Miss Knight, I have had a long and testing day so you’ll have to forgive me if I’m not altogether delighted to return home and find my apartment trashed.”
“I wouldn’t describe it as trashed exactly—”
“No?” He stared at the pasta that carpeted the floor. “How would you describe that? What even happened to it?”
“I’m guessing she was interested in the contents of the bag so she decided to take a closer look. While she’s living with you it’s probably a good idea to put food away in the cupboards so it’s secure. I’ll deal with it.” Technically it wasn’t part of her job, but she didn’t want him to be angry with Madi.
“And what happens tomorrow?” He prowled across the apartment, advancing on her with an ominous sense of purpose. “And the day after that? Am I going to be coming home to this every day?”
“I d-d—” She tried to respond but she couldn’t get the word out. It was stuck. Blocked. Horror washed over her. Horror and embarrassment. Had that really just happened? Yes, it had. She’d stammered. After all these years of never stammering once, she’d stammered. She tried again. “I d-d-d.”
No. No!
Madi gave a yelp of protest and Harriet realized it was because she was squeezing the dog a little too tightly.
She relaxed her grip and forced herself to breathe.
Why had this happened now? But she knew the answer to that, of course. It was because Ethan Black was yelling at her. She wasn’t good with angry people. Or maybe the stress of continually pushing herself out of her comfort zone was getting to her. Yes, maybe it was that.
Thankfully, he didn’t seem to have noticed her speech issues. He was too preoccupied by the mess in his apartment.
She swallowed, hoping that it was just a blip. She wanted to try speaking again to test that theory.
“There are days when I’m rarely home. Debra assured me the dog would be no problem.”
“Madi was b-b-b-ored.” Not a blip. Now that the stammering had started, she didn’t seem able to stop it. Mortified, Harriet decided the only option was to stop talking. She had to get out of here and try and calm herself down. Had to work out what had gone wrong.
She felt like a teenager again, terrified to speak in case the words jammed in her mouth.
Terrified of impatient glances or, worse, pity.
It didn’t matter what Ethan Black thought of her, she couldn’t sort herself out with him scowling at her.
She scrambled to her feet, grabbed Madi’s lead and her coat and took her to the door, grabbing her own coat on the way.
“Where are you going?”
“Walk.” She used a single word and didn’t hang around for a longer conversation. She fled.
This was one challenge too far.
ETHAN STARED AT the closed door in frustration and disbelief.
Walk? Walk where? It was snowing outside and the temperature was dropping. Not to mention the fact that they’d been in the middle of a conversation about how to handle the dog.
The dog.
It occurred to him that a stranger had just walked out of his apartment with his sister’s beloved pet.
“Dammit.” He ran his hand over his face. What was he supposed to do now?
She’d taken the dog. His sister’s dog, who was his responsibility. And by the look on her face, she wasn’t intending to return in a hurry. Maybe not at all.
Why had she run out like that?
Guilt flashed through him and he ran through the conversation in his mind.
He’d walked through the door, seen the mess and—
Yelled.
He winced, hit by a stab of regret and remorse. He’d definitely yelled.
And something about her had changed when he’d done that.
She’d been tense and defensive and then she’d stammered.
He thought back, remembering the look of dismay on her face.
At the time he hadn’t thought anything of it, mostly because he’d been too focused on his own emotions. He’d registered the disfluency in her speech, but ignored it.
Now he remembered the flash of panic and mortification in her eyes, as if something dire and desperate had happened.
Her appalled reaction told him this was something she fought against. He’d dated a speech-language pathologist for a while when he was an intern, and he remembered her telling him that stressful situations could sometimes trigger a relapse in people who generally had the condition under control.
What if he’d caused the stressful situation?
What if Harriet Knight didn’t normally stammer?
He probably shouldn’t have yelled at her, but he’d had a seriously bad day and returning to find his apartment looking like the inside of a garbage disposal unit hadn’t helped. Surely she could see that?
And he hadn’t been yelling at her exactly. He’d been yelling generally.
His attempt to justify his behavior had no impact on his guilt levels because the truth was none of it was her fault.
He was about to work out whether he should go after them or not, when his phone rang.
He saw from the caller display that it was his sister in California.
Great.
Perfect timing.
His concern for his niece eclipsing his worry about the dog, Ethan answered the phone.
He was relieved when Debra told him everything was going smoothly.
“Good.”
“How about you? How is Madi? Has she been good today? Is she settling in?”
Ethan looked round his wrecked apartment. Neither his sister nor his niece needed anything else to be anxious about. And he certainly didn’t dare confess that right now he didn’t even know where their precious dog was. He had to hope Harriet returned with her. If she didn’t—well, he’d worry about that when it happened. “She seems to be settling fine.”
“And Harriet showed up on time? Well, of course she did. I don’t know why I’m even asking that. Harriet is the most reliable person on the planet. Isn’t she gorgeous?”
Ethan thought of the way she’d scolded him for upsetting the dog. “Charming.”
“I knew you’d like her. I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me before but she’d be perfect for you.”
“What?! Debs—”
“Just trying to turbo boost your romantic life.”
“My romantic life is fine, thanks.”
“No, your sex life is fine. Your romantic life is dead.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “I draw the line at talking about sex with my sister. And I have all the romance I want, or need.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. You were married. Been there, tried that, yada yada. But just because you and Alison ended up on the rocks doesn’t mean you can’t try again. I don’t know Harriet that well but I love what I know and I would have said you’re exactly her type.”
Ethan doubted Harriet would agree.
He’d