Drake shook his head. “Chase will want to spend the most time with him in the beginning. He should be with Chase as much as possible so they bond and Remmy gets used to Chase’s moods and behaviors. But yes, Eliza can play with him. Chase just needs to make it clear that Remmy is his dog. Chase needs him.”
Shelby slipped her hand in Chase’s and squeezed. “Then that’s what we’ll do.” She looked up at him. “He’ll love spending the day with you at the ranch while you work.”
Chase hadn’t really thought about it, but yeah, most of the time he’d be working at the ranch. Having Remmy around wouldn’t be a big deal. And when he went into town, well, he’d take the dog with him, because Drake was right. He needed Remmy’s help. He needed all the tools he could get to fix himself and have the life he wanted with Shelby and Eliza.
“It’ll be nice to have a pal by my side. I haven’t hada dog since I was a teenager. And Eliza looks like she’s keeping both dogs.”
Eliza sat on the grass, the dogs lying alongside her. She had an arm around each of them.
Shelby smiled. “I think she’ll be all too happy to keep Remmy. We’ll need to make some rules for her, so that she’ll understand Remmy has a job.”
He appreciated so much that Shelby went along as if it was perfectly normal to introduce a service dog into their lives because he was messed up.
All she sees is that you’re broken.
He hated that voice in his head.
It wasn’t true, he reminded himself. Shelby saw what he could be once he healed. She wanted him to get better. That’s why she’d contacted Drake and asked for his and Adria’s help.
As tough as it was to face Adria when she arrived, he felt better for seeing her and talking to her. She looked sad and haunted by the loss of her sister, but she still smiled at Eliza as she squealed with delight when Sunny shook hands with her.
Remmy sensed his anxiety again and came over to stand by his side. He leaned against Chase’s leg, and automatically Chase reached down to pet the dog. It shifted his focus and soothed him.
Drake clamped his hand on Chase’s shoulder. “You’ll get used to having Remmy at your side. And I hope you’ll consider coming to the group rides I do with Jamie. There are seven of us now, vets, who get together, share stories, support each other in whatever stage of recovery someone is in, that kind of thing. It’s good to be around people who know exactly what you’re going through. We meet once a week, but I hoped you’d comeat least once a month, since it’s a drive from here up to Montana.”
“I’m back to work on Monday, and I’ve got Shelby and Eliza to think of, so I’ll need time to settle into those new routines, but yeah, I’d like to come. I think it will be good for me.”
Shelby always listened to him. She tried to understand. But it would be nice to spend time around people who had been there, done that, and didn’t require a long, drawn-out explanation. They’d get it. Like Drake got him.
Shelby made everything in his life better.
It just wasn’t the same.
And she’d understand that, too.
Shelby touched his arm to get his attention because he’d become lost in his thoughts again. “Adria said you and Drake are going to work with the dogs, so I’ll take Eliza inside and start making dinner.”
“I’ll help.” Adria gave Drake a quick kiss, then followed after Shelby and Eliza.
Chase waited until she was far enough away that she couldn’t hear him ask Drake, “How is she really?”
“Sad. Lonely without her twin. But also happy to be with me. She talks about our future together like she already sees it, just like me. I know her grief will eventually subside. I just wish I could do or say something to erase it. But just like what you and I have been through, nothing will make it magically disappear. She needs to work through it.Youneed to do the same.”
“You coming and bringing her today... It helped more than you know.”
“Oh, I know. Sometimes words aren’t enough. You need to see it. Adria showed you that she’s happy you’realive and doesn’t resent it or you one bit. Now you believe it.”
“One less fucked-up story I tell myself.”
Drake grinned. “Dr. Porter has gotten into your head. Good.” Drake nodded. “I fought him for a long time before I really listened and put what he told me to use. It took Adria’s love and patience and a push in the right way to get me to see I could have a normal life again. I deserved it. And so do you.”
“My life is inside that house. Shelby and Eliza mean everything to me. I’ll do whatever it takes to hold on to them. I can’t lose them.” Without them, he had nothing.
Chapter Twenty-One
Shelby slid the lasagna into the oven and set the timer. She wanted to make a good impression on Chase’s friends. She wanted to be a real part of his life.
Adria chopped a cucumber to go in the salad. She was so quiet and looked a little lost. Shelby understood loss, but she’d never had a twin. That bond... It had to hurt to lose someone who looked exactly like you and knew you as well as they knew themselves.