toward us was Dallas and Saxon. Lola was in front of them. Her tiny hands were fisted at her sides. Her hair was a mess and her back was hunched. She looked ready for a fight.
“Hi, guys!” Kennedy said cheerily. He nibbled his bottom lip to keep from laughing.
“Lola has something to say. Don’t you, sugarplum?” Saxon gave her a little push forward.
Lola rounded on him with her teeth bared. I thought I heard her growl. She turned back to me, pushing her mop of hair out of her eyes, which were red-ringed. “I sorry, Hen.” Her words were penitent, but her eyes burned with unholy fire.
In that instant, I resolved never to be the reason Lola was about to go Hulk SMASH. “I accept your apology, Lola. Thank you.” I opened my arms and she flew into them, clinging to me like a starfish on a wet rock.
“I’ll let you take it from here.” Kennedy winked at me. He walked off with Saxon and Dallas. I had no doubt he was going to talk to them about Stan.
My full attention was on Lola. Her breath hitched as I held her close. “That’s twice in a week you’ve scared me half to death,” I whispered. “If anything happened to you, I’d cry an ocean of tears.”
“You would?” Lola sounded curious. She peeled her face back from my neck to stare into my eyes.
“Cross my heart.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead. Lola had grown up in a house with a drug-addicted mother. She hadn’t gotten any attention and only had her sister taking care of her most days. It made sense she’d do whatever she could to snag some attention for herself, but with all of us around, it didn’t make any sense for her to be acting like Evel Knievel.
“I love you, Hen.” The unholy fire in Lola’s eyes was gone. My sweet little princess was back.
“I love you too.” I pressed a raspberry against her cheek. “Super Lolaaaaa!”
Her laughter was a balm to my soul. I’d done everything in my power to put the Coast Guard and Stan behind me. Now he was back, bringing all of my old baggage with him. I didn’t want any of my past to taint my future with my family or with Morrison. Maybe Kennedy could figure out a way to send Stan packing, instead of sleeping with the fishes.
12
Morrison
Ahab was on the scent. He rambled through an obstacle course built in the remains of a defunct Kmart. K9FIND, in combination with other local search and rescue organizations, leased the building from the City of Gloucester to use as an indoor training range for the dogs.
While Ahab went through his paces, my mind cast back to the lobster bake at the McCoy house the day before. Twenty-four hours later, I was still stuffed. David’s grilled lobster and shrimp had been out of this world. The steamed clams with clarified butter were the best I’d ever tasted. Lola and I decided to be brave together and try the mussels. We both loved them.
Speaking of the tiny spitfire, she ate nearly everything we put in front of her. The lobster was her favorite, followed by the shrimp. She’d gone to town on the parmesan grilled corn, but her favorite food was the strawberry cheesecake I’d picked up from the bakery down the street from my house. The only thing Lola refused to eat were the hotdogs David grilled for her. Not that any food went to waste. Kennedy and Ozzy were there to handle the leftovers.
Nate’s whistle pulled me out of my head. “Good boy, Ahab!” he called out. “That’s a new course record,” he said with a smile. “I guess the incident last week was Ahab just having an off-day.”
“We hadn’t worked much the week before. Ahab is one of those dogs who performs better when he’s been working.” Other dogs worked better after periods of rest. Like people, each dog was different.
“What’s the word with you and Hennessey McCoy?” Nate grinned at me.
Ahab hurried back to my side as if he were also interested in hearing my response. I gave him a treat and turned back to Nate. “Things are good. His family had a get-together yesterday. We had a lot of fun. His youngest niece is a firecracker. A tiny stuntwoman in the making.”
“You know what might help settle her a bit more?” Nate inclined his head to Ahab, who was happily lying in a puddle of sunshine.
“Shepherds are good