Open Your Heart (Kings Grove #4) - Delancey Stewart Page 0,43

think?”

He shrugged. “I’m not really qualified to say. You know a lot about dogs?”

I laughed, quietly, not wanting to disturb the dogs. “Nope.”

“Can you stay with them while I go see if Annie Gish is home?”

“Annie?” The name was familiar. “I think I used to play with Annie Gish…”

Cam made a face, one side of his mouth lifting as his eyebrows came down. “Maybe, but…” his mind was clearly on helping the dogs, not on playmates I might’ve had when I was a kid. “She’s a vet. And she never remembers to take her phone home. I already tried her a few times. She must’ve left it at the office again.”

That sounded like the Annie I remembered. Even at seven, she’d been a little flighty, but smart as a whip. “Land line?” I suggested.

Cam shook his head.

“So, basically, you want me to dog sit.”

Another shrug. “If you’re busy…”

“I’m not busy. But you might owe me another game of cards for this.” I might have been thinking a little bit that maybe if we played cards he might kiss me again, but I didn’t want him to know that.

He narrowed his eyes at me, but a smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “Cards, huh?”

“Please?” I almost told him how much I hoped maybe he’d kiss me again some time.

“Fine.” He sounded grumpy, but a flicker of a smile crossed his face, and I suspected he didn’t mind the suggestion. “This time I’m not letting you win.”

Cam went out then, and I was left alone in his house with the dogs. The little pups wriggled and nosed at their mother, their soft fur and rounded snouts making my heart melt every time I looked at them. The mother dog was exhausted, I could tell. “I’m sure anyone would be tired,” I told her. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through—away from everyone you know, having to start again.” I let my hand smooth her matted coat. “Maybe I know a little bit. But you’ve got little ones to look out for too. And did you get in a fight? Did you meet the mountain lion?”

After a few minutes I stood up and stretched, and then let my eyes roam the living room. Cam’s house was comfortable, but not very personal. There were no photos on the walls, no knick-knacks or mementos on the shelves or countertops. The kitchen was clean and functional, and though I didn’t work up the nerve to check, I suspected his bedroom would be much the same. Cam lived in this house—had for a couple years, as I understood it—but the house had all the warmth of a briefly occupied hotel room. It made me feel a little bit hollow, looking around at the stark impersonal space—a little bit lonely on his behalf.

Cam was a mystery in a lot of ways. I guessed he didn’t share his beliefs about being cursed with most people, and I wondered if even his sister knew about that.

I should probably have been telling myself to let him be. But my own loneliness and curiosity prevented it. I knew I shouldn’t, but damn if I didn’t find myself wanting to save him, wishing I could shine some light inside the darkness that let him believe he could never get close to anyone again.

The big dog whimpered, and I returned to her side, laying a hand against her flank so she’d know I was still there. “It’s okay, girl.”

After about twenty minutes, Cam returned with a woman at his side. They stepped through the door as I stood up, and I recognized Annie immediately—the wild curls, the perfect dark skin, and the aura of fun that seemed to glow around her, shining from her almost-gold eyes.

“Harper?” she said, a wide grin breaking across her face as she walked toward me.

“Hi Annie,” I said, mirroring her smile. “It’s been forever.”

“Oh my God. I haven’t seen you since we were…”

“Like seven,” I told her.

She pulled me into a hug then, and I hugged my old friend back. It had been years—decades—that was true. But Annie and I had been co-conspirators as little girls, sharing secrets and having wild adventures together when we escaped our parents’ watchful eyes. I’d admit I hadn’t thought of her in a long time, but seeing her again felt like truly coming home in a way that just being in Kings Grove didn’t, in a way that seeing my father again definitely had not. Here was a piece of me,