Can I ever trust anyone again?
Chapter Thirteen
Laura felt more than useless as she watched Steve and Carol go through closing procedures at the store. When there was nothing left to do except lock up and set the alarm, she looked to Rob.
“What now?”
“I figured we’d go back to my place and pick up Doogie. I’m sure he’d love to see you. Then we’ll go back to your place. Bill can drive you to work in the morning. He’s flying in late tonight.”
She nodded and remembered her thoughts. “I guess I’m a morning person, huh?”
Steve, Carol, and Rob all looked at each other before breaking into laughter.
“What?”
“You hate mornings,” Rob said. “You’re so used to getting up early that your body pretty much goes on auto-pilot, but you are definitely not a morning person.”
“You don’t get to the store until eleven on a lot of days,” Steve said. “You usually close up. The only mornings you work are weekends when you have to go out on dives with us.”
Rob helped her back into his Explorer and they headed over to his house. It felt familiar driving there, but didn’t trigger any memories.
He helped her out of the SUV and to the front door. “Let me go in first,” he said. “He’s going to need a walk. Carol’s husband came over and walked him, but he’ll be excited to see you.”
He slipped in through the front door, shutting it behind him. She heard a dog’s happy barking and Rob’s voice.
“Guess who’s home? Mommy’s home! That’s right—whoa, hold on. Hold still. Doogie—ow!”
She’d started to reach for the door when he called out, “Okay, it’s safe.”
Cautiously, she eased the door open and peeked through. Rob had a large black Lab at the end of a leash, and seemed to have trouble holding him back.
“Are you sure they took stuff out when they neutered him?”
He laughed. “We’ve been wondering that ourselves.”
“What happened?”
“He got me in the nuts.”
“Ouch.”
“Tell me about it.”
The dog whined, his club-like tail frantically swishing back and forth at light speed as he tried to gain traction on the tile floor to reach her.
“Easy, Doog,” he said as he took another wrap of the leash around his hand. “Let me get him outside real fast and then bring him in. Go ahead and sit on the couch. We won’t be here long. I need to grab a couple of things.” He headed toward the front door after she’d cleared the way. “Come on, puppy. Let’s go.”
She walked into the living room. It felt more familiar to her than her own condo.
Like she belonged here.
Rob said we spent a lot of time at each other’s places.
Maybe that was the answer.
On the shelves flanking his flat-screen TV were an assortment of pictures. Quite a few were of the two of them, or of her, or her and Doogie, or her and other people. And a lot of the pictures were duplicates of ones she had in her condo.
She reached out and picked one up, the two of them walking along a beach near sunset. They’d been looking at each other.
If that wasn’t love on both of their faces, she didn’t know what was.
The front door opened. “Ready or not,” Rob called out, “here we come.”
She put the picture back and made her way over to the couch as Rob walked in with him, apparently throwing his weight back to hold onto the dog.
“Easy, Doog!” Rob let the dog approach.
She reached out for his head, and he quickly settled down and laid his head in her lap while she stroked his velvety ears. His large brown eyes flicked from Rob to Laura, happy to be back where he belonged.
“Labbybrat?” she asked.
Rob laughed. “Yes, that’s what we call him. Sometimes he’s the—”
Emotions and memories flowed through her, overwhelming. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes as the word came from somewhere. “Labbybratamooseasaurus.”
Rob couldn’t help the bittersweet thought. But she can’t remember my pet name for her, or how I proposed to her. He nodded. “Yes. The moose.”
She buried her face in the dog’s neck and breathed deeply. “He smells like oranges.”
“The vet’s groomer bathed him.”
For his part, Doogie held perfectly still, just the very tip of his tail rapidly moving back and forth to indicate his pleasure.
“You gave him to me for Christmas.”
She wasn’t done, and Rob didn’t interrupt her. How close was she? “No. Not Christmas,” she corrected herself. “New Year’s. You gave me a box with a rubber toy and dog cookies in it on Christmas day.”
He knelt next to her and touched her shoulder. “Yes.” He felt hope blossom inside him.
“And a piece of newspaper…”
She closed her eyes. It looked like it almost hurt her to think that hard, but maybe the memory was there, teasing her, resisting her efforts to pry it out of hiding.
“The classified section. With a breeder’s ad circled in red ink.” She paused. “He wasn’t old enough to pick up on Christmas, and you wanted to make sure I wanted him. So on New Year’s Day, the litter was eight weeks old and you took me there and I picked him out.” She sat up in surprise. “He was the runt!”
He laughed. “You felt sorry for him getting stomped by his brothers and sisters.”
Doogie scooted closer to Laura and pushed his nose against her hand, wanting more attention. “He got into the bathroom garbage that first night,” Laura continued, “and I told him he was an oogie little doogie. And that’s how we named him.”
She cradled the Lab’s head in her hands and looked into his eyes. “And you tried to hump the Edwards’ poodle, you little gigolo! That’s when I knew I needed to get you snipped!”
With Doogie now settled, Rob let him off the leash and went to grab a uniform for the next day. While he was gone, Laura stroked the dog’s head. He was content to sit there staring into her eyes.
“I wish you could fix all of my memory.”
His tail continued swishing nonstop.
A few minutes later, Rob was ready to go. “I have your phone, if you want it.” He handed it to her. “The cops went through it to see if there were any clues.”
She stared at it. “Were there?”
He shook his head.
He helped her get back into his SUV, then loaded Doogie in the backseat before locking the house.
Back at her condo, she didn’t miss how Rob quickly swept through the rooms and checked the back door before returning to the living room.
“Checking?”
He grimly nodded. “I’m not taking any chances.” He grabbed his bag and started down the hall before he turned. “Are you okay with me sleeping in bed with you?”
His question filled her with a mix of emotions she couldn’t sort through. Mentally, cognitively, emotionally, she knew this man was someone she had a strong, loving, intimate relationship with.
On the other hand, he was also still a stranger to her, except for all the good feelings when she thought about him.
But few memories.
He seemed to read her indecision. “If you say no, I’ll sleep in the guest room. But I won’t leave you alone in the apartment.” He smiled. “Besides, Doogie missed his momma, and you aren’t in any shape to walk him.”
His playful, caring tone pulled at her. “You’re good at pushing my buttons aren’t you?”
His face transformed. For a moment, she thought he’d cry.
She hoped he didn’t.
“That’s what you always say.”