Boone liked it when Nicole looked at him with that teasing sparkle in her hazel eyes, when she laughed at something he’d said, when she asked questions about his real life. He liked that he’d worn his cowboy hat so he could push it low on his forehead and sneak glances at Nicole and she wouldn’t know he was looking.

He wasn’t sure what had turned her from cold to hot, but he wasn’t sorry about it. Just like he hadn’t been sorry he’d darkened the door of the church where Squire went. He hadn’t arrived in time to catch the pastor’s name, but he’d learned that he was Kelly’s cousin’s husband and that he said really good things.

Nicole finished eating and she packed up the picnic basket while Boone enjoyed the Sabbath Day sunshine. “You want to walk the dogs a bit?” he asked.

“You’re the one with the big dogs.” She picked up the doggie purse which itty bitty Valcor hadn’t attempted to get out of. “But I could walk.” She flashed him one of those sultry smiles he could get used to, and stood up.

He unlooped the leashes from the table bench and picked up the picnic basket. He left it on the edge of the grass next to a bush. “We can get this when we come back.”

Nicole didn’t say anything, just stepped with her dog. Boone’s bare arms soaked up the sunshine and he let Vader and Leia off their leashes. Vader yelped and Leia sprinted for the creek. He laughed as they splashed into the water, their faces so full of joy and wild abandon.

“Does Taz swim?”

“He thinks he can.” She bent and loosed his leash, freeing the little dog. He ran toward the creek but came up short of entering it. He barked at the two dogs swimming away from him. “See?” Nicole laughed and Boone enjoyed the look of happiness on her face. He rarely saw it, and he wanted to be the reason she smiled and laughed like that.

“They’ll keep up.” Boone nodded toward the path and Nicole stepped with him. His fingers flexed and curled, curled and flexed. They itched to touch hers, but literally forty-eight hours ago, he’d left work frustrated with the woman because she’d ignored his perfect paperwork.

Every emotion Boone had ever felt warred inside. He felt sure his brain would explode from all the thinking, the rethinking, the speculating, the circling back. Nicole stepped and he stepped, and their fingers brushed.

Pure adrenaline surged through him and on the next step, he fixed his hand in hers. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, trying to judge her reaction. Her fingers felt a bit stiff in his, but it had been a while since he’d held hands with a woman.

Her dress billowed in the slight breeze, as did her yellow hair that she’d only pinned back on the sides today. She’d had it braided at church, but she’d undone it and it flowed over her shoulders in pretty waves.

“Tell me about your family,” he said. “Brothers? Sisters?”

“Two older brothers and an older sister. They live all over the place. My oldest brother actually practices law in Grand Cayman.”

Boone whistled. “Wow. You ever go visit?”

Nicole shook her head, and her sadness scented the air. “My mother is ill.”

He mentally kicked himself. He’d known that. Joanne had told him in the first couple of weeks he’d come to Three Rivers. He’d just forgotten.

“That’s right. I’m sorry.” He squeezed her hand. “What does she have?”

“Dementia started a few years ago. I managed to move out before she forgot who I was. I still go over and take care of her and Daddy almost every night.”

Boone wished he had a way to make everything in Nicole’s life okay. But he couldn’t do that. Only God could, and often God didn’t. But one thing his parents had taught him was that God often put the right people in our lives, at the right time, to provide exactly what we needed.

Maybe God had allowed Boone to make peace with Nicole because she needed it. Perhaps he needed her.

“She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year,” Nicole continued. “She refused treatment, so we’re just….” She swallowed.

“It’s okay,” Boone whispered. He tugged Nicole closer and squeezed her hand. “I have an older brother and a younger sister. Middle child syndrome here.” He kept talking about where he’d grown up, the chores he’d hated, the horses he’d loved, and why he decided to become a veterinarian.

Nicole seemed content to just let him talk, and they made it around the park and back to the picnic basket. “Thanks, Boone,” she said, retrieving her belongings. “I have to go.”

“Oh yeah?” He bent to leash his dogs, glad the sun was so warm and hot today so they were mostly dry after their earlier swim.

She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Yeah, I help deliver meals on Sunday evenings for shut-ins.”

Surprise shot through Boone. “You do?”

“Every week.” She met his eye. “I find that I don’t feel so….” She sighed. “I don’t know. I feel better when I’m helping other people.”

Boone had a feeling she knew exactly how she felt and simply didn’t want to say it. And that the service she rendered on Sunday evenings alleviated those feelings. He cocked his head and chose to ignore her evasion. “That’s how I feel about helping animals.”

She grinned at him, and he leaned down and ran his lips across her cheek. “See you Tuesday? Or maybe you’d like to, I don’t know, go to breakfast tomorrow before I head out to the ranch?”

Nicole reached up and touched her cheek where his lips had been. “I eat breakfast,” she said as if she’d never said those words in that order before.

“The pancake house?” he asked. “I can come pick you up if you want.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“Great.” Boone grinned at her, and he couldn’t stop.

