Ginny Aiken - Danger in a Small Town

“If you don’t mind my asking, how’d you wind up in the middle of…?” Ethan waved.

“Believe it or not, all I wanted was some fresh air and a good run.” Tess was surprised by how easy he was to talk to. Maybe it had something to do with the way he focused all his attention on her every word, how he nodded in agreement every so often, how he met her gaze and let his compassion show.

But by the time she finished, his smile was gone, and anger twisted his features. “Sounds like meth.”

Tess bit her bottom lip and looked toward town. What could have led that woman down the path of drug abuse? She couldn’t imagine seeking refuge or escape that way, no matter how tough life got. She started to ask, but when she faced Ethan again, something in his gaze held her back.

He stood statue-still, staring down the street, eyes narrowed, jaw tight. His thoughts had left Loganton for another place and time—his past, she was sure. A story lurked there somewhere, but Tess didn’t have the right to pry. “Ah…I guess I’ll see you later, Ethan. If you live in town, that is. It’s small and…”

He didn’t answer.

She wasn’t surprised. She doubted he’d heard a word she’d said. The strangest urge to reach out, to comfort him came over her. But of course she didn’t have that right, either, so she turned and gave him time to deal with his thoughts.

That’s when she heard the other cops come out of the woods. She glanced back to see the older of the two men carrying what she thought was a tote bag. But it wasn’t a tote bag after all. The most pathetic sound escaped the sack.

“Don’t know anyone who wants a dog,” the officer muttered to the other one at his side.

Another wail came from the bag.

It affected Tess more than she would have thought. “Is the dog okay?” she asked.

The officer turned. “Beats me. We haven’t looked. We’ll probably take him to the pound, now that his owner’s dead.”

Before she could stop to think, Tess blurted out, “I’ll take him. I don’t have a problem caring for him until I find him a permanent home. It’s better than leaving him where he might be—”

She stopped, unable to voice the sad possibility.

At her side, Ethan chuckled.

The officers traded looks. Then the older one shrugged. “Fine with me, but we’ll have to run it past the chief. If he’s okay with it, then the pooch is yours.”

“Not permanently mine, you understand.” Tess reached for the tote bag. “It’s just until I find him a new home.”

Instead of handing her the bag, the officer put it on the ground. “Be careful,” he said. “It’s a mess. The owner was thinking more about her next fix than her dog. We found it sitting in the mud.”

Another mournful wail escaped the carrier. Tess dropped to one knee and found the zipper’s tab. Through the mesh window in the side, a pair of shiny black eyes peered out at her. The pup gave a soft yip.

Tears burned the back of her eyelids. Another victim of the drug nightmare. “Aw…You’re not a bunch of girly goodies tucked into a big purse, are you?”

The eyes stared back, and the dog followed another yip with a whine.

Tess tugged at the zipper. “No lipstick or a brush or even hairspray.” One by one, the plastic teeth parted. “You’re a puppy dog, aren’t you?”

“And you’re the queen of the obvious.” Ethan smiled as he knelt at her side.

Tess chuckled. “True. But I just want him to trust me, so I’ll keep talking silly if it helps. He’s all alone in the world now. I have to find him a home, and soon.”

Ethan laughed. “He’s already found a home but doesn’t know it yet.”

“What are you talking about?”

Ethan sat back on his heels. “Oh, the baby talk, the ‘he’s all alone in the world,’ and the ‘I have to find him a home….’ He’s got you right where a homeless pooch wants you.”

“No. Really. I can’t just walk away. That would be cruel. And I don’t need a dog right now, not when I’ve just moved back to town and am trying to start a new business. Plus I have a relative to take care of. He’s older and has health issues—you know. I don’t need a dog.”

The blue eyes twinkled. “How about you let the poor thing out of that fancy purse? You don’t have to work so hard to justify yourself.”

“That’s what I’m working on.” She wasn’t going to touch that justifying comment.

He laughed again. “Don’t blame me. You’re the one falling for a dog you haven’t even seen.”

She shrugged. “Okay, okay. I feel sorry for him. I’m an animal lover. I couldn’t turn my back on him. That’s all.”

“If you say so.” Ethan gave her a mischievous smile, and Tess again noticed how attractive he was.

Another whine dragged her attention back to the pet carrier. Tess murmured a comforting croon while she put her hand up to the mesh window.

“Well?” Ethan asked. “Are you going to spring him?”

The last few teeth of the zipper came apart, and the flap-like door dropped to the ground. A tiny head with a sharp muzzle and pointy ears poked out—actually, one pointy ear; the other one flopped over one of the black eyes. A scrawny body covered in uneven tufts of dirt-brown fur followed, its toothpick legs taking short, stiff steps out of the carrier.

“What,” Ethan asked, “is that?”

Tess could only blame her reaction on stress. Ethan’s question struck her as hilarious. And the dog? Well, the poor animal was just plain pathetic.

“That, Ethan Rogers,” she said between laughs, “is the ugliest dog on earth.”

Then the ugliest dog on earth threw Tess a curve ball. The rotten little rat pranced up, crawled onto her lap, took four, maybe five spins, looked her in the eye, stretched out his bony body, licked her chin, and then plopped on her lap as if he’d spent every day of his life doing just that.

In that moment he stole her heart.

She was in trouble. Big-time.

And Ethan knew it.

“I told you so,” the bigger rat said.

She ran a finger over that small, hard head. The mangy mess darted out his pink tongue and licked her finger. “It’s temporary, Ethan. Just until I find him a forever home.”

“Keep telling yourself that. Maybe someday you’ll believe it.”

Unfortunately, they both knew he was right. And too nice, too good-looking, too intriguing for her own good. Even if he was a stranger.

Lord? What’s going on? I’m not ready for this.

She had an injured uncle to care for, a new business to get off the ground, an orphaned dog to tend to and she’d watched a woman overdose on meth. Tess wanted God to give her a quick and easy answer, but she suspected she wasn’t going to get one anytime soon. She’d just have to watch herself.

Coming home was turning out to be more—way more—than she’d expected. Or maybe it was a case of finding more than she’d thought she’d find.

A sad dog and a striking man.

After the day she’d had, it didn’t surprise Tess when she only managed to catch a nap or two that night. Her dreams kept taking her back to that horrible scene in the woods. She cried, she prayed and in the end, spent most of the night watching the shadows cast by an oak tree outside her window.

When the sun finally rose, she was an emotional mess. But she knew she had to pull herself together. Uncle Gordon expected her to pick him up by ten o’clock.

“Hey, you,” Tess said as she walked into his drab-green and dingy-cream hospital room on time. “You’re such a terror, they’re kicking you out.”

He winked. “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do to get sprung.”

She was glad to take him home. “You ready to roll, then? You’re lucky they put your leg in that temporary cast. You can get around again.”