After breakfast, Shane helped Lauren work the dogs. He fed them and cleaned their kennels while she focused on exercising them. Shane’s injury made him slow, but the little tips he offered Lauren as they worked helped her use the time more efficiently than ever. Finally, she was properly trained for the job she’d held just shy of six weeks.
After this shared morning routine, they turned to their new chore of tidying up the house and finishing demolition of the shed. As much as she could, Lauren searched for clues amidst the debris and clutter. Whenever she found something that might help her locate Shane’s missing daughter, she committed the details to memory, including where they’d filed it or which rummage bag they’d relinquished it to.
She planned to snap pictures later that evening while Shane slept. That way she could advance their search for Rosie while not forcing the girl’s father to face the past any more than he wanted to. She was so proud of him for finally letting go of what had been and committing to finding what could be. Lauren vowed that she would do everything in her power to help the family reach a happy ending—even if that ending didn’t include her.
Around six that evening, a knock sounded at the door. Lauren looked to Shane for an explanation, but he just shrugged off her quizzical expression and hobbled over to answer it.
A moment later, he was back with a tall paper bag full of something that smelled absolutely wonderful. “Ready for some dinner?” he asked as he carried the delivery toward the table. Right on cue, Lauren’s stomach growled loudly enough for both of them to hear.
“I’m famished,” she admitted, “but let me get Briar first. I’m sure she’d love to lie under the table and beg for scraps while we eat.”
“Lauren…” he warned.
“Hey, I kept my end of the deal. Now you need to keep yours.” She continued toward the door, unwilling to negotiate this point.
Shane called after her, “Don’t give her any scraps, though. She hasn’t had people food for years, and having it now could make her sick. Besides, this meal is supposed to be special. For us.”
“You worry too much,” Lauren teased before slamming the door behind her and racing out to the kennels to untie Briar Rose—whom she would now call just Briar, to avoid making Shane uncomfortable—and bring her inside.
“He says it’s special,” Lauren told the dog as she undid the latch on her lead. “What do you think that means?”
Briar howled and jumped up to give Lauren kisses the moment she was free, and Lauren couldn’t help but wonder if those weren’t the only kisses she might receive that evening. For try as she may, her feelings for Shane Ramsey refused to abandon her. Instead, they continued to grow rapidly. With each new confession of truth, each new kind gesture and friendly heckle, she found herself falling deeper and deeper under his spell.
Still, he’d been hurt—and badly. She cared too much for him to rush him into anything that would open the wounds of his broken heart before he was ready.
One day, perhaps, the timing would be right, and she’d just know.
And he’d know.
And they’d live happily ever after. The end…
Or something to that effect.
Today was not that day, could not be that day, because they still had so much to do, so many dragons to slay before declaring any type of victory. They’d start with finding his daughter, and then they’d find the truth about her father. Both mysteries needed to be resolved so that the pair of friends could heal and truly examine their futures, decide if those futures should intertwine.
Oh, she hoped it could work out for them.
Ultimately, though, Lauren’s father had raised her to be a practical woman, with her head glued firmly to her shoulders rather than floating up in the clouds. As much as she loved to envision fairytale endings, life had already proven that it enjoyed writing a different kind of story for her.
Loss, guilt, grief, settling for what was more than striving for what could be. It was a tale as old as her time on this earth. It was why she’d settled for a job at data corp rather than taking the time to uncover her true passion, and it was probably why it had been so easy for her father to keep his past hidden from her all these years.
Not anymore, though.
Lauren finally knew what she wanted from life, and Shane had been a huge part of that, whether he’d tried to be or not.
When she and the red husky came back inside, they found Shane setting the table with china plates rather than the usual disposable ones. He’d even brought out a bottle of white wine she’d spied in the fridge earlier that day.
“What’s all this?” she asked with a sly smile as Briar bolted through the doorway and pushed Shane back against the wall in a flurry of tail thumps that actually wagged her entire body.
“Easy, girl!” He laughed and stroked the dog’s head.
“You talking to Briar or me?” Lauren quipped.
“Maybe both,” he said, commanding the dog to sit with a quick hand gesture.
“What are we celebrating tonight?” Lauren asked, pointing her chin toward the chilled wine and elegant flatware. “Your fresh start?”
Shane crossed the kitchen to retrieve a bottle opener from the neat and tidy junk drawer, then came to stand right before her as he tossed the tool up and down in his palm. “Actually, we’re celebrating yours.”
“Mine?”
“Yep.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“Nope.”
She fixed him with a stern glare.
“Just kidding,” he said with a chuckle. “Sit down and try the best halibut in the entire state of Alaska for yourself. I promise to explain everything.”
She did as told, removing one of the takeout boxes from the large delivery bag and serving herself some of everything. “What is all this?” she asked, pulling out box after box from the bag, wondering why he’d ordered enough to feed ten people at least.
“It’s from that little cafe in town, Maurice’s. Everything is so good that that’s what I ordered.”
“Come again?”
“Everything. I ordered everything on the menu,” he declared proudly as he opened another container and showed her what was inside. “Try the creamy stuff first. It’s delicious.”
Lauren popped a spoonful of the light, creamy dish into her mouth and immediately moaned with pleasure. “You weren’t kidding. Except now I wonder if you ordered enough!”
Shane laughed as he transferred the various cuisines to his plate as well.
“Okay, so this is definitely how you celebrate,” Lauren mumbled between bites. “Good food, good wine, good friends. Just need to know if we have a good cause.”
“Of course we do. We’re celebrating your official start as a musher.” He raised his glass in toast, but she stared at him slack-jawed rather than return the gesture.
“Umm, hello, I’ve been doing this for almost two months now,” she argued.
“You’ve been a handler for almost two months. Starting tomorrow, you’re a musher.”
“Like a promotion?”
“Sure, if you want to think of it that way. I’ve signed you and the dogs up for your first race.”
Oh, this was welcome news! She raised her glass at last and clinked it to Shane’s. They both took sips of the sweet white wine and smiled across the table at each other.
“Is it the Iditarod?” she asked, apparently ruining the moment with her naivety.
“Are you kidding? No way. You don’t jump straight to the big race, Lauren. You need time to really get your bearings before taking it all the way.”
She frowned and set her fork down after finishing the entire serving of the gray dish she’d plopped onto her plate. “I don’t know… Are you sure I can do this?”
“You mean because you fell off the sled and lost the dogs during your practice run?”
Her face turned beet red. At least, she assumed it did, because it felt like her cheeks were on fire from the embarrassment. “How did you—?”
He laughed again, and now she was certain she’d heard Shane laugh more that one day than all the rest of the time she’d known him. “Word travels fast. It’s a small community, remember? Anyway, yes, falling off is almost like a rite of passage. Just like having your first race is an important rite for any new musher.”
“You really think I can do it? That I can be good?”
“I know you can.”
“Well, if Mr. Grump believes in me, then I believe in me, too.”
They both laughed together.
“Back to Mr. Grump, I see?”
She shrugged. “Old habits die hard. Just promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?” He quirked an eyebrow at her.
“Please don’t make me race against you anytime soon. Give me the chance to win one or two first, eh?”
Shane patted his leg and called Briar over to his side, then handed her a piece of fried, breaded moose meat, which the dog accepted with relish.
It was only after the dinner and wine were both polished off and the dishes had been cleaned and dried that Lauren realized he’d changed the topic.