In an instant, Luke cataloged that detail about his neighbor. She was the kind of woman who dressed her man-killer dog in pink.
“A dog like that,” she said carefully, as if every word leaked out around the grim line of her lips. “What do you mean by that? She was a dog who was dozing in the sunshine in her own yard before she was awakened by a kamikaze in purple high-tops.” Jen scratched her hand over the dog’s belly and got the immediate feedback that it was good by a quickly dancing right foot.
Mari’s silent laugh next to his ear turned down his adrenaline a notch.
“You know those dogs are dangerous,” Luke insisted. He was supposed to watch out for Mari. The fact that she’d find trouble if he blinked was no excuse.
Jen slowly straightened and tugged her sweatshirt down. No matter how tall she stretched, she’d come no higher than his collarbone. Still, she didn’t back down. With one jab, she pointed at him. “My dog. My yard. If you’d teach children to approach all dogs slowly, cautiously and after she’s asked permission, neither one of us would be pulling gray hairs tonight.” She ran a hand through the hairdo that had definitely seen better days and huffed out a sigh. “I don’t think most dogs react well to being attacked in their sleep.”
Mari hung her head in the way she always did when she was pretending she was so sorry but making sure that everyone knew how cute she was. One quick look from her through her batting eyelashes was usually all it took to convince Luke to fold like a weak hand.
“If you want to pet her, let’s give it another try,” Jen said softly. Apparently she was no more immune to Mari’s charm than anyone in the Hollister household.
Against his better judgment, Luke let Mari slide from his arms. When Mari smacked his leg with the lightsaber, he grunted and managed to catch it before she got her second swing in. Jen didn’t laugh at his wince but some of the tension around her lips eased.
Luke crossed his arms tightly over his chest. “This is Mari,” he said as his niece inched closer to the dog. Jen offered Mari her hand and they both squatted next to the animal.
“And this is Hope. She’s pretty special.” Jen scratched under the dog’s chin before she loosened the bandanna. “She’s adopted from an animal shelter. We had to do some surgery to take out a pinch collar so she has a funny haircut.”
Mari traced the faint line around the dog’s neck and was too distracted to dodge the welcoming lick.
Luke would have grimaced, but he knew Mari would enjoy every second. His mother would have had a minor fit about dogs and dirt and germs and whatever the current scare in the kindergarten was. Years as a school nurse in Austin had given her a justified concern.
But she wasn’t here and another of Mari’s silent laughs made everything better.
The long, sad day of saying goodbye to the life he’d been building was forgotten.
“Adopted.” Mari looked back at Luke and then fiddled with the dog’s ears and scratched under her arms. “That’s the best.”
Hearing Mari repeat his mother’s comfortable saying, which she used at every holiday gathering, was enough to tug the heartstrings of even the angriest jerk in the world.
“You are so right, Miss Mari,” Jen said. “And Hope seems to agree with you.” She stood and watched Mari kneel to run her hand over the dog’s side.
The little girl and the dog got to know each other quickly. Hope, determined to get the best scratching of her life, rolled in one direction first and then wiggled and squirmed so that Mari could reach the other side, too.
“She hardly ever talks.” Luke stared hard at the child he’d grown so attached to.
“Why?” Jen asked quietly.
“She doesn’t waste any breath with words when a thwack with a lightsaber will do,” Luke said with a sigh.
“I like her style,” Jen said as Mari smoothed out the hem of her tutu. Hope had shifted to rest her chin on Mari’s leg. They seemed to fit together perfectly now. They were peacefully communicating without words. “Where did you find those shoes?”
Luke raised an eyebrow at her and noticed a wash of pink sweep over her cheeks. “You don’t really expect me to answer that, do you?”
“I appreciate bold clothing choices,” Jen said with a shrug. “I figured you were a clothes guy. I mean, those pants have to have some kind of designer label in them.” He couldn’t miss her cut a glance at his dark suit pants and wondered what it meant that she’d noticed what he was wearing.
Luke rubbed the ache in the center of his forehead. “Probably some no-name brand. Got them at the department store after my mother shoved them in my hands and told me they were good value. She likes value.” Luke glanced over his shoulder to his house and considered why someone wasn’t watching where Mari was. If it was supposed to be his mother, maybe she was resting? The fencing company had rousted them all out of bed earlier than necessary. “Mari, we should go. Abuela will be worried.”
He watched Mari hug the dog with all the dramatic sorrow of a little girl who was used to getting what she wanted without having to raise her voice. At some point, he was going to have to put a fence up. The Holly Heights Hollisters could have a dog where the Austin Hollisters had never been able to. That was a nice change.
But his fence would be a normal wood privacy fence, not this wrought iron monstrosity.
“So, I guess you aren’t building this to keep your dangerous dog locked up,” Luke said as he gently petted Hope. “That must mean you need to keep someone out.”
Jen’s scoff clearly communicated her disgust at his suggestion. “Why can’t I like nice things? Why does everyone want to make this into some paranoid statement of my fears?” She wrapped her arms tightly over her chest but quickly extended a hand as soon as Mari began a reluctant walk back to Luke, dragging the toes of her shoes on the concrete with each step. She picked up her lightsaber with a delicate sigh. When the little girl slapped Jen’s hand for a low five, Jen gave a curt nod. Then she caught Luke’s eye and mouthed, “Impressive.”
Mari’s shoulders were slumping but she couldn’t help stealing one last glance at Hope as she crossed the street.
Luke straightened his tie and then met Jen’s eyes. Both of them had twitching lips.
“You seem pretty good with kids.” Luke shook his head. “Want to take a budding actress under your wing?”
“Nah, I like them older. Mouthier. With graduation and the end in sight.” Jen sighed. “Little kids are too...fragile.”
Mari violently thrust her lightsaber at the bushes lining the small porch. “Right. So delicate.” Luke wondered if his mother had seen the torn leaves and missing branches yet. When she did, she would not be happy.
“I don’t think she’s got what you’d call ‘natural landscaping ability’ but she’s got something.” Jen smiled up at him and then, almost as if she realized she was doing it, the smile slipped away to be replaced by a serious frown. “Sarah’s a friend. You get her the answers she needs and we don’t have a problem.”
Luke tipped his head back and studied the clouds drifting lazily overhead. Even the blue sky seemed bluer here. “I’m out of options on her dad’s case. A hearing will be set. If the judge determines there’s enough evidence to proceed with a criminal trial, and he will, Bobby will get jail time. Then there will be civil cases, too, on behalf of his employees.” He stared at Jen. “She’s going to have a long, hard time with him. Might’ve been better if he’d stayed gone.”
“Then why did you hound her the way you did?” Jen challenged, her shoulders square. She was ready for a fight. Under normal circumstances, he could take