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By mid afternoon,my arms were sore from all the weeding I’d been doing in the orchard. All I had left was filling in my damned dog’s holes before going in.
Echo was a retriever, and wasn’t supposed to be a digger by nature, but nobody told him that. He’d dig at a ground squirrel burrow for an hour after one disappeared down a hole. If he’d ever caught one, that was news to me. But he kept at it, and I had to shovel dirt every week and clean up the mess he made. It was hard, dirty work.
Maro had offered once to help, but since Echo was my dog, it was my responsibility—another thing Daddy had taught me. We were responsible for our animals’ messes as well as our own.
Once finished with that, I cleaned up inside and roused Echo from his nap. “Time for a walk.”
Walk, a magic word, turned a sleepy lump of fur into a prancing, tail-wagging, tongue-lolling monster that was hard to get leashed up.
I pocketed poop bags on my way to the door.
Constance followed and locked the door after us. After stepping in one of Echo’s messes early on, she’d taken to following at a distance when I walked him.
A white Escalade drove by. It wasn’t Josh, but it drew my mind back to him, back to us.
As we walked, my emotions spiraled in directions I couldn’t control. I’d desperately wanted Josh and me to work, but the only scenario I could see was future heartache for both of us. No matter what Sandy said, if I felt bad now, I’d only feel ten times worse later when the inevitable end came.
Echo tugged on the leash, bringing my daydream to an end. He squatted to do his business.
I pulled out a poop bag and leaned over to pick up the smelly mess that resembled what my life had become.
Sandy had told me to persevere. She was wrong—dead wrong.
I couldn’t launch us into the nightmare I’d foreseen. Josh didn’t deserve it. He deserved a woman who could support him in his duty to his family, not one who altered his destiny toward unhappiness.
Chapter 44
Nicole
“Lover boy is here,”Constance called from the front door Tuesday afternoon.
“Tell him to go away,” I yelled back. It had been four days of this—Josh coming over every day.
“Not my job. You talk to him,” she said, walking back to meet me. “Now go. You know it would be easier if you talked to him face to face.”
“No, it wouldn’t.” I was certain of that. I didn’t trust myself. If I had to look into those blue eyes, how could I tell him to go away?
If he touched me, wouldn’t it be just like before? His magnetic appeal would weld us together, and all my effort to make this a sane situation would go down the drain.
I walked to the door. “She’s not here.”
“Hi, Nickels. I’ve missed you.”
I didn’t dare tell him I missed him too. “No Nickels here. Whatever you’re selling, we’ve already got one. Try the next house.”
“Guess what I have out here?”
I didn’t need to guess. He’d brought a Taco Bandito bag each day.
And, each day after he’d left, I’d grabbed it from the porch and devoured it.
“Tacos. And as a special treat, I have containers of both salsas. So if Constance gives you any trouble, you can feed her a little of the red.”
I laughed. “She’s been good. No need for that.”
“Well, I’ll start eating while I read your mail here.”
I pounded on the door. “You can’t do that.”
