It was when Otis was sitting beside the car that Kaylee looked at him and said, “Okay.” He jumped in and watched over his find on the way to the vet. For the first time in her life, Kaylee was falling in love with a dog. She wanted Otis to be her own.

Kaylee was in new territory. Having an SUV full of dogs and puppies was a lot more serious than taking Tux to the vet in a little cat carrier. She was afraid one of the dogs would get excited, start jumping around, maybe spill out the puppies, maybe jump on her and cause her to go off the road, in general just disrupt her. Her hands were tense on the steering wheel, her arms stressed tight, and yet she made the whole drive without incident. And when she got to Dr. Murphy’s office, she asked for help getting them in from the car. And because it was quite cool, she cracked the windows and asked Otis to stay.

She had a pet registered at this clinic but they wanted to know if these dogs were going to go to the shelter or was she willing to pay for their treatment. She hesitated for just a moment and then agreed to take responsibility, hoping it wouldn’t break the bank. Then the waiting began. She checked on Otis several times until the receptionist asked her if she’d like to bring him in and offered her a leash. Otis was very cooperative and allowed the leash and sat with her in the waiting room. Finally she was called into an exam room, where she found a basket full of puppies on the table.

“These puppies are brand-new,” Dr. Murphy said. “Less than a week old. Mama is thin, neglected and malnourished but is in otherwise decent shape. The puppies are okay. I think Mama is some kind of Lab mix and actually a pretty girl. I’ve given her some meds to help with her appetite and parasites. All things considered, she’ll be fine with some nourishment and supplements. Are you going to take them home?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m renting a house from Landry Moore.”

“Why don’t you check with him and ask him what he thinks you should do,” Dr. Murphy suggested. “You can always take them to the shelter in a day or two. This dog has no ID chip and no record of shots.”

“Where is she?”

“Oh, Lydia is cleaning her up. She’s a mess.”

And right then the door to the exam room opened and there stood Mama on a leash, looking almost beautiful. If it weren’t for the fact that she was on the thin side, she’d be perfect. “She had something to eat and a bath. I’ve never seen anyone in bigger need of a bath.”

“Look at you,” Kaylee said. Then she looked at Dr. Murphy and asked, “Can I just take them home?”

* * *

Mama and the babies were now occupying a roomy basket that had handles. That cut-up cardboard box was too torn up and melted down from being wet and trashed. It didn’t make it any farther than the dumpster behind the veterinary clinic. When Kaylee got everyone home she found a corner of her living room to put down a soft comforter for the little family. She rolled up blankets as borders for the puppies, but they weren’t moving too fast yet. She put a bowl of food she’d gotten from the vet and water outside the barrier for Mama.

The sun was already down and she was starving, but first she texted Landry.

If it’s not too late and you’re not too tired from a long day, can you stop by my house when you get home? Otis is here and I have something to show you.

In a little while he texted back, Is everything all right?

Sure. Everything is fine.

After she got something to eat and caught Otis eating some of Mama’s food, she dimmed the lights in the room, turned on the TV with the volume soft and sat on the floor beside the puppy pile. She picked up the puppies one at a time under the close scrutiny of Mama.

Then Tux wandered over, clawed his way over the blanket barrier and found himself a spot amid the puppies.

It didn’t occur to her until after the fact—Otis simply watched and didn’t protest the kitten’s presence at all.

She brought a couch pillow down on the floor and reclined with a hand in the puppy bin, gently stroking each puppy and a kitten and Mama.

* * *

Landry had no idea how taxing the day had been until he began the drive home from San Francisco and had to stop for coffee not once but twice. Most of his tension had come from the grim anticipation of how difficult it would be to talk to Laura about divorce. And it certainly was every bit as tough as he imagined. Before the meeting was over there had been tears. He’d never been worth a damn when a woman cried, especially if he was the cause.

He was so relieved that it was over. He would never have to do that again.

Then he got the text from Kaylee and he wondered what was going on. When he finally got home, he parked his car in his drive and walked next door to her house. He tapped lightly at the door and heard Otis bark. In a moment she opened the door and there was his dog, standing beside her wagging his tail.

“What’s going on?” he asked, leaning down to give his dog a little affection.

Kaylee yawned. “Pajama party,” she said tiredly. “I think I fell asleep. Come in and see what Otis found today.”

