daughter.” A subtle patchwork of lines etched the bronzed skin around his eyes, highlighting their deep chocolate color.
A blush rose to Lainey’s cheeks. This was so not the way she’d pictured her morning. “I have to get out of here,” she said to no one in particular.
“Not so fast, girlie.” Shelly leaned across the counter, her twang thicker with every syllable. “Your mama is in a delicate state. She don’t need anyone upsetting her.”
“I’m here to help,” Lainey said through clenched teeth, hating how defensive she sounded.
“Vera Morgan is a saint, I tell you.” This from an elderly woman two stools down.
Lainey glanced around the crowded diner. If looks could kill, she’d be a goner a hundred times over. Those angry stares were what had kept her away for so long. And the reason she already regretted returning. Cradling the bag of food against her belly, she raced for the door. To know why people loathed the sight of her didn’t make it any easier to stomach.
When the door to Carl’s slammed, Ethan blew out a breath. “I need the water to go.” He forced an even tone and raised his eyebrows, willing Shelly to remain silent.
She didn’t speak. The entire diner was eerily quiet, but the pity in her smile made him grit his teeth. He’d tolerated enough pity for two lifetimes. He’d gone from the town’s golden boy to a humiliated laughingstock because of Lainey Morgan and had no intention of repeating that mistake.
He stalked outside where the dog lay under the iron bench. Water sloshed over the side of the cup and dripped down his fingers as she lapped up greedy gulps.
“What are you doing?” Lainey asked behind him. She held a small bowl of water in one hand, balancing the takeout bag in the other arm.
In an instant, her scent surrounded him, different than before—still sweet but with a hint of something he couldn’t name. “Shouldn’t you be halfway to the county line by now?”
“Not that it matters, but my mother called me. Or had Julia call me. I’m not running away.”
“We’ll see how long that lasts.”
“She needs help—”
“I’ve worked with Vera a long time. I know what she needs.” He paused then said, “It’s been tough, between the stroke and rehabilitation. She’s not used to doing what other people tell her.”
“That may be the understatement of the century.” She sighed, a small, sad sound.
He pushed his fingers into the thick fur around the dog’s neck then looked at Lainey. “No collar,” he muttered. “What idiot …”
She crossed and uncrossed her arms over her chest, avoiding his gaze. Finally she reached out and smoothed the hair on top of the animal’s head. “I’m the idiot.”
Her voice was so quiet he wasn’t sure he’d heard right.
“This is my dog. Sort of. Not really.” A wave of pink stained her cheeks.
“Your dog?” He looked back and forth between the two. The dog pushed against Lainey’s hand as she halfheartedly scratched behind its ears.
“Her name’s Pita. For now.”
“And you left her in the sun?” He grabbed the blue rope tied to the bench’s armrest and worked his fingers against the knot. “Didn’t you learn anything from your dad?”
She took a step back as if he’d struck her. Regret flashed through her eyes before they turned steely cold. “I was getting a hamburger for the dog at the diner and her water dish from my car. I’d have been here ten minutes ago if the waitress hadn’t insisted I pay cash.”
Ethan glanced at the paper bag Lainey still held. “Plus you’re feeding her greasy table food. Nice.”
Her finger stabbed into his chest. “Excuse me, Dr. Doolittle, but I ran out of dog food and there was nothing off the backwoods highway on my way in this morning.” She rolled her eyes. “In case you weren’t aware, Piggly Wiggly doesn’t open for another hour, and I need to get to the hospital.”
She whirled away. Tugging hard on the dog’s leash, she stomped toward an ancient Land Cruiser parked near the curb.
He touched her arm but she shrugged him off.
“Lainey, wait …”
She spun back around and shook her finger in his face.
“One more thing before you send the Humane Society after me. I said this dog was sort of mine. She’s been hanging around my house for a couple weeks. I posted reward signs all over the neighborhood but strays are pretty much the official dog of New Mexico.”
She continued wagging the finger and moving toward him until he was flattened against the diner’s brick exterior. “She stowed away in the back of my truck—not a peep until the Oklahoma state line. Too late to turn around.”
Pausing for a breath, she bit down on her lower lip. Ethan’s heart skipped a beat.
Her voice softened and she looked at the dog. “Believe me, Ethan, I am well aware I can’t even be a decent dog mom.”
He didn’t understand the sorrow that clouded her gaze. He’d bet the farm it had nothing to do with Pita, who gazed at her with the sort of unabashed adoration only dogs and teenage boys could manage. “I didn’t say—”
She flicked her hand. “I’ve been driving two solid days. I’m going to the hospital and taking the dog with me. If you think I’m that bad, find a good home for her. For now, I’m all she’s got.”
She stared at him with a mix of defiance and wariness, as if she expected him to challenge her right to the dog.
A breeze kicked up, and she pushed away a curl that escaped her ball cap. Even her face had changed. The soft roundness of youth had given way to high, defined cheekbones and an angled jaw that made her beautiful but not at all the girl he once knew. Her eyes were the same. A color green that turned stormy gray when she was riled up. The same impossibly long lashes.
Memories flooded his mind, almost drowning him with their intensity.
Maybe he’d overreacted about the dog. So what? She wasn’t going to make him feel like a jerk. He wasn’t the jerk here.
Despite his mistakes, he’d tried to do the right thing. He’d stepped up to marry her, to give her the family he knew she’d wanted. She was the one who’d left him standing at the altar in front of God and most of the damned county. He’d learned his lesson about putting himself out there. About caring too much. Whatever homecoming Lainey got in Brevia, she deserved.
“Good luck, then.” He tipped his head and walked past, not trusting himself to speak again. He had to get a hold of himself fast, or this was going to be one long summer.
Lainey didn’t watch him go. She didn’t need another view of the way the faded jeans he wore hugged his perfect butt. Seeing him bend over the dog had seared that particular image into her mind.
Not that she’d ever truly forgotten.
She bent forward and fiddled with Pita’s rope for several beats before glancing over her shoulder. An older couple walked toward her along the sidewalk; otherwise, the street was empty.
Balancing the bag of food on one hip, she opened the back hatch of her SUV. Pita jumped up and plopped onto the navy canvas dog bed Lainey had bought at a pet store outside Memphis.
The dog whined as Lainey opened the paper sack and pulled out two hamburgers, breaking them into pieces over a plastic food dish.
“Look at the mess you’ve gotten me into.” Lainey’s fingers trembled as she unscrewed a bottle cap and poured water into another bowl.
When Pita finished the food and