She admitted to herself that he was far too good looking and she wasn’t sure she wanted to feel that magnetism. It might be best to send him on his way before something started that she didn’t feel ready to deal with just yet.
“I’m happy to help out. I promise I won’t screw anything up this time.”
She pulled her eyes away from his gaze. “Well. Okay. I do need some help spotting the dog. It seems to be pretty good at hiding.”
They took opposite sides of the road and began walking softly along. Holly Grace kept her eyes on the task at hand, hoping she’d spot the dog quickly.
Thirty minutes later, she sensed more than saw a slight movement in the underbrush. She stood perfectly still to see if the movement repeated. Gage must have been watching her, because she didn’t hear him walking in the dry grass behind her.
A tiny breeze stirred her hair. Seconds ticked by. Then minutes. She stayed perfectly still. At last, a small movement proved she’d been right. Now that she knew the exact place to look, she could discern the dog’s brown and black coloring among the dead brush it was hiding in.
Holly Grace tucked the leash into the back of her jeans to leave her hands free. She didn’t want to frighten the dog. Both hands extended and open, she stepped slowly in the direction of the dog. She could see the dog’s eyes now. They watched her warily, but it didn’t make a move away from her. Good. In a soft voice she spoke to it.
“That’s right. I’m your friend. I’m going to get you to a warm, safe place with plenty of food.”
She hoped Gage wouldn’t try to come closer. She worried he might scare the dog into running away. She listened for a moment but didn’t hear any sounds. Maybe he had some common sense after all.
The dog stood, turned its head as though it might bolt. She stopped. “Look.” She said, I have a biscuit here. It’s for you. Will you take it?”
The dog looked at the bag in her hands. She removed the sausage biscuit, pinched off a piece of it and tossed it gently toward the dog. She could see its nose twitching as it caught the scent of food. It looked back to her, then at the food. It took one tentative step toward the biscuit piece. When she didn’t make any moves herself, it took another step, then grabbed the food.
It took another half hour before she was able to lure the dog to her and get the leash on its neck. Once that step was accomplished, the dog let her pick it up and carry it to her car and put it in the crate. She crooned sweet nothings to the dog the entire time and tried to avoid looking at Gage who followed her very closely and, in a very soft voice so as not to frighten the dog, suggested she let him do the carrying in case the dog went crazy.
She ignored him.
Once the dog was secured in the crate in her car, she took the second sausage biscuit from Gage and poked it through the wire door of the crate.
“All’s well that ends well.” She told Gage, taking the extra leash from him and tossing it in the floorboard with the leash she had removed from the dog when she put it in the crate.
“That was amazing.” He told her with a sincere look in his eyes.
She felt a flush crawling up her cheeks and bent over to unlace her hiking boots so that he wouldn’t see.
“It’s usually not hard. You just have to have a lot of patience and understanding.” She said from her bent over position. She slipped off the hiking boots and snagged her sneakers from the car. After she switched out her shoes there was no excuse not to stand up and look at him.
He held out his hand. She took it. And sparks flew.
