“I’ll say she has problems.” He shook his head. “You’re supposed to be a grief therapist, nutrition specialist, and a possible midwife? May I point out that this isn’t a good time for you to be involved with any of that?”
“There’s never a good time. It’s life, Lassiter. I can’t afford to let her be boarded, even by a nice man like Dr. Nalez. She might give up and slip away. I’ll be responsible for her.” She frowned. “Though I’ll have to work it out. There will be times when I won’t be able to care for her. I can’t take her on the island. Nicos would use her as a weapon. I’ll have to—”
“Margaret, this isn’t smart.”
“I know. But I have to do it.” She turned and went to the reception desk. “I’ll get her prescriptions. You’d better call Cambry and prepare him for the fact that he’s going to share the rear seat.”
“Margaret.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “I know that you could refuse to take her, but you won’t do it. You might think that Juno’s intrusion is just adding chaos to chaos, and you’d be right. But I can’t not take care of her right now. And when you think of it, she may be an opportunity for us to think of something besides Nicos. I don’t know about you, but I need a distraction.”
“I know you do.” His frown disappeared and he smiled. “The optimistic approach again. Frankly, I don’t know how you manage to keep that banner flying nonstop.”
“It’s not nonstop.” She smiled back at him. “But it’s the way I ordinarily think. And when I can’t find a reason, I look for a distraction.”
“Evidently you found it,” he said drily. He took out his phone. “I’ll call and tell Cambry another challenge is on the horizon and then call a taxi. Get Juno ready to go and out here in the next fifteen minutes.”
She nodded. “She’ll be ready. I’ve told her she has to do what I say.”
“Let’s hope she pays more attention than that tigress you were schooling. You don’t have all night to work with Juno, as you did with the tigress and her cub.”
“She’ll pay attention. Like most retrievers, she’s very sweet natured.” She had a thought. “But she’s stubborn. It was really hard to get through to her. Every time I told her that she should do what I said, she told me, ‘You’re not her.’ She meant her friend Celia. It was almost like a mantra. No one appears to mean anything to Juno but that little girl.”
“Sad.”
“Don’t you start. I’m trying to jar her out of it.” She started speaking to the receptionist. She was vaguely aware of Lassiter, who was talking on the phone in the background. By the time she’d gotten the prescription and gone to the back to fetch Juno, he had finished and was waiting outside for the taxi.
Dr. Nalez gave her a leash for the dog and walked with her out of the clinic. “You’re sure this is what you want to do?” he asked. “It won’t be easy dealing with her right now. I can try to find her a good home.”
“I’m sure. I think she needs me. I don’t believe anyone else will do right now.” She shook his hand. “Thank you for taking care of her. We’ll get along fine.”
But you’re not her.
She looked down at Juno, who was standing quietly but whose thought was crystal clear.
“Just fine,” she repeated. “Thank you again.” She turned to Lassiter, who had opened the door of the taxi for her. “You ride up front. I’ll ride in back with Juno.”
“Compromises, already,” he murmured. He slammed the door shut behind her and the retriever and then got in the passenger seat. “I hope she appreciates all this.”
“She doesn’t, but that doesn’t matter. She needs me.” She put a gentle hand on Juno’s back. Soft. Silky. Warm. She stroked her gently.
Nice … But you’re not her.
She kept her hand on Juno’s body.
Nice is good enough for now.…
*
“I couldn’t believe this when Lassiter told me,” Cambry said, looking down at Juno as they were walking toward the Cessna while Lassiter settled up for the hangar rental. “Or maybe I could. It’s just bizarre.” He knelt down and rubbed Juno’s ears. “How are you? You’re quite the beauty, you know.”
“She knows. People have been telling her that since she was born.”
Still … nice.
Evidently, Cambry had made a hit. Probably because he was making the effort and he was a big, strong man who had no resemblance to Juno’s Celia. No comparisons.
So take advantage of it.
“Cambry, this is Juno. I hope you’re going to be very good friends.”
Cambry looked warily up at Margaret. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”
“You’ll fall in love with her. Look how she’s staring up at you. She has a very affectionate nature. She already likes you.”
“Because I’m scratching her ears.” But he kept scratching them. “Lassiter said she’d be your responsibility.”
“And she will be, but I may need a little help.” She suddenly grinned. “Juno may need a nanny.”
*
Twenty minutes later, they were in the air, with Juno lying a little uncomfortably in the seat next to Cambry. But Cambry had settled her sprained back leg so that it wouldn’t be stressed. Every now and then he would reach out and readjust it or simply pet her.
“Are you finessing this situation to suit yourself?” Lassiter asked Margaret as she turned back from watching Cambry with the dog. “I believe Cambry is being hijacked.”
“He won’t mind. He just has to get used to her. Dogs are all love. Particularly golden retrievers. Juno will give more than she takes.”
“Are you planning a permanent arrangement?”
She shook her head. “She’s just in need. It’s a healing time. He’ll help her heal.”
“Not you?”
“I’ll be there for her. But right now she’s pulling back from me. She keeps saying that I’m not her. She means Celia. At first, I couldn’t figure it out. Then I remembered what Dr. Nalez said about Juno and her Celia being so very close.” She paused. “I think perhaps that Celia might have been a little like me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I believe … that they could read each other. Maybe Celia couldn’t read any other animals, but the love was so strong between them that she could bond with Juno.”
“Oh for God’s sake.” He was silent, thinking about it. “But wouldn’t that make Juno more likely to bond with you?”
She made a face. “If it didn’t confuse her. She recognized that I was more like Celia than any other person she’d ever been around but that I wasn’t her. That’s why she keeps saying it. It’s a reminder that would constantly hurt, that she won’t accept.”
“But she’ll accept other people?”
“She can’t help herself. I told you: She’s all love. It’s been a while since she lost her Celia. She just has to be shown the world is still a good place. She’ll accept me, too, in time. When she’s ready.”