Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (65 page)

In spite of himself, Ben grinned. “I call her Shortie.”

David laughed. “I
’ve
never thought
of her as
short, but next to you,
I can see that, too
.”

Ben knocked on
Joe
l
’s office door before the clinic
opened for the day.

“
I know I’m not working for you right now, but w
hen I
talke
d to old man Seversen
, h
e s
aid
good homes
is all he cares about for the
retriever
pups. I was thinking we
should
see if
Eric
Scanlon would like one of the pups.”

“Call his parents. They’
ll know if he’s ready
for another dog
. Bronnie has their number.”

After Ben
cleared it with the Scanlon
s, he waited until school was out, and
drove to
their house
to speak to
Eric
.
He found the
boy in the backyard.

“Hey,
Eric
. I have a question for you.”

“What’s that?” He
threw
his base
ball to Ben, who caught it and t
ossed
it back.

“We
have a proble
m
at the clinic.
We
have a bunch of pups there, and we need to find good homes for them.”

“How old are they?”
Eric
lobbed the ball in Ben’s direction.

“
A little over s
even
weeks.”

“What
are they
?
”

“
Golden r
etrievers.” He
grinned and
dropped the ball into the boy’s mitt. “I was wondering if you would like to take a
look
and tell me if you would like one.”

“My dad and mom—”

“I’ve
already talked
with them. They said if you want one, you can pick one out.”

“When?”
The boy’s eyes were shining when he looked
up
at Ben.

“To
day
would be good. We’re put
ting
up a sign tomorrow and I wanted you
to have first choice. I
f you want, you can come with me now.”

Eric
ran
toward
the house.
His mom
met him on the porch with his jacket and
gave him a quick hug. “Pick
out
a good one, honey
.”

When they
arrived at
the clinic, t
he boy went straight into the pen and sat down on
the ground
. The pups tried to climb on his legs, mout
hing the laces on his shoes,
enjoying the
boy’s attentions
as he played with them
.

“The one with the red collar is mine,” Ben said. “But you can choose any
of the others.”
He
sat back on the step and waited
.

Eric
studied
each of the dogs, picking u
p one, then another, and
finally go
ing
back to
the largest of the three females, a leader
in
the
litter
.
He grinn
ed
broadly
.
“This is the one
, Ben
. She reminds me of Goldie.” They placed a light green collar on her, and l
eft her to play with her litter
mates.

Ben
took
the boy home, promising to call him as soon as
Joel
released
the pups
.
Before
Eric
climbed
out of the car
,
Ben
handed over
a
small box of
supplies
.

“P
romise me you’ll bring her back
for
the rest of
her puppy shots.
”

“I will. Thanks, Dr. Edwards!”
the boy
shouted
then ran to the end of the driveway before Ben could pull away.

“You’
re very welcome,
Eric
.”

He
whistle
d all the way home.
This job has
its special moments
.

The day before
he
was scheduled to leave
for Pullman
,
Danni
told
Ben
her father wanted to speak with him.
“
He’ll probably invite you to dinner if we time it right.”

“You’
re thinking you can bribe me with your mother’s co
ok
ing?”

“Now that you mention it.
”
She smiled.

“It’s a deal. Y
our mom’s meals are worth facing the devil incarnate—not th
at I think of your dad that way.
”
He
reach
ed
for
her and kissed her soundly.

They pulled up with the
Thing
filled with odd pieces of furniture Anna had brought them when
Danni
first moved into the cottage. They were barely out of the car when David came out to help them
store things in
the garage. He
shook
Ben’s hand.

“I want
ed
to thank you
again
for
look
ing after my sweet girl.”

“It was my pleas
ure, sir.” Ben saw similarities
to
Danni
in the man’s
blue
eyes and his dark
hair. “I know
Danni
is happy you’
re home.”

“S
o am I.”

The four of them enjoyed a hearty dinner, and when Ben
rose
from the table, saying he needed
to
bring
another load
from the cottage
, Anna encouraged
Dannilynn
to go with him.

“You have so little time with him
before he has to leave
.
Make the most of it.”

Ben and
Danni
went back to the cottage, p
acked up the last of her things
and
took
a walk on the beach.

“I guess you won’t be staying
here tonight.
”

“No.”  She
looked
at him. “I hope you’re not upset, but I think my dad would prefer that I sleep in my
old
bedroom.”

“I think of the one back there as your bedroom,” he pointed, putting his arm around her.

“
And,
I think of it as
our
bedroom,” she smiled back at him, blushing
, as they walked up the steps of the Bennett’s vacation cottage
.

He was silent for several pushes of the porch swing on which they sat.

“I’m going to miss you when I’m gone
.
I’d better take you back before your dad comes to get you. I don’t want him thinking I’m taking advantage of you.”

“I wish you would,
” she whispered, standing up. “
Before you take me home
.”

Together, they walked back to the cottage, and
made
love
one last time.  Then they
finished packing up her things. The place
looked
empty, with Ben’s few clothes and other items in the smaller bedroom.
They drove
slowly
to
her
parents’ house
, and sat in the car for several minutes.
Ben suspected it was
Danni
’s dad who flicked the house lights at them. She just laughed and told him not to worry about
i
t. But she teared up when he kissed her for the last time, knowing he was leaving the next morning, and that they had agreed she shouldn’t come to see him off.

“It’ll be too hard for me to leave if I have to say good-bye again,” he murmured in her ear as he hugged her.

Chapter 1
7

“
Your wine, sir,” Angela gave a mock bow to
Joe
l
, as they settled at the stern of the boat, rocking on the waves
in the early
June twilight
. They were anchored off the point of a small island
reserved
as a
bird sanctuary.
Gulls
soared overhead and circled the boat
,
look
ing for a handout.

“Thank you,
m’lady
.
Did you know that your hair shines in the sun?”

“I’ve been told that.
”
S
he
shook
her blond tresses for emphasis.

He reached for her hand.
“You’re pretty quiet
,
babe
.”

“
I’ve been thinking. About
You.
Me.
Us
.
My plans
.”
She pointed
to a breaching o
rca some distance from the boat. “
Look
at that!”

His gaze followed
where she
was
point
ing
before he
turned back to her.
“
I saw a pod the last time I was out here.”

Sh
e sighed, certain
Joel
wasn’t going to like what she was going to say
.
Might as well get it out in the open.
“The old man has decided to retire at the end of next year. R
uth
has finally convinced him that being able to travel, see the grandkids, go to Europe—that sort of thing—would be more fun than taking care of
pat
ients.”

“I should
think you’d be happy,
taking over his practice and not having to check with him about every little thing.  Believe me, being your own boss beats being a junior partner.”

“
But
it means I have to find an associate if I want to take that fellowship. It’s still available, but not
if I wait too long.
”
Angela
set her wine glass down and turned her attention to the salmon steak
he
slid onto her plate.

“This
look
s good. Did you happen to catch this particular fish?”

“
You
said you wanted fresh fish.
I got you fresh fish.”

“How fresh?” Her left eyebrow rose as she squinted at him.

“Would you believe last night?”

“I call that fresh enough.”
She smiled.

“I’m glad you approve.
Back
to your fellowsh
ip.
Why do you want to
take one
?
I mean,
do you really need more training
?
I thought you liked being a family doc.
And you like the OBs you refer to.
”

“
All true, but if
I do the f
ellowship and decide to go to the big city, I’ll be better positioned to compete with my peers.
And
I’
m starting to see more women whose care
would benefit if I kne
w more, ha
d
greater skills
.”