“Oh, is that right?” He stood and grabbed her hand, hauling her to her feet. “I’ve missed you today, Hailey. Let me hold you.”
She yanked her hand away and backed up. “Don’t you dare.”
“I thought women liked sweaty men.”
“We like looking at sweaty, shirtless men. Not touching them.”
He advanced toward her. “One hug.”
She fled down the deck. “I’ll text you what time supper is when I put the roast in.”
Fortunately, the cooking time on the roast gave him plenty of time to shower and shave, so when he walked into her kitchen at the time she’d given him, he wasn’t gross at all.
“That’s better,” she said, putting her hands behind his neck and kissing him.
“There’s almost no limit to what I’ll do for roast and potatoes.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for the future. Where’s Bear?”
“Napping in front of the television. Sometimes having Bear is like living with a two year old and other times it’s like living with a really old man. Can I do anything to help?”
“Should I bother with salads?”
He grinned. “I vote no.”
“That’s what I thought. Everything’s ready to go on the table, so all you have to do is sit and eat it.”
“You lit candles.”
“I do that sometimes.” She didn’t consider it a big deal, but he was looking at them as if they were going to fall over and burn her house down. “Do you not like candles?”
“What? Oh, candles are fine. Just fancy, that’s all.”
Now that she looked at the table, it probably looked like a romantic dinner for two. But apparently it was only a romantic dinner in her mind. In reality, it was just supper with added candles.
She had just set the serving platter in the center of the table when Matt’s cell phone rang. For a split second, she hoped he’d hit mute and ignore it, but he couldn’t do that. The conversation was mostly one-sided, with Matt doing more listening than talking, but she got the gist of it.
The look he gave her when he hung up was heavy with apology. “I have to go. There’s an aggressive animal in a residential neighborhood and they haven’t identified it with certainty, but it went after a kid and I’m closest. I’m sorry.”
“Okay.” There wasn’t anything else she could say. A roast wasn’t more important than children being terrorized by a possibly wild animal.
“I don’t know when I’ll be home.” He gave her a quick kiss and was gone.
Hailey stood for a minute, looking at the beautiful dinner she’d prepared for them. It was damn near perfect.
So much work for nothing. How the hell was a person supposed to plan things when he had to run off like Batman every time somebody waved the signal around? He’d almost missed his own barbecue after his family drove two hours, and then she’d hung out in his stupid flannel shirt for over an hour, waiting for him. And now this. She wanted to pick up the platter and bounce it off the wall.
Instead she grabbed a loaf of bread from the box and the mayo out of the fridge. She sliced the roast as fast as she dared without cutting herself, then slapped some mayonnaise on the bread. A little salt and pepper, then she wrapped the sandwiches in a paper towel.
She was almost across the yard when he rushed out of his house in uniform. He unlocked his truck and was about to climb in when she called his name.
“I turned the roast into sandwiches so you can eat while you drive.” She handed him the paper towel bundle. “But carefully.”
He looked at the sandwiches in his hand and back at her. Then he slid his other hand behind her neck and gave her a long, firm kiss. “Thank you.”
Bear wandered over to sit next to Hailey’s feet, and she rubbed the top of his head with one hand while waving goodbye to Matt with the other.
Once the truck was out of sight, she looked down at the dog and sighed. “I guess it’s just you and me, boy. Let’s have some roast.”
*
IT WAS STRANGE how often wild, possibly rabid beasts turned out to be hungry stray dogs. And when faced with a firm voice, a steady look and a uniform, the child who’d run from the dog admitted he’d thrown rocks at it. Matt had seen it more times than he cared to count, but he’d also seen the calls be legitimate, so he never stopped taking them seriously.
Figuring out they weren’t dealing with a wolf, bear, mountain lion or any of the other scary predators reported by the panicked members of the community had been the easy part. The fact it was a dog and it had been provoked didn’t change the fact Matt couldn’t leave it there.
Once the dog had been located and identified, it had taken over an hour to coax the poor guy out and, even then, he hadn’t been easy to catch. But with patience, a soft voice and some dog treats, Matt had finally won what little trust the dog was willing to give. Now he was safely in a shelter, being given food, medical attention and some tender loving care. Hopefully he’d go on to find a home with people who’d treat him right.