She Loves Me (Harmony Pointe #3) - Melissa Foster Page 0,8
them and went inside.
“Jolie’s having a hard time processing what’s going on with her mom, huh?” Piper asked.
“Yeah. I can’t get her to talk to me. I don’t get it. We used to be so close, but now it’s like I’m the bad guy or something.”
“She’s at that age, but she’s probably scared, too.” She helped Harley up the steps, and Jiggs barked and ran over, knocking into Harley’s sore ankle and jumping up on him.
Harley clutched the railing and winced, but he bent down and loved up his dog, letting Jiggs lick his face. “That’s my boy. Daddy’s home, but you’ve got to watch my ankle.”
Jiggs whimpered and licked him again.
“Come on, Jiggsy!” Sophie yelled as she darted into the house.
Jiggs took off after her, barking up a storm. The happiness on Harley’s face told Piper there was no pain big enough to keep him from seeing that dog and those girls happy.
They headed for the couch in his living room while Jiggs and Sophie played chase. The sounds of Sophie’s laughter, Jiggs’s barking, and feet and claws dashing across the hardwood floors filled the room. Piper dropped the pharmacy bag on the coffee table and helped Harley down to the couch. She let out a breath and wiped her brow. The heavy tools she used and loads she carried at work were nothing compared to this. The guy was heavy.
“Uncle Harley, I’m hungry!” Sophie hollered as she ran past with Jiggs on her heels.
“Apples are in the drawer,” he said, waving a hand in the air.
Sophie and Jiggs bolted into the kitchen. Sophie pulled open the fridge and Piper said, “Soph, maybe you and Jiggs can play chase out on the deck. Jiggs hasn’t been out yet. I’m sure he needs to go to the bathroom.”
“In a minute!” Sophie called out as she ran through the kitchen.
Harley closed his eyes and sighed.
Piper was so used to seeing him take charge. He had to be either hurting or flying high as a kite to be so laid-back. She hoped it was the pills, because the thought of Harley in pain made her ache inside. She pulled the medical instructions out of her back pocket and said, “Okay, let’s see. We need to elevate your ankle.” She grabbed a pillow and placed it under his foot. “You need to rest it, as Felicity said, ice it three times a day for twenty to thirty minutes, keep it wrapped to compress it, and—”
Jiggs jumped over the back of the couch with his leash in his mouth and landed on Harley’s stomach. Harley let out a loud, “Argh!”
“Jiggs!” Piper tried to shoo him off, but Jiggs buried his face in Harley’s armpit and Piper swore the dog was clinging to Harley for dear life. Jiggs looked like he had a French manicure on his big, stubby toes. He was all gray with a white chest, a streak of white down his snout and around his nose, and white tips on each toe.
“It’s okay,” Harley ground out, shifting Jiggs’s feet away from his crotch, wincing as he repositioned his leg. Jiggs licked Harley’s face, and Harley scratched his dog’s head with both hands, kissing his snout.
Lucky dog . . .
Holy cow. Where did that come from?
Harley patted the dog’s back, smiling groggily up at Piper.
“You spoil him rotten,” she snapped, more harshly than she meant to. But they were both so damn cute, she struggled to keep her worries about those unexpected thoughts in the forefront of her mind.
He winked flirtatiously and said, “I’d spoil you, too, if you’d let me.”
She rolled her eyes and turned away to put the instructions and papers on the coffee table and try to figure out why, when he’d said things like that a million times, she was suddenly thinking a little harder about his words. This was ridiculous. She was just feeling bad that he was hurt and had so much on his plate right now. That had to be it.
She put a hand on her hip and said, “Just don’t complain when Jiggs does it again and lands on your ankle—or your junk.”
A spark of heat flamed in his eyes, and he opened his mouth to speak.
She held up her hand and said, “Don’t. I don’t want to hear any more loopy snippets from you. Got it?”
He closed his mouth and looked at Jiggs, whispering, “She loves me. She’s just fighting it.”
“Dream on, Dutch.” Piper looked up as Jolie skulked down the stairs.