Kiss Me in the Summer - Barbara Dunlop Page 0,34

said to me with a wave of his phone. And then he was gone.

*

Victoria showed me around the pens in the main room, the food and storage areas, the washing facilities in the back, the toy shelves, and the fenced yard before I worked up the nerve to ask about her relationship with Josh.

She was at a long, scarred wooden counter in the food area, pouring kibble into a row of bowls. It clattered as it hit the metal bottoms, and the dogs started barking out in the main room—I assumed in anticipation of being fed.

“So, you’re a Rutter too?” I asked above the sound.

“I’m a Zoe, why?”

I wasn’t about to give her my real reason: that I was fishing for information about her relationship with Josh, who I absolutely was steering clear of in any romantic sense. Still, I was allowed to be curious.

So I gave a plausible reason. It was true. It just wasn’t my exact point. “You said earlier that some of the Quentins might be Rutters and that would make them your cousins. Did I get that wrong? I’m amazed by all the history of Jacob Rutter. You don’t get stories like that in New York City.”

Victoria gave a laugh. “I guess not. We’re way closer knit here than New York City, or Boston, or even Brunswick.”

She set down the bag of dog food and lifted two of the bowls. “Grab a couple.”

I realized I’d blown my chance. I also realized she was waiting for me to help her feed the dogs. I listened to the barking and pictured the pens full of dogs. I didn’t want to open the gates and come face-to-face with any of them. But I didn’t see a way out.

I forced myself to move and took the two smallest bowls, hoping they were for the smallest dogs. Smaller was better, I told myself. It was definitely better.

“Those ones go in the green pen,” she said. “Put them far apart. It helps avoid conflicts.”

Conflicts? Great. Now I got to mediate dog conflicts.

Victoria turned and used her back to push open the swinging door between the prep area and the pens.

“It’s best to do this fast,” she said as I passed her. “They get excited and anxious.”

The barking got louder as we switched rooms, grating on my nerves and making me more jumpy by the second. For a moment I pondered the mistakes I’d made in life, the errors in judgment that had brought me here, now, surrounded by all these hungry dogs.

I found the green pen. It held two little tan and blotchy brown dogs that looked young, happy, and peppy as they bounced around. But it also held Pooh-Pooh, the grumpy Maltese who was still glaring at me with what seemed like animosity.

Mustering my courage, I crouched down and set one bowl on the floor so I could unlatch the gate. The mechanism was a bit tricky, and I wondered if the dogs might be escape artists. But I finally got it free and swung it open.

“No, don’t—” Victoria cried out.

The two tan dogs darted out the door.

Pooh-Pooh growled at me.

“Quick,” Victoria called. “Put a dish inside for Pooh-Pooh.”

I shoved a dish inside, snapped my hand back in terror, and slammed the pen door shut.

“There’s a hatch,” Victoria said, coming to my rescue. She showed me a small opening in the door that the food dishes would fit through without letting the dogs get out.

Looking at the setup, I couldn’t help but think it was a very good idea. “Sorry,” I said.

The two tan dogs were yapping happily and doing laps of the room. The dogs that didn’t yet have their food were making their frustration heard.

There was a sudden deep, menacing-sounding woof from a corner of the room, and I looked that way. A giant black dog rose to its feet, shaking its head and stretching its legs.

It woofed again, and the sound reverberated through the room.

Some of the other dogs stopped barking in obvious deference to the alpha among them.

The big dog met my gaze and tipped his head sideways to contemplate me.

I tried to shake the feeling that he was sizing me up as a meal. I mean, it was thousands of years since he’d been a wolf. But this had to be Butch—the one with the notably strong jaws. There was likely still some wolf somewhere inside him.

Victoria chased after one of the tan dogs.

“Grab her. Grab Reno,” she called to me.

Grab her? I definitely didn’t want