Page 43 of Operation Protector
He shoved it out of his mind. He only had an hour left with her today, and he didn’t want it weighed down with his own frustration and unhappiness. But that became a harder task when, as they walked down to the harbor to look at the boats—and hadn’t he sometimes thought about buying a nice big one and taking off for parts unknown with Grace—she spoke again, in as close to a sulky tone as she ever got.
“I don’t want to go tomorrow.”
He sighed. He knew Liz was taking her to the city for the weekend. And he was very much afraid he knew why.
“I won’t get to see Ali or Ziggy or Cutter, for two whole days,” Grace said.
“I know.”
“I don’t like it over there. There’s nasty stuff painted on all the walls and signs and they cut down all the trees.”
He couldn’t argue with that, remembering his last trip over there, thankfully some time ago. He just wasn’t a city guy at heart, yet another part of him he’d have had to crush to follow Liz’s diktat.
“Maybe, if you ask right, when you get home she’ll let you go over and say hello, at least.”
Grace made a sour face at that, no doubt imagining what it would take to ask in a way that would get her the answer she wanted. Then she brightened. “Maybe Cutter will come over and get me. Ali said he might if he misses me.”
“Now, that’s an idea,” Colby said.
But he couldn’t help wondering how long Liz would put up with the dog interfering. He doubted she’d ever figure out it was planned, because she barely gave other humans credit for that kind of intelligence. Not when compared to herself, anyway.
Still, it might be worth a call to Ali, asking her if she could send the big dog over when she saw they were home. Actually it would be Hayley who would do it of course, he was her dog after all, but…he could still call Ali to ask.
That he wanted to do that so much should be a warning, he told himself. The last thing he needed right now was to get himself all tangled up over a woman, even if she was the first woman he’d reacted to like this in…maybe ever. With Liz he’d been blinded by the flash, the confidence, the demeanor he now knew was very well practiced to conceal the reality.
With Ali it was genuine. She was just as gorgeous, in her own green-eyed way, with that red hair that made him think of nights in front of a warm fire. And on the inside, she was genuine, honest, open and caring, everything Liz was not. Her insides were like that warming fire, not Liz’s dark, cold, swirling, muddy evil.
“Daddy?”
“Sorry,” he said quickly, snapping out of his reverie. “I was just thinking about calling and asking if they—” he chose the nonspecific word carefully “—could send Cutter over once they see you’re home.”
Grace lit up. “Would you? I know Ali would if you asked her.”
“I will,” he promised.
“I wish Mother would let me have a phone. Then I could call myself. And I could call you, too.”
“Sweetheart, I have a feeling that’s exactly why she won’t let you. I’d buy you one myself, except if she found out, it would make things worse. Much worse.” At the look on her face his stomach knotted. “But think about it,” he said, trying to cheer her up, “how many people get messages delivered by a very clever dog?”
It worked, because she smiled widely at the memory. “Hey, I could send messages with Cutter to Ali, then she could give them to you. Mother doesn’t pay much attention to him.”
“I’ll talk to them about that. I can’t go there, I don’t want your mother not trusting Ali, but I think our new Foxworth friends will figure something out.”
Grace seemed delighted with the idea that she could easily reach him. “I could write you a note every day!”
She was so entranced with the idea of communicating via Cutter that he didn’t point out she could do that while at Ali’s anyway. “And I would treasure every one,” he said instead. “And what a cool way to do it.”
Her brow furrowed thoughtfully again. “But if you write me back, she might find it. Where could I hide them?”
“Maybe Ali would keep them safe for you.”
She brightened. “She would! I know she would.”
When their time was up and he had to get her home, he felt better than he usually did, probably because Grace was happier.Even Liam noticed the difference, and teased Grace about not getting him one of the treats he also loved.
“Next time I will, promise,” she said.
She clearly had come to trust the young man with the twang, just as he had. “I like how you play stupid and she believes it,” she’d told him when she’d first gotten into his truck today, making Liam grin.