He followed her to the corner of the room where Mama and the puppies were sleeping with a little black-and-white kitten curled up among them.

“Kaylee, where did they come from?”

“Otis found them in the woods,” she said. “And he wouldn’t let me pass until he showed me.”

7

THEY CALLED HER LADY. For a week the rescued dog was referred to as Mama, but that wasn’t a real name, so Kaylee stepped forward and declared she would be Lady. Landry fixed up a cozy pen for her in his kennel. He built a two-foot-high barrier around a large dog mattress so that the puppies couldn’t wander off but Lady could step over with ease. He would have put her in the house in a warm corner of the kitchen, but he didn’t really know her and there were too many opportunities for trouble, so the kennel it was.

Lady liked the kennel and the new bed for her and her family. Right outside the door was the fenced yard and Otis was willing to run and play a little bit, but Lady was still a new mother and underweight and had four puppies who didn’t even have their eyes open to take care of. And she did a wonderful job of keeping them clean and quiet.

It was no longer necessary to sit beside Lady’s box and feed her by hand as Kaylee had done in the beginning. Her appetite had returned and she was enjoying a special kibble with a high calorie content. In no time at all she began to look more fit, healthier and, to Kaylee at least, beautiful. But Kaylee still spent a great deal of time sitting beside her, picking up a puppy to cuddle, then another, then another. Lady patiently allowed this. She would often show her approval by licking Kaylee’s hand.

“I wonder what happened that made her owner go to such cruel lengths?” she asked again and again. “She’s the sweetest thing in the world.”

“I think you’re pretty much over that fear of dogs you had,” Landry said.

“At least with these two, I am. Do you have new dogs coming anytime soon?” she asked.

“I didn’t schedule any training sessions for the fall because I’m visiting those fall festivals and I won’t be home to be sure they get out, get fed, get exercised. I’ll be too busy with pots.”

He called them pots but they were really masterful works of art, clay and ceramic and brightly colored designs in every imaginable shape. Since Lady had come to stay, Kaylee spent a little time just watching Landry in his shop. He’d sometimes wear protective headgear with goggles, especially when he was using a blowtorch on glass or metal designs. He had a kiln and a couple of ovens and long metal tables; when he refinished two bedrooms into a shop he left the floor cement, nailed metal and flame-resistant sheets to some parts of the walls and inserted a metal garage door in the back wall. When the weather permitted, he raised that door for a working outdoors effect. Sometimes the heat in his shop could become intense. The door into the shop from the hall was extra large and metal reinforced. He liked making decorative wind chimes of metal, ceramic, glass or clay.

Then there were the sculptures, shaped and molded with clay. He had just finished one that was a partial female torso with an obvious pregnant middle. It was armless and headless, like an old Greek statue. “Are you going to put a head on that woman?” Kaylee asked.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I like the look for one thing. And if there’s a head and a face, it will be hard for another woman to look at it and imagine herself. Do you want to see some of my earlier work? I have pictures.”

She sat on his couch with albums and paged through photos of beautiful sculptures, pots and chimes. One that caught her eye was a bust of a woman with a man behind her, kissing the side of her neck. Her head was tilted to give him access to her neck and the look on her face was rapturous. The man’s eyes were closed. It was one of the most romantic things she’d ever seen.

His glass pieces were her favorite, all shapes and sizes and many colors in beautiful designs, especially the vases, which went from round to oval to square. There was a huge clear glass vase with a narrow slit on top with silver, black and gold stripes running through it—it was stunning.

She watched him blow designer glass a couple of times, keeping her distance and wearing dark protective glasses. He would create pieces that a gallery might get six hundred to twelve hundred dollars for. She was mightily impressed with his talent and his success.

Every day was a new adventure. She walked, usually with Otis if he wanted to come along, but with his “dad” at home working, he usually stayed close to Landry. She made it a point to go to town. She might stop at the corner store and grab a few items. She’d spend some time in the bar with her laptop open. If this were a coffee shop in Newport Beach the sight of that laptop would ward people off out of respect for her space as she was working. Not in Virgin River. It was common for everyone who passed through to talk to her, sometimes going so far as pulling up a chair at her table or right next to her at the bar. This, of course, was why she was really there.

“Tell me how those puppies are doing,” Jack said.