to the cool glass.
How in the world had this day gone from a fun time running around Bitter Bark with Emma and Charlotte to…Darling and the Dogmothers?
“So, I understand you’re new in town, lad.” From the front passenger seat, Gramma Finnie turned a bit to direct her question to the boy sitting directly behind her. “Pru says you’re from California.”
Oh sure, Gramma. Let him know I talked about him. That’s just great.
“Yeah, LA.” He looked down at the dog on his lap, stroking his massive head with a hand that looked big and strong and—
Stop staring at his hands, Pru.
“What brings you here?” Yiayia asked.
“Just…family stuff.”
“Did your parents move, too?” Yiayia pressed. “And did you get this dog here or there? Do you like Bitter Bark? It’s probably so different from Los Angeles. How long are you staying?”
He gave a soft laugh at the barrage of questions, shooting a look at Pru, who just lifted a shoulder. “Hey, you ride with the grannies, you pay the price.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “Grandmas are my comfort zone.”
She frowned a little, totally not expecting that.
“I’m living with my aunt and uncle,” he said to the ladies in the front.
So that much of the rumor mill was true.
“I’m here until…” He let out a breath. “For a while. And yeah, Bitter Bark’s different, but it’s kind of like a movie set, you know.”
Movie set? Maybe he did have Hollywood connections.
He slid a look at Pru that made those butterflies rise up for the second spin around her belly. “What else did she ask?” he mouthed.
“The dog.”
“Oh yeah. Tor is…” He shook his head. “A really good, uh, friend of mine adopted him, and then she…” His voice trailed off.
She. A girlfriend in LA, of course.
“She had to give him up,” he finished with just enough angst in his voice that Pru suddenly had it all figured out. He’d met his match, some crazy-hot blond actress and Instagram star, no doubt. He fell hard for her, and her dog, then she got a part in a movie and broke his heart by leaving and sticking him with her dog. Sure, she promised to come back and get him, but would she?
“But he’s been a good bud,” he added, then laughed, flashing the dimples that really ought to be illegal. “Well, not good. Tor is a little bit, um, undisciplined. He can run, but he doesn’t quite have the whole rule thing figured out.”
“Well, you have landed in a family of dog trainers, lad,” Gramma Finnie said.
Gramma! Pru tried not to choke. He hadn’t exactly landed in the family.
“Really?” Lucas sat up a little. “Tor could probably use some of that.”
“My son runs the largest canine training and rescue center in the state,” she said proudly.
“Your dad?” he asked Pru.
“Actually, my grandfather owns Waterford Farm, but my dad’s one of the trainers of therapy dogs. And my uncles are all some of the best trainers around. And my mom’s a vet.”
“Get out.” He looked skyward. “Man, you must think Tor is a nightmare.”
“Tor’s sweet,” Pru said, patting the dog’s hindquarters and adjusting the two long, long legs on her thighs. “He certainly isn’t shy.”
“That makes one of us,” Lucas said with a soft, self-deprecating laugh.
He was shy? She filed that away for something to mull over later. No doubt she’d be doing a lot of mulling after today. She might never be able to answer another question in English lit for the rest of the year, she’d be so busy mulling over the boy who sat in the back row next to the pencil sharpener. She might just spend the whole class…sharpening her pencils instead of her lit skills.
“My dad says it’s never the dog’s fault, it’s the trainer’s.”
He notched one brow at the little dig. “I must be a wreck, then, because Tor?” He pushed his ears down. “Is bad to the bone.”
She had to laugh, something about him reminding her again of that day when she met Dad and had no idea he was her father, just an ex-con with scary tattoos and an ailing dog. And look how much she loved…
Oh God. Control the crush, Prudence. Control the crush.
She shifted in her seat, gave him a cool smile, and looked out the window. She couldn’t like this boy. Sure, he was eye candy, and all the girls giggled about him when he showed up at school, but she was Prudence Anne Kilcannon Bancroft, number one in her class, bound for Chapel Hill or