“Allow me, I’m so sorry.” The man with the voice bent to retrieve her items a split second before she did. Lena tried to abort the mission, but he was swift and knocked her in the shoulder as he raised his head. For the second time in a matter of minutes, she ended up on her ass.
“Oh, sh—. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean . . .” Trailing off, he turned to the dog who was sitting at Lena’s side like she was hers. “You. This is all your fault, you're a very bad dog.”
Although there was no real heat in the man’s voice, she hated the dog being blamed. As she rose, she muttered her disagreement, “There are no bad dogs, just untrained owners.”
“Excuse me?” The man seemed shocked she had a voice.
After dusting herself off and taking the offered crushed roses she repeated herself, “I said, there are no bad dogs, just untrained owners. It’s not this lovely girl’s fault that you’re untrained. So I would appreciate it if you’d stop blaming her for your shortcomings and maybe learn how to be a better guardian.”
The man stopped dead in his tracks. Lena couldn’t see his face, but she was confident he was sporting a how dare she look. People—men in particular—hated to be corrected, especially by a handicapped woman.
“Well.” His voice had lowered to that of someone who knew he was wrong. “Here’s the rest of your stuff, sorry about that. I’ll replace the flowers and pay for your cell phone repair. I should have kept a tighter hold on her.”
Her destroyed roses were in one hand and what felt like a shattered screen cell phone, was shoved into her other hand. Sure he offered to pay, but the roses were a loss until next week when more arrived. One of the many drawbacks of a small town.
“Both are a loss. These are the last roses in Casterton, and I will have to send my phone in for a warranty repair. It’s not one you can pick up anywhere. I mean, hello.” She indicated her face. She hated drawing attention to her scars and shortcomings, but she was frustrated. “I will happily send you the bill if you give me your address, just enter . . .” Lena trailed off when she realized she was completely lost without her phone.
At least she had her laptop at home and could email her dad.
2
Rue
“Yes, of course, I’ll pay for everything. You must be Lena and I’m Deveroux Parker, my friends call me Rue or Dev.” Her whole-body language stiffened at his pronouncement. Oops, that was a mistake, maybe I should’ve let her introduce herself.
Even having recognized her as the weather girl from Wilton who’d had that horrific accident, Lena’s beauty caught him off guard. An eye patch and scars didn’t mask it one bit. She seemed to have an air about her that just glowed. It was obvious she didn’t see it with the way she turned away and shook her hair down over her face as a curtain to shield her from curious eyes.
“Of course, everyone
knows the blind-ish girl in town.” Her voice was pitched so low he pretended not to hear. When she spoke next, her spine was stiff and her gaze although jumpy was piercing.
“Yes, I’m Lena. Devroo? That’s unusual, I’ve never heard it before.” Rue was lost watching her mouth move. He felt as if he could almost see the letters perched on her pink lips. He was sure she had heard it before, just spelled and pronounced Deverow instead. Rue had no desire to go into the lengthy explanation about how his parents hated that pronunciation and thought everyone else on the planet pronounced and spelled it incorrectly.
Although talking to her wouldn’t be a hardship. She seemed intelligent and engaging, even though she appeared to be trying hard to disengage.
“Yeah, my parents danced to the beat of their own drum. Listen—” A bark cut him off and his yet to be named dog bolted. “Ohh, she’s on the move again.” Rue dove for her leash and caught it by the fingertips and was yanked forward. Apparently Lena saw enough to know he was face down on the sidewalk and devolved into fits of laughter.
He turned, not surrendering the leash and leaned an arm on his upturned knee. The puppy was still tugging, wanting to go down the street. “So, you think this is funny, do you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. Sort of a poetic justice, although you didn’t crush flowers or electronics, so I think you’re good. What’s her name?”
“She doesn’t have one yet.”
“Seriously?” Lena sounded indignant. She leaned over to set her purse and damaged goods on the sidewalk. “That is so sad. Every dog should have her own name. What do you call her when you want her to come?”
“Honestly?” He rose and dusted himself off. “Whatever comes out. Sometimes it’s ‘hey you’ or ‘girl’ but mostly just ‘dog.’”
She tsked and gave him a look meant to shame, he found it all oddly sexy instead. Lena bent down and beckoned his dog forward with a soothing but commanding voice. “Come, girl.”
To Rue’s surprise, she did just that. Trotted right over and sat down at her ankles, looking up at Lena as if waiting for her next command. Then, she dropped her muzzle and picked up the crushed roses.
His dog looked downright comical with the floppy roses in her mouth as she kept looking between the two of them with her big puppy eyes.
Rue thought he would likely sit at Lena’s feet too if she’d rub on and coo at him that way.
“Wow, you really have a way with dogs. I’ve had her for almost a month and she’s never listened to a word I’ve said.”
The way his statement puffed her up was unsettling, but in a good way. It was obvious she didn’t enjoy many moments where she felt that way.