gave a look that told her he knew exactly what she was doing, but he shifted his shoulders restlessly and inhaled deeply.
“My family obviously. And their messy problems. They’ve been keeping me out of their relationship and work dramas since I’ve been here, and I admit it’s left me feeling useless. Which is odd since, six months ago, I would probably dearly have loved to be left out of their chaotic personal lives.”
“I don’t believe that. You like being needed by them. Admit it.”
“Maybe I do. A little bit.”
“Of course, you do. More than a little bit I’d say. What else do you miss? Work?”
“Not entirely. I thought I’d go stir crazy not knowing what was happening with the business…but I’ve barely given it a second thought. I trust Bryan to keep things running smoothly and I trust Hugh to have my—and the family’s—best interests at heart. I think I may loosen the reins once I return, allow Hugh more leeway to try new things.”
“What else do you miss? A more active social life?”
He snorted at that.
“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m shit with people, before you believe me?”
“But you’re not shit with people. I’ve seen you with the people in town. With Sam and Greyson. George and Amos. They like you, and they all strike me as pretty decent judges of character.”
“Half of the people you’ve listed work for me. They have a vested interest in keeping me happy.”
Charity laughed, genuinely amused by that statement. “I mean, have you met George Clark and Amos Moloi? Two of the most straight-talking, zero bullshit old men I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing? They couldn’t care less about keeping you happy. But they do because they like you. More people than you realize like you, Miles.”
He stopped walking and turned to face her, his eyes narrowed against the blustery wind.
“What’s this about, Charity?”
“I don’t know. I just wish you could see yourself the way I do.”
“And how’s that?” His voice had deepened, roughened. The gravel scraped her raw and left her on fire.
Stormy’s loud squeal saved her from replying, and they both looked up in alarm at the sound. The dog had leaped back from the hole and was still yelping, her left front paw held aloft in obvious pain.
“Shit!” Miles streaked down the beach toward his still crying dog, with Charity close behind. By the time she caught up, he was on his knees in the sand, the trembling pup held protectively in his lap. He was examining the paw.
“One of the pads is bleeding. It doesn’t look too terrible, but I’m not taking any chances, we have to get her to the vet.”
“Oh my God,” Charity went to her knees beside him and stared at the sluggishly bleeding paw. The blood was mixed with fine beach sand. The wound would definitely need cleaning. “Did she cut herself? Is there glass in there? A nail?”
“No.” He shook his head grimly, glaring out at the tranquil lake. “I think she got nipped by a crab. It was scuttling toward the water by the time I reached her.” He got up, the shivering, whimpering dog still gently cradled in his arms.
They were all piled into the SUV and on their way in under ten minutes. Stormy, clearly in pain, whined all the way to town and Miles, his eyes stark and his features taut, barely spoke a word during the entire drive.
Fortunately, Dr. McGregor considered the situation enough of an emergency to see them immediately, but after cleaning the wound and examining it, he smiled reassuringly at the still tense Miles.
“It’s just a flesh wound, as they say in the movies,” he quipped. “I’ll apply some salve and bandage the paw, but you won’t need to keep it on overnight or anything. It’s just to allow the salve some time to work without being licked off. Besides, this young miss is feeling very sorry for herself. A bandage will make her feel vindicated after all this drama. I’ll give her an anti-inflammatory shot, prescribe a course of antibiotics, and she’ll be right as rain soon enough.”
“You sure about that?” Miles barked, but the vet—obviously quite used to being barked, and snapped, and snarled at—merely smiled gently.
“Absolutely certain. I think you were right about a crab being the likely culprit. If nothing else, this will give her a healthy respect for all things crustacean. Sometimes we need to learn life’s lessons the hard way.”