“Initially, I figured avoiding dogs entirely was the way to go. But—” he paused to draw another breath “—you’ve helped me realize that is more apt to provoke questions than avoid them.”
Her jade eyes gleamed. “So you’re going to take the opposite tact.”
He moved forward, hands spread, his voice edgy with tension. “I want to desensitize myself, the way a person would after any trauma.”
Sara offered a supportive nod. “Kind of like when you get thrown off a horse. The last thing you want to do is get back on one, but if you don’t get back in the saddle as soon as possible, you may not ever be able to ride again.”
“Right.” The understanding in her eyes encouraged him to dig a little deeper into his feelings. “I’m not planning on falling in love with the pup, or even having much to do with Champ. I just want to be able to be around him and not start thinking about all the things I’d rather not think about.”
She looked at him from beneath the fringe of her lashes. “I hear you.”
She certainly seemed to. And not just in the way a compassionate woman would, but like someone who had been through her own version of hell.
Matt cleared his throat. Maybe the two of them would be good for each other, after all. “So when and where do you want to start Champ’s socialization?” he asked.
She paused. “This evening okay with you?”
* * *
“I know what you’re thinking,” Sara told Charley several hours later. She rushed around her bedroom, trying to get ready.
“I’m getting awfully dressed up for an outing with you and Champ and Matt, but it isn’t a date. Even if it is Saturday night. And it sort of feels like it could be one. It’s absolutely not.”
Charley gurgled from the seat of his battery-operated swing.
“It’s just that the Spring Arts and Crafts Fair at the community center is a pretty big deal around here.” Sara paused to put on her favorite gold necklace and matching earrings. “Everyone goes, and everyone gets a little bit dressed up. Usually cotton dresses and cardigans for the ladies, and button-up shirts for the gentlemen. And of course—” she mugged affectionately at her son “—adorably cute outfits for the little ones, like yourself.”
Her doorbell rang.
Sara glanced at her watch.
“Oh dear.” Matt was early. Charley still wasn’t dressed, and Champ still had to go out.
Thanking heaven that she at least had gotten in her favorite yellow dress, Sara finished zipping up the back, then eased Charley out of his swing. Doing her best not to get drool on her dress, she carried him to the front door.
Matt stood on the other side of the portal, looking handsome as could be in a tan button-up shirt and jeans. “You okay?”
“Yes.” She inhaled a whiff of his sandalwood-and-leather cologne, noting how closely he had shaved. “Why?”
He shrugged. “You’re perspiring.”
Okay, it really wasn’t a date, she thought in wry relief, because if it had been a date, he would have had more sense than to point that out. She waved an airy hand. “I’ve been rushing around.”
“How can I help?”
With a grin, she drawled, “I was hoping you’d ask.” She shifted her baby into his strong arms. “Entertain Charley while I gather his stuff.”
“Any particular reason why you chose this event for Champ?” Matt asked.
Sara motioned for Matt to follow her up the stairs to the nursery. She stopped by the master bedroom long enough to grab a pair of soft beige ballet flats. One hand on the door frame, she paused to slip them on. “A couple, actually. First, it’s indoors, so it’ll be well lit and we don’t have to worry about the weather. And secondly, there will be a fair amount of noise and excitement and a ton of people there of all ages.”
Matt’s gaze shifted upward, from her feet to her face. “So there’ll be a lot for both Charley and Champ to take in.”
A little embarrassed she had inadvertently just given him a glimpse of her bedroom, post wardrobe crisis, she said, “Yes.” Trying not to flush, she reached for Charley and put him on the changing table.
She needn’t have worried whether Matt would judge her indecisiveness, though. He seemed to have something else a lot more serious on his mind.
“Are you going to have Champ on a leash?”
Was he nervous about being around the pup himself? Afraid that might trigger some sort of PTSD-like reaction on his part? Worried she couldn’t handle the puppy in a crowd and might lose track of Champ? Or just not really looking forward to that part of their excursion? She sighed. There was no way to tell, given the inscrutable look on his face. Although he hadn’t reacted to the adorable black Lab puppy’s presence thus far with anything more than guarded disinterest.
Figuring the best way to engender calm was to exude it, Sara casually let him in on her plans. “Actually, I’m going to carry Champ in my arms tonight. That way, when he starts meeting a lot of different people, he’ll still feel safe. And he won’t get tangled up around our feet since he’s not that great on a leash yet.” Although he would get there.
Matt nodded with what appeared to be relief. “What about this little fella?” he asked.
Sara eased off her son’s terry-cloth onesie, changed his diaper, then slid on a blue-and-white playsuit. “I’ll adjust the BabyBjörn and you can carry him in that, or you can push him in the stroller. He’ll probably be happy either way.”
Matt considered. “Might be better to put him in the Björn, so he’ll be high enough to really see what’s going on.”
Sara was delighted Matt had no problem being close to her son. She went to get the canvas carrier, and fifteen minutes later, they were on their way. Matt drove his pickup truck. She drove her SUV, with Charley in his infant seat and Champ safely ensconced in his carrier.
From the looks of the crowded parking lot, the festival was already in full swing when they arrived. Sara put her son in the BabyBjörn and then helped Matt ease it over his shoulders. Charley gurgled with excitement and leaned back against Matt’s broad chest. The sight of the two cuddled up together so contentedly was enough to make her swoon. As well as wish that Charley had a daddy like Matt in his life, all over again...
Satisfied all was well, Sara smiled contentedly. She snapped a leash on Champ’s collar and led him to the grass. She gave him the appropriate command and the little pup promptly relieved himself, while Matt stood a short distance away.
“Good boy, Champ!” she praised him warmly, since one of the things she was teaching him was to go potty on demand. “Good boy!” She scooped him up and together, she and Matt went into the building where the festival was being held. As expected, Charley got his share of affectionate greetings. Sara was mobbed with people wanting to pet Champ, too.
What Sara didn’t expect was to run into Matt’s sister, Lulu. The dark-haired honeybee rancher was older than Matt by two years, and to twenty-eight-year old Matt’s continued aggravation, had been known to be both bossy and protective of all five of her brothers. As well as stubbornly resistant to their advice.
“Hey!” Lulu grinned as she came forward to give them all a hug. Hands on her hips, she stood back to look at Matt. “I knew you were donating funds to recruit new volunteers.”
Sara had told Lulu and his mom as much, in order to ease the pressure on Matt.
Lulu’s McCabe’s blue eyes sparkled. “But I didn’t know that she’d talked you into helping out with the puppy raising, too!”
Matt’s expression became impatient.
“He’s