Stray Hearts (17 page)

“She’s been out there with him for the past half hour.” Matt spun around to find Hazel standing behind him. He turned back to the window and watched in astonishment as Kay scratched Chester behind his ears, patted his side, then backed off again for another try. She caught his attention with the Frisbee, then tossed it again. It seemed to hover in midair for a long time before beginning its descent, only this time Chester actually raised up on his back paws and clamped his jaws around it before it hit the ground.

Kay let out a whoop of delight Matt could hear even through the closed window. She rushed over to Chester, took the Frisbee from him and praised him madly, patting him, scratching him and ruffling his ears. Chester got all excited and slurped his tongue across Kay’s cheek, and she didn’t even bother to wipe off the dog spit. Matt could see her lips forming the words
good boy,
over and over, and when she smiled at that misbegotten animal it was as if the clouds had parted and sunlight was streaming down from heaven.

“I overheard her talking to him when she took him out to the backyard,” Hazel said. “She told him to pay attention, because if he could learn to play a game maybe some kid would want him.”

In that moment any lingering thoughts Matt had about Kay not relating to animals shattered into a million pieces. This wasn’t the Kay who’d come kicking and screaming into his shelter a couple of months ago. This Kay was sweet and compassionate with a heart the size of Texas, who’d grown to love an animal enough that she’d go out of her way to help him find a home. And looking at her now, he knew—she would understand. She would understand how much the shelter meant to him, because it was starting to mean something to her, too.

All at once he realized what an integral part of his life she’d become, so enmeshed in his everyday existence that he couldn’t imagine tomorrow without her. She’d chased away the loneliness he’d felt for what seemed like forever. She made him eager to come home at night. And most importantly, she’d given him something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Hope.

It was the last week of September. The air unit was still holding on. If it kept working another few weeks, he’d have until spring to find a way to replace it. With fall here, his utility bills would drop dramatically. The donations Kay had gotten had lightened his financial burden just enough that if nothing else went wrong, he just might be able to keep things running. For the first time in a long while, he was actually looking forward to tomorrow.

He might even be able to get by without the Dorland Grant.

The moment that thought leaped into his mind, he froze. Then he examined it for a moment, playing it over, looking at it from all sides. All at once it didn’t seem so incomprehensible. Why hadn’t he seen it before?

If he turned down the grant, he’d be out from under Hollinger’s thumb. He’d be free to tell Kay how he felt about her. And he’d never have to worry about Kay finding out what he’d done, because he’d never accepted that money in payment for anything. He grabbed his phone.

"I’m calling Hollinger."

Hazel made a face. "Why?"

"To tell him to forget the grant.”

“What?"

He couldn’t quite believe he’d said it, but now that the words were out of his mouth, they seemed to gain momentum. “I’m going to tell him to forget it. I never should have agreed to it in the first place. Things are better now. The donations Kay’s gotten, the weather turning cooler... it’s all going to work out. I don’t need Hollinger.”

Suddenly he felt wonderful, liberated. After he made this call, he could go to the backyard, sweep Kay into his arms, drag her back to the house and make love to her until neither one of them could stand up. He knew she wanted it as much as he did. He saw it in her eyes every day, in her smile, in the way she looked at him sometimes with such confusion, because they were so good together and she wondered why he didn’t do anything about it.

It was time he did. His only regret was that he wouldn’t see the look on Hollinger’s face when he told him to shove it.

When started to make the call, though, he felt Hazel’s hand on his shoulder. “Doc—stop.”

He turned around, and she handed him an envelope.

“What’s this?”

He looked down and saw the return address—Southern National Bank. The envelope wasn’t thick enough for a statement, and the address label was individually typed, not bulk mail. He slid the letter out and read it, and when he did, it was as if the whole world had come crashing down around him.

The bank was giving him until the end of the month to bring the mortgage on the shelter current. If he didn’t make up the back payments, they were going to foreclose.

Matt stared at the letter as if it was a death sentence. He closed his eyes, feeling that tight burning sensation in his stomach again. He’d thought he had time. He’d thought the bank would work with him a few months longer, but now—

If he didn’t take the grant the shelter would close forever.

