The trainers of Hope’s Crossing Kennels easily worked sixteen-hour days, with long breaks in the slow times of the afternoon to balance out their long hours.
Lyn’s involvement was solely regarding Atlas but she sure as hell wasn’t going to sleep in when David was up and getting started with the freaking dawn. What she hadn’t anticipated was how ragged she’d feel once the weekend hit and they were all still getting started right on time.
One never appreciated sleeping in on the weekends until one couldn’t. It’d been especially hard to climb out from under the comforters this morning. The guest bed was warm, cozy and comfortable. David’s bed.
Lyn took another sip of her own coffee. No good could come of her brain being allowed to continue half-asleep at this moment.
“You all may continue with your routine,” Sophie was saying, coffee mug in hand and a stolen piece of bacon in the other. “But your guest here might not know there are options for her. Like actually leaving kennel grounds and enjoying a day off.”
“We take days off.” Alex sat at the table across from Lyn and gave her a grin. She lifted her mug in acknowledgment.
Sophie scowled in his general direction.
David slid a plate of eggs sunny side up and bacon in front of Lyn and her attention snapped to the wonderful smell of breakfast. She lifted her fork. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” David was already digging into his own plate of food.
He’d been incredibly considerate through the entire week. Breakfast was always like this at the kennel. They ate together, went through the day’s schedule and any potential issues. Lyn was included as a contributing member. Maybe not one of the inner circle, but a part of a team. It was refreshing, interesting, as compared with the solo work she usually did in her training and consulting business.
“The least you could all do is introduce us properly.” Sophie had a plate of breakfast by now and she seated herself.
Brandon sat next to her, absently passing a plate of iced breakfast rolls over to Lyn before offering it to Sophie, too. They smelled heavenly and Lyn immediately bit deep into golden, pillowy goodness. When blueberries burst across her tongue, complemented by the vanilla lemon icing, Lyn closed her eyes to focus every fiber of her being on enjoying the flavors.
Alex chuckled. “Pretty sure Lyn’s going to be your friend forever if you keep bringing baked goods on your visits while she’s here. And you know who Lyn is because as soon as you noticed we had a guest you followed Brandon around until he told you. Not sure any other introductions are needed.”
Lyn finished chewing and swallowed, coming up for air before taking another bite of happiness. They all accepted the other woman with an easy air of long acquaintance. She was like a little sister, running around bugging her big brothers for attention. Brandon glanced at Sophie as she reached over him for salt and quickly stuffed his own breakfast roll in his mouth.
Well, mostly big brothers. There was something else going on there but it wasn’t Lyn’s thing to get into the middle of those situations.
“Lyn, it’s a pleasure to officially meet you.” Sophie extended her hand across the table. “I’m Sophie and I do the accounting for the kennels.”
“She also keeps giving us all reason to keep up our cardio, otherwise her baking would make us fat.” Despite his commentary, Alex helped himself to another sweet roll.
Lyn quickly wiped her hands on her napkin and reached out her right hand to accept the handshake. “You made these? They’re incredible.”
“It’s a hobby.” Sophie’s slender hand caught hers in a firm grip.
Nice. Lyn hated limp handshakes.
Sophie gave her a friendly smile. The sort of open, genuine smile Lyn couldn’t help but return. “I was going to do a little shopping in New Hope today. Why don’t you join me?”
“Oh.” Lyn glanced at David. “I don’t want to miss any work with Atlas.”
“Today’s his rest day. No plans besides easy exercise time and relaxing with him.” David didn’t look up from his plate. “You can always spend time with him after you get back.”
The week had been interesting, learning how to take Atlas through the various specialized training. They’d only covered agility and scent training this week, with one session on bite work. David had asked a friend from the local police force to come and wear the big protective suit when they’d done the bite work.
It’d been frightening and fascinating to see Atlas spring into action. She’d worked with K9s in the past but Atlas, as an Air Force military working dog, was on a different level. His aggression was higher if at all possible, and his speed was heart stopping. Plus, there’d been a distinct difference between biting to apprehend the way K9s did and biting to kill the way a military working dog needed to.
“Can we speak privately for a minute?” She put her fork and knife on her plate. “So we’re on the same page about Atlas.”