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“No no.” Galen shook his head fiercely. “We got it.”
“He’s got it,” Redbull corrected. “I’ve got paperwork.”
Galen ignored him. “Don’t you worry about it. You probably have important things to do. School things.”
Brenda squinted at him curiously. She wore a visor to keep the sun out of her eyes. Sea-green, those eyes, like a mermaid’s. She was so beautiful it took his breath away. His breath, his lungs, all the oxygenation in his blood. He might as well be a puddle of fish water on the floor. “How did you know I’m a teacher?” she asked.
Galen froze. How to answer that question? I’ve had an enormous crush on you ever since I picked my nephew up from school and saw you walking out the door with your overstuffed book bag.
Or how about, I’ve never forgotten one single bit of detail anyone has dropped about you within my earshot. I even know your birthday. It was six weeks ago.
Or maybe, I also know that you drink tea, not coffee, and would you be so kind as to accompany me to the SweetBitter Café for a tea latte with oat milk, your favorite?
Before he could answer, she laughed. “What am I thinking? Small town. Of course you know I’m a teacher. Everyone knows everyone around here. Except me. I’m still learning.”
He exhaled, his heart still racing from that close call.
“I’m Redbull,” said Redbull. “That’s my nickname and you can use it. Galen and I own this outfit. Best wilderness tours in Minnesota. We do everything from short hikes to canoe trips to week-long guided adventures to drop-offs and pickups.”
Why had Redbull suddenly decided to become all chatty?
Olaf squirmed in Brenda’s arms. “I’d better get this little troublemaker out of here. Are you sure I can’t help—”
“Sure.” Galen cut her off, more brusquely than he’d intended. She took a step back in surprise, and nearly skidded because of the puddle. He grabbed her arm. The contact sent such a jolt through him that he froze.
“Thanks,” she murmured as she regained her footing. “Bye now. Nice to see you both.”
She hurried out the door, the leash trailing behind her. Galen wondered if he should pick it up and follow her, as if it was a train and she was a princess. Or a bride.
He didn’t. All the willpower had left his body and all he could do was stand and watch her go.
“That went well,” Redbull said drily.
“She knows my name. She already knew it.” And all of a sudden the world shone brighter. Brenda McMurray knew his name, and she’d looked him right in the eye and hadn’t blinked at his twig-strewn beard and disheveled hair.
Speaking of hair…he felt something on the side of his head and put his hand to it. His pen. Sticking out at a ridiculous angle. That whole time.
And sweet Brenda hadn’t said a thing.
He sighed. She knows who I am. She knows where I work, what I do, who my business partner is.
And that he occasionally stuck pens in his hair and forgot about them.
“You going to clean that mess up?” Redbull asked as he took a swig of his drink.
“Of course.” Whistling, he went into the office bathroom where they kept cleaning supplies.
Brenda knows me.
two
“If you ever do that again, I’m changing your name to Cotton Ball,” Brenda muttered to Olaf as she plopped him into the pet carrier she kept on the back seat of her old Volvo.
Olaf completed his traditional three rotations before curling up in a tight ball, his tail covering his eyes. He was all worn out from his latest catastrophe. In a moment, he was asleep, his little ribcage rising and falling with his quick breaths. A tiny Maltese, Olaf was kind of the hummingbird of dogs. He was a rescue pup who’d nearly been put to sleep. But the vet tech had called Brenda and she’d come running to adopt him.
His training was sorely lacking, and he was old enough to be virtually untrainable. Or at least that was the excuse she used for him.
She rearranged the grocery bags on the backseat to make room for the carrier, then strapped it in. She was a bit of a helicopter doggie mama, she could admit that. But Olaf had come into her life when she desperately needed an unconditionally loving fellow being, and she’d love him forever for that.
