Kerri screeched. “Peaches!”
The dog wiggled, squirmed, and barked. Of course, she wanted her mommy.
Ash handed over the puppy. “I found her running and chasing her tail in the front yard.”
“Oh, thank you so much. I can’t believe she got out again.” Kerri cuddled the dog close, cooing and kissing at the puppy as if she were a child. “What am I going to do with you, Peaches?”
“Her paws are getting more efficient.” Michael gave the pup a pat. “I’ll repair any damage she did to the yard or fence.”
“No problem,” Jenna said. “I’m just grateful Ash found her.”
Kerri nodded. “You saved us a lot of heartache. Thanks.”
Ash gave a lopsided smile. “Happy to be of service. I love dogs.”
“I’m Michael Dewar.” He shook Ash’s hand. “This is my fiancée, Kerri Williams.”
“Ashton Vance.”
Kerri cradled the puppy like a baby. Her gaze traveled between Ash and Jenna. “We passed you coming up to the house.”
Jenna recognized the curious tone. She didn’t want Kerri to think Ash was a potential date. “Ash and I have known each other for a while.”
“Almost three years,” he said.
Two-thirds of that time, they’d been out of contact. A part of her wished they still were. Well, except for Ash finding Peaches and offering to cover some of the wedding expenses.
“I want to take more pictures of you in here, but I’m afraid Peaches will escape if we put her in the backyard again.”
“Give me Peaches’s leash, and I’ll watch her,” Ash offered.
Jenna drew back, surprised. “You?”
“I don’t have any plans this afternoon,” he said. “Playing with a puppy will be fun.”
Kerri removed the pink leash from her purse, then clipped the end to Peaches’s collar. “She loves to play.”
“So do I,” Ash said.
Jenna’s breathing hitched. His words did funny things to her tummy. She focused on her camera, adjusting settings that were fine, but she wanted to distract herself from . . . him.
“Is that okay?” Michael asked her.
She leveled her gaze at Ash. But her breath remained caught in her throat, as if she’d wound a scarf around her neck three too many times. Not trusting her voice, Jenna nodded.
What was happening? Her reactions didn’t make sense. She didn’t like the guy. He’d broken her heart and nearly sent her into bankruptcy. She shouldn’t care what he did or how he looked at her. Even if a cute puppy was involved.
“Finish up in here.” Ash took the dog from Kerri. “Peaches and I will be in the backyard. Maybe she’ll show me how she escaped.”
Jenna wished the puppy would show her how to get out of here with no one noticing. She pasted on yet another smile. “Thanks. A couple more shots, then we’ll join you.”
“Have fun,” Kerri called out.
“Oh, we will,” he said.
Maybe Ash hadn’t sold out completely. Jenna watched him leave.
Not that she cared. Not much anyway.
Thirty minutes later, Ash sat on an Adirondack chair in Jenna’s backyard, shaded by the covered patio. He held onto Peaches’s leash, though the tired pup wasn’t going anywhere except Dreamland.
A welcome breeze rustled tree leaves and toyed with the ends of Jenna’s blonde ponytail. She moved effortlessly around her subjects, drawing his attention wherever she went. She could have been taking pictures of a lion on the loose, and he wouldn’t have noticed anything except her.
Beautiful.
More so than he remembered. But she looked thinner—not I’ve-been-working-out slim, more like worn out and eating less.
Too many June weddings on her calendar, or something else?
None of his business. Yet he felt responsible.
Who was he kidding? He was responsible.
His fault.
Ash had a feeling those words would be echoing in his mind for a long time.
He looked down. Peaches, worn out from playing and posing for photos, slept with her head on his left shoe. Her paws moved back and forth, running in her dreams.
Cute, but he’d rather watch Jenna.
She stood near a colorful garden complete with bright blossoms, a charming birdhouse hanging from a weathered post, and a quaint, slat-back bench. The last time he’d been here, the yard consisted of a cement patio, dying grass, and trees needing TLC. Now the lawn and plants thrived, creating an outdoor oasis.
“I’m going to take candid shots using the garden as the backdrop,” she instructed Kerri and Michael. Their smiles hadn’t wavered once this afternoon. “Don’t worry about posing. Talk. Hold hands. Wander around. Do whatever feels right. You can’t get this wrong. Okay?”
Kerri and Michael nodded.
Ash found himself doing the same, captivated by Jenna.
Writers used a journal; she recorded memories with photos. She’d always been comfortable behind a camera, but her new confidence impressed him.
“Can we smooch?” Michael asked.
She smiled, a mischievous gleam in her gaze. “Up to you.”