When he got home, he found a shiny white truck sitting in his driveway. Lord Vader recognized it and whined, leaping over Leia to the open window and back to Boone, who laughed.

“Yeah, Dylan’s here.” He pulled in beside his friend’s truck and got out, nearly tripping over Lord Vader as the dog leapt from the vehicle and tore into the garage. His tail wagged and slobber dripped from his mouth as he waited eagerly at the entrance to the house.

Boone opened the door and said, “Vader incoming,” before letting the dog in. Leia followed, and Dylan’s laugher and high-pitched warblings to the dogs came next.

“What are you doin’ here?” Boone smiled as he entered his kitchen. He clapped the first friend he’d made in Three Rivers on the back. “I hope you didn’t expect me to cook.”

Dylan scoffed. “I know better than that.”

“So you brought something?” Boone looked around for pizza boxes and found nothing.

“My mom sent leftovers. Check the fridge.” He slapped a copy of the town’s newspaper on the counter. “Have you seen this?”

Boone barely glanced at the paper, the letters swimming into formations that made no sense, before turning to the fridge. “What’s that?”

“There’s an article about the animal clinic.”

Boone found a few plastic containers with chicken cordon bleu and twice baked potatoes and Dylan’s mother’s special spinach salad. “I am texting your mother thank you right now.” He sent the text, grateful Meredith Walker took such good care of him. “And what does the article say?”

“Read it.” Dylan nudged it a little closer.

A blip of panic radiated through Boone. He’d done an exceptional job of hiding his reading disability, and he’d worked harder than anyone to finish his education and get his degree. No one knew how hard it was to read charts at work or file the proper paperwork. Exhaustion engulfed him just thinking about it.

He picked up the paper anyway and scanned the biggest, boldest letters. They weren’t about Puppy Pawz. He finally found what he was looking for when Dylan pointed to the bottom right corner. E’s flipped themselves over and L’s and I’s switched places.

He squinted, his brain making up for the discrepancies his eyes sent it. “Our building does need to be updated,” he said. “The air conditioning is fickle. Who wrote this?” He found Gentry Pace’s name on the article, and his heart sank. “I wonder who she talked to.” He managed to keep the concern out of his voice.

Though he and Gentry had gone out a few times before calling it quits, everything in the article was correct, and he hoped her appeal to the city would land on ears willing to hear. There were several buildings around town that could use some updating, and Puppy Pawz happened to be housed in one of them.

He put the paper down. “That was a good article. Do you know Gentry Pace?”

“Not super well. She’s been here a few years, running a flower shop and writing for the paper.”

“I went out with her a few times.” He stuck the potatoes and chicken in the microwave and started it.

“Do you think that’s why she wrote this?”

“It’s not bad, Dylan. I hope the city does something.”

“So how was your date?” Dylan could jump from topic to topic faster than anyone Boone had ever known.

Boone grinned. “It was fantastic.”

“I thought Nicole Hymas didn’t like you.”

Boone’s euphoria slipped a little. “I didn’t think she did. I think she’s probably still trying to figure out if she does or not.” And he still needed to figure out why she’d given him the cold shoulder for so long.

“You’ve always liked a challenge.”

Boone let his comment slide. So he was a bit on the competitive side. Didn’t mean he was only interested in Nicole for the chase. If that were true, he’d have been shamelessly flirting with her for the past twelve months and eight days regardless of her hostility.

“Does she have any friends?” Dylan asked.

“I thought you were dating the receptionist in the mayor’s office.” Boone popped the top on the salad container and got a noseful of mustard and olive oil.

“That didn’t work out.” He shrugged. “She said she’s not interested in an electrician. I told her we were electrifying.” He grinned as if the break up didn’t faze him. “She said she thought of me as her brother.”

“Ouch,” Boone said. “There’s a receptionist at the animal clinic.”

“Yeah, Joanne Bailey.” Dylan’s tone didn’t convey excitement.

“You know her?”

“Dated her in high school.”

Boone chuckled. He should’ve known. Dylan had grown up in this small town, and he knew everyone in it. “Well, you already know everyone who’s available then. Doesn’t matter who Nicole’s friends are.”

“I guess not.” Dylan exhaled and said, “So who’s playing tonight?”

“I think the Rangers are at the Rockies.” Boone took his food into the living room and sat on the other end of the couch from Dylan, who flipped through the channels until he found the baseball game.

Boone relaxed, all the things that had been keeping him awake in the past week gone. With the memory of Nicole’s hand still in his, he enjoyed the secret of their walk in the park and their upcoming date in the morning.

And he’d never been happier animals couldn’t talk, because Vader and Leia sure had cuddled up to Dylan and would probably tell him anything.

The traitors.

The doorbell rang, and someone knocked, and he looked at Dylan and then the door like he wasn’t sure what to do.

But no one came over on Sunday evenings, except the person who was already here. So who was at the door?