Page 12 of Death on Gallows Path

He laughed. “Oh, hell, yes, she would. And she wouldn’t have been half as tactful as I was. In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing her take him on.”

“Do you miss it, though?”

“This works better for me. I can keep my hand in with law enforcement, keep my hand in with teaching.”

He hadn’t answered the question.

“Hey, you know I do fine, Sheila. You don’t have to worry about being stuck with an old crock who relies on you for everything. If that’s at the root of your maybe.”

Whoa.

Neither of us had mentioned that in the months since he’d brought up marriage — though in a sideways approach — and I’d responded with the equally sideways maybe.

“That is not—”

He interrupted. “How’d the training go at Zepke’s?”

After his conversational veer, I was back to the earlier choice. Push? Or retreat?

I knew more than I had.

There remained a lot I didn’t know.

But his signal was clear. Plus, with us apart, was this the time to press?

Still occupied with personal issues, I said, “We weren’t the worst in the class.”

“Did you think you might be?” He sounded genuinely surprised.

“Me? Yes. Gracie? No. Berrie was there—”

“Ah.”

“Yup, with two young Boston fosters.”

He knows her and her permanent dogs from when he can come to the dog park with us.

I related the results of Berrie’s optimism that one of the pups would stay on her bed while Berrie worked with the other.

“Though the barking was not the carrying-on Marcus does.” The patriarch of Berrie’s Boston pack directed a lot of his carrying on at me when I entered the dog park. “And not — I have to admit — the glass-shattering bark Gracie can produce.”

He chuckled.

I liked that sound. I especially liked the sensation under my hand resting on his chest when he produced it.

In this moment, it also reminded me we were too far apart for me to experience that sensation.

“It’s good Berrie’s taking them to training, right?”

“The foster group requires it. But listen to this — she might not have been the worst owner there. There were two couples who came in together and I wouldn’t let any of them near our dogs.”

“You’re concerned they’ll drag down the value of the training?”

“I hadn’t thought about that. Donna’s in the class to help her granddaughter with Bernie, so we’ll probably pick up tips from her, along with Leo’s formal teaching. And everyone else seems nice — you know, normal dog people.”

He chuckled again. “I hate to burst your bubble, but I have, in my law enforcement career, arrested criminals who were dog people.”

“You think you could manage one more and arrest Berrie?”