The Girl in the Window (13 page)

“Breakfast,” she called out the door.

Russ looked askance at the puppy chowing down on eggs and sausage as he came in, with Will close behind.

“I don’t have puppy food yet,” she said, and almost smiled at his disapproval although he almost certainly knew she didn’t have any dog food around.

“Don’t spoil him,” he said.

Unseen behind Russ, Will grinned and rolled his eyes. Beth smothered another smile.

Over time it seemed Will and Russ had come to an understanding as Will had proven his willingness to work, and work hard. It had been slightly grudging, but it had come.

“C’mon, dog,” she said, slipping a couple carrots from the garden into her pocket.

It was later than it usually was when she went over and from the side window she could see Fair standing in the paddock, looking at the house expectantly.

Now was as good a time as any to find out how horse and dog would get along.

Wolf tumbled as much as he walked or ran, trying to get where he was going faster than his little legs would carry him.

Everything fascinated him, he’d lag behind to sniff or explore, and then scramble to catch up. Beth kept an eye on him as she walked.

She heard the screen door to Josh’s house slam and looked up to see Josh cross the yard toward her.

It was already hot, getting on toward high summer, so all he wore was a thin strappy t-shirt tucked into his jeans. He was lean, muscled, and beautiful. Like her he was shoeless at the moment, his feet a little on the long side. He was already smiling as he saw the puppy and she smiled, too.

“Who is this?” he asked, crouching down to puppy level.

Delighted, ecstatic, the puppy bounced over to him happily, barking, and then flounced onto his back for a belly rub, all four feet waving in the air.

Chuckling, Josh obliged as the puppy wriggled in a paroxysm of ecstasy, tongue lolling.

Josh shook his head at the size of those feet. He was going to be huge. One thing was certain, though, he was a happy puppy.

“What kind of watch dog are you going to be if you roll over at the sight of a stranger?” he asked, laughing.

“I’m going to call him Wolf,” Beth said with a smile as she watched them, feeding Fair his grass and then his carrot. She rubbed between his eyes and patted his neck as Josh fussed over the puppy. “Russ found him – someone abandoned him in a box by the side of the road. Said he thought I could use a dog and he’s going to be big.”

“Big?” Josh said, taking one of the puppy’s paws in his hand. “He’s huge already, by the time he’s grown he’ll be a monster. He’s going to eat you out of house and home.”

“Then I guess it’s good I’m starting work soon,” she said, stroking Fair’s neck as he nudged at her.

The horse knew there was another carrot in her pocket.

It was one of the things she did now so Fair would get used her touch, but she still just enjoyed the fact he would let her do it, stroking her hand over his smooth, sleek, and powerful neck.

Josh looked up at her, surprised at the news.

For some reason the thought bothered him. The thought of not seeing her as much.

Seeing the look, Beth shrugged a little. Something in his eyes warmed her and made her heart twist a little bit.

“It had to happen sometime,” she said softly. “I was contracted for it about six months ago, but construction got delayed.”

The delay had been a blessing in a way, giving her time to grieve, although she didn’t say that. Her heart twisted at the memory, but she put it gently aside.

“You know that new elder-care home they’re building over on Forest Street?”

He nodded.

“I’m going to be working there,” she said. “In charge of the kitchen. I’ve been waiting for word. I got it yesterday.”

That was the other reason for the garden. Even with the best of intentions most institutional food came out of cans and jars, but she wanted to augment it with what she grew or found at farmer’s stands, to give the folks in the home a taste of nature.

“Well, having tried your cooking, all I can say is they’ll be lucky,” Josh said, and meant it.

She blushed and ducked her head a little in embarrassment.

Waving a hand at the house she said, “So it’s a good thing, I guess, that all this is getting done now.”

Soon she wouldn’t have time.

“It’s looking good,” Josh said, thinking that the color that flared in her face looked beautiful, and her embarrassment charming.

Following her gesture, he had to say that Russ and Will had done a good job on the house, though, it looked almost like new. They’d even picked out some details he hadn’t seen after he’d looked at the house for so long. He hadn’t known there was scrollwork at the peak of the roof and each corner until Will had painted them cream to match the sills. Now they stood out against the moss-green walls.

The house blended nicely with the landscape, with the corn and the wheat, it looked a part of it.

Even now Russ was painting the bulkhead doors that led down to cellars a bright glossy green in contrast to the rest. It made what had been rusty gray doors look less depressing. Somehow the flowers Beth had planted seemed even brighter against the paint as they hadn’t against the worn gray boards of the walls.

With a half chuckle Josh remembered Russell bitching about how hard it had been to paint around those damn flowers. But he’d done it. So far as Josh could tell, neither Russ nor Will had crushed a single one. He smiled at the thought.

Still, the idea that Beth wouldn’t be around as much worried him, but all he could do was see how everything shook out.

Wolf rolled, scrambled to his feet and charged toward the paddock to gambol around Beth’s feet.

“Ready?” Josh asked.