He spun around and headed toward the front door.

“Doc? Where are you going?”

He didn’t respond. He left the shelter and got into his Jeep with Buddy and started to drive. He didn’t know where he was going, and he didn’t care. For safety’s sake, it just had to be anywhere Kay wasn’t.

For the next hour he made needless trips to needless places. He stopped by the hardware store for a washer to fix a leak in the kitchen sink, the drugstore for shampoo and aspirin, then went to the grocery store and dropped items at random into a shopping cart. He spent a much-needed five or ten minutes in the frozen food section, not putting a thing in his cart but cooling off a lot.

Then somewhere between the ice cream and the frozen vegetables, he started to look at things logically. He told himself all he had to do was go to the awards ceremony, bank the money, get the shelter back in the black and then he could hold on to Kay forever.

He felt better as he drove home. Calm. In control. As long as he didn’t think about Kay playing with Chester, about how her smile had lit up the whole neighborhood, he’d be just fine. He just might be able to keep his hands to himself until that money was safely in the bank.

When he pulled into his driveway, he was surprised to see a black Mercedes parked in front of his house. He came through the front door into the clinic waiting room, carrying his odd array of packages. He saw a man sitting in a waiting-room chair wearing a charcoal-gray suit, starched blue shirt and silk tie, reading a copy of
Dog Fancy.

Matt slowly closed the door. “Can I help you?”

The guy looked up. “I’m waiting for Kay. You’re the vet, right?”

“Uh...yeah.”

The guy’s gaze circled the room, his nose crinkling as if he’d just smelled something rotten. “Interesting place you’ve got here.”

Matt didn’t respond.

The man nodded down at the magazine. “Don’t suppose you have a
Wall Street Journal?”

Matt eyed him suspiciously. “No. Afraid not.”

The man looked back down and kept reading. Confused, Matt swung through the kitchen, dropped the sacks on the kitchen table, then headed up the back stairs. As he stepped onto the second floor, Kay’s bedroom door opened. And the moment he saw her, the breath left his body.

In jeans and a T-shirt she was a knockout. In the conservative clothes she wore to work she’d stop traffic. But the shimmery black slip of a dress she wore now showed off her anatomy to its full advantage. He thought he’d mentally catalogued every curve she had, but now he was seeing a landscape of hills and valleys he’d never even known existed. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders like a golden waterfall, and her perfume filled the air between them like a soft floral cloud.

He approached her slowly, blinking in awe, hoping his eyeballs weren’t going to pop right out of his head.

“Kay?” His voice sounded funny, as if he’d swallowed something wrong. He cleared his throat. “Who’s the guy downstairs?”

“Jason Bradley.”

“Who?”

“We have a date.”

Matt felt as if she’d slapped him. A date? Kay was going on a
date
?

She turned her back to him. “The zipper. I can’t reach it Do you mind?”

She swept her hair aside. Matt’s gaze slid downward, from the smooth, pale skin of her neck, across her lacy scrap of a bra, to the zipper parked halfway down her back.

He took the zipper between his fingers and slowly pulled it upward, mourning the disappearance of one inch of beautiful skin after another. As the zipper reached its limit his fingers brushed against the baby-fine hair at the back of her neck. For a wild, fleeting moment he saw himself kissing her there, teasing her with his lips, then easing that zipper slowly back down again...

“Thanks.” Kay turned around, sweeping her hair over her shoulder again, shaking Matt back to reality. She disappeared into her bedroom, then reappeared with a small black handbag, tucking a tube of lipstick inside it. “Where did you meet this guy?” Matt asked.

“At work.”

“I don’t like him.”

Kay blinked with surprise. “You don’t even know him.”

“He wears wingtip shoes.”

“He’s a lawyer. It’s part of the uniform.”

“A lawyer?” Matt rolled his eyes. “Come on, Kay. Haven’t you learned that lesson by now?”

Kay’s lips tightened. “Jason’s not Robert.”

“Give him a few years. Where’s he taking you?”

“Rodolpho’s.”

