Open Your Heart (Kings Grove #4) - Delancey Stewart Page 0,40

around the house, cleaning up a bit and keeping the dog in the corner of my vision. She wasn’t bleeding, so I thought the gash could probably wait until morning for attention, and I didn’t think she’d let me touch it anyway. She watched me as I moved around, and eventually she ate a little bit and drank some water, lifting only her head and chest as her swollen belly lay on the rug. I guessed she might actually be in early labor already and figured I was about to be responsible for not just one stray dog but for many.

After a while, she seemed to be sleeping, so I took a seat as well, and made a call.

“Hey Doc,” I said, leaving a message for the local vet. “I’ve got a dog here that has a pretty nasty gash. Think she might’ve met the mountain lion, or maybe a bear. Anyway, I’ve got her in my house, and think she probably needs some attention. Oh, and doc? She’s about to have puppies, too. Could probably use a hand with that.” I hung up, knowing full well that Annie Gish probably wouldn’t call me back until Monday morning, and then only after she’d gotten into her office, which was just outside Kings Grove up by the stables. She was a great vet, but she was a little bit scatterbrained, and everyone knew she forgot her phone places constantly. I hoped she might have actually taken her phone home and not left it in a stall in the barn or at the diner, as she’d been known to do.

I breathed out a sigh, grateful for the distraction from the kiss I’d just shared with Harper—the kiss that really should never have happened. I needed to keep my distance there—for both our sakes. I liked Harper. I liked her a lot, but dragging her into the mess that was my life, or my mind at least, wasn’t fair to her. She had plans to leave, and I needed to respect that. I swallowed down the feelings I was developing for her and mentally set that kiss away. And then I made another call, because I’d promised my sister I would.

“Hey Tuck,” I said, when my friend answered the phone.

“Cam?” he laughed. “That really you, man? It’s been a while.”

“It has.” I said.

“Good to hear your voice. Doing okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Listen, are you busy lately? Interested in a project?”

“What are we talking about?” he asked.

“I need a cameraman in August, maybe a week or so before then to get things planned.”

He laughed, and I realized how long it had been since I’d talked to any of the friends I had in Los Angeles. “I was kinda hoping this thing might start more immediately. Work’s been hard to find. Things are tight.”

Tuck was strong and capable, and I knew Chance would hire him on if I vouched for him. “You could work construction until then. You’d have to come live up in the mountains here…”

“Sounds amazing,” he said.

We went from there, and Tuck promised to be up in the next couple days, which for him could mean tomorrow or three weeks from now. I checked on the dog again, watching her side rise and fall slowly enough to make me believe she was sleeping somewhat peacefully, and went to bed feeling worried and conflicted. Maybe Harper was right about the curse—some rational part of my brain knew she probably was. But on the off chance she wasn’t, I was worried. What would happen to her if she was wrong? I was already far more attached than I should be. And that could be devastating for us both.

Chapter 10

HARPER

I stood just inside the door after Cam and I separated, my heart racing, my breath practically coming in pants. I tried to channel my yoga teacher to calm both my breathing and my mind. Be curious, she would say. Explore your feelings, your thoughts. Don’t react, don’t judge, just observe.

I was observing myself reacting to the fact that I’d just kissed my landlord. Or had he kissed me? I’d definitely touched him first, but I couldn’t stand the self-condemnation I’d heard in his voice and felt in every atom of energy around him since we’d been on the deck at Connor and Maddie’s. He really believed he was cursed, and when I let myself think about the string of tragedies that had followed him through life, it was really no surprise. My heart broke imagining