Nodding Beth waited while Josh went to get the harness, nudging the puppy with her feet so he’d pounce on them and try to gnaw on her toes.

The horse ignored him, only flinching away a little when the dog got too close, eyeing him suspiciously before blowing at him.

Startled at the sound the puppy just looked up, and up, and then promptly fell over on his back again, feet waving.

Fair eyed him almost dubiously.

“Just hold it for now,” Josh said to Beth as he returned, handing her the harness. “I just want him to get used to it, to you in the paddock, and the smell of the leather. He knows it, he just has to remember it’s not threatening.”

He scooped up the puppy in one big hand and opened the gate enough for Beth to slip past.

Startled, Fair charged away to stand on the other side of the paddock, but Beth simply stood by the rail, leaning her back against it.

Josh stood close at hand by the gate with the squirming puppy tucked against his body.

The horse regarded her first with one eye and then the other.

Reaching into her pocket Beth pulled out a carrot and held it out to him.

She waited.

Fair paced, first one way and then the other.

Beth could see what Josh meant now about Fair’s gait, the way his feet struck out so crisply, the way his muscles moved so smoothly beneath his hide.

He was grace in motion, fluid, beautiful to watch, his tail streaming a little in the breeze of his passage.

The beauty of him caught her breath.

Suddenly he stopped, turned and looked at her.

He tossed his head, shook it almost reluctantly, then he sighed and walked toward her.

When he was close enough to reach he stretched his neck to take the proffered carrot.

Beth smiled.

It was so clean, so new. The stainless steel of the counters, sinks, and appliances gleamed. The floor was spotless. The space smelled fresh, clean still. Beth knew she’d only see it like this this once, but that was all right. She patted her pocket where the keys to the building resided and walked to the back with a glance through the door outside to the common room, as brand spanking new as the rest of the building that awaited the residents to come. She went to answer the knock that had summoned her and opened the door to the delivery man.

He’d brought help with him for this very first delivery.

They carried in the boxes of vegetables and fruits as they were the most perishable. She directed them to unload the boxes into the proper bins and refrigerator drawers as they brought in the canned goods and boxes, as well as the shakers of individual and mixed spices she’d ordered. They were the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to introduce some vitamins and minerals into the diet. And they made things taste good, too.

She remembered the way Josh had reacted to her sandwich and how the boys had enjoyed her spaghetti. And all the meals since. There was satisfaction in that.

Maybe it wasn’t the old dream, the one she’d made with Matt, but perhaps she could make some new ones.

There was something to be made here.

Maybe
.

For a moment she stood there, fighting a moment of panic.

What if she couldn’t handle it?

She locked the fear down firmly, held control of it before it could rage out of control, and looked around again. She could do this. Would do this.

One step at a time.

If nothing else, it was all neat, clean, properly stored, and put away.

They’d hired her, she knew, as much because she was cheaper than the others who’d applied as for her experience, gained working the summers at restaurants during college. Jobs that had also helped pay the bills.

In a few days the residents would arrive and be assigned to their rooms, they’d told her. As she drove home she fought flashes of anxiety. Would she be able to manage? Would they like the food she prepared?

Beth was already considering having Wolf trained as a therapy dog, although the manager of the home had already designated him one with a wink and a smile. It was hard to imagine the happy puppy not being good for people.

And if he grew to be as big as promised, some of them could use him as a walker
, she thought with a grin.

Happy yips and barks greeted her from inside the house as she walked to the door, Wolf having heard her car in the drive.

Opening the door for him, he tumbled out. She laughed and grabbed him before he fell down the rest of the steps in his excitement.

He took advantage of the opportunity to wash the parts of her face he could reach thoroughly and enthusiastically.

She set him on the ground and he dashed to the grass to do his business.

While he did she walked around the house, pinching off dead flowers, picking some vegetables from the garden. As big as Wolf might be, but he wasn’t yet big enough to make the steps up into the house easily, so she picked him up to carry him inside with her.

All the while there was a sense of anticipation, a nervous energy running through her.

Today was the day in more ways than one.

Putting some food out for the dog, she slipped an extra treat for the horse into her back pocket.

The puppy attacked the food like he was starving, as usual.

Already the day was growing warm, but she didn’t mind so much. Heat and cold rarely bothered her.

“C’mon, dog,” she said.

Wolf looked up from his lunch, his black eyes bright as he bounded after her.

Racing to the door, barking in anticipation, as always he tumbled down the steps as much as bounded down them, but already it was getting easier for him. He was growing so fast.

He raced ahead of her across the yards into the weeds leading to the yard next door.

Beth followed more slowly.

Josh must have been watching for her because he came out of the barn even as she started across the grass.

For a startling moment her breath caught just to look at him, at his broad shoulders, strong arms and lean body, the thin white t-shirt accentuating that and his farmer’s tan. Some off-hand comment Will had made had seemed to indicate that Josh had some native heritage, too, and in that moment Beth thought she could see it in his cheekbones, despite his blond hair.