Matt winced at that little twist of the knife. It wasn’t the most expensive place in town, but he distinctly remembered three little dollar signs beside its review in the newspaper. He’d be lucky to be able to take Kay to McDonald’s for a Big Mac.

Kay started down the stairs. Matt followed, torturing himself by watching the provocative back and forth shift of her hips inside that shimmery little dress. When they reached the first floor, an expression of wolfish delight sprang to Jason’s face the moment he caught sight of her. He stood up and gave a low whistle. “Now that,” he said, “was worth the wait.”

Kay smiled at him, and Matt wanted to die.

Jason took her arm and started for the door. Matt stood there helplessly, desperate to think of some way to stop her. Jason was clearly one of those guys who couldn’t wait to carve another notch in his bedpost. How could Kay even
think
of going out with someone like him?

“When will you be home?” Matt asked.

Jason got a solemn, obedient look on his face. “Don’t worry, sir. I’ll have her home by ten o’clock. Unless, of course, the sock hop runs late, or we decide to go necking under the bleachers.”

Smart ass.
Now he really did feel like Ward Cleaver.

“Ready to celebrate?” Jason said, opening the door for Kay.

“Celebrate?” Matt said.

Jason turned back. “Old man Breckenridge offered her a job. Didn’t she tell you?”

Matt felt sick. No. She hadn’t told him.

“I didn’t get the chance,” Kay said. “I—”

Before she could say anything else, Jason took her arm and hustled her out the door. Then he stuck his head back in, a sly grin on his face. “Don’t wait up.”

Jason clicked the door shut. Matt peered through the blinds, watching as he walked down the porch steps with Kay, his hand resting with way too much familiarity against the small of her back. A slow burn of jealousy started in the pit of Matt’s stomach and spread through the rest of his body. Kay had gotten a job, and she was celebrating with
him?

Then he had a really horrible thought. What if the worst happened? What if she came home late, a little rumpled, with a smile of ecstasy on her face?

What if she didn’t come home at all?

He watched Jason walk Kay to his car. Once she turned and looked back toward the house, and Matt’s heart stopped. But then she continued on, into Jason’s Mercedes and probably out of his life for good.

He let go of the blinds with an angry clatter. What could Kay possibly see in a guy like that?

Oh, hell—why
shouldn’t
she want a guy like that? He could support her in style. She wouldn’t have to eat macaroni and cheese from a little blue box, use pizza coupons or live in a turn- of-the-century monstrosity that hadn’t seen updating since World War II. If it was between a guy like that and a broke veterinarian, who was she going to pick?

And Jason was just the kind of guy she could take home to meet Mom.

For the next three hours, every time Matt thought he heard a car door he muted the TV, leaped up and went to the window, only to discover it was a neighbor’s car, or someone rattling a garbage can lid, or absolutely nothing but his own imagination kicking into overdrive. Tired of getting shoved out of Matt’s lap so many times, Buddy finally crawled under the coffee table and fell asleep.

Matt had just collapsed on the sofa for the umpteenth time, reaching the conclusion that Kay wasn’t going to come home at all, when he heard the crunch of tires on gravel outside. He ran to the window again. Jason’s Mercedes swung into the driveway.

He tore out of the living room, took the stairs three at a time, then screeched to a halt at the front door, lucky he hadn’t tripped over anything in the dark. He flicked a slat of the blinds and peered out.

Jason got out of his car, circled around and open the door for Kay. He took her hand and helped her out, the pale glow of the streetlight tossing their shadows down on the sidewalk. He leaned in and said something to her when she stood up beside him. She laughed, and Matt’s heart dropped to his toes.

They walked toward the porch. Matt reprimanded himself for not thinking to turn on the porch light earlier. It was dark out there. Things happened in the dark that might not happen in the light. But he couldn’t do it now or they’d know he was watching.

They climbed the porch steps, and Jason didn’t waste any time. He eased his hand around Kay’s back and pulled her against him. She didn’t meet him halfway, but she didn’t stop him, either. And when he leaned over to kiss the woman Matt wanted more than anything in the world, the slow tremor of jealousy he’d felt all evening exploded into a full-blown earthquake.