“So are all these dogs boarding here?” she asked, pausing to look at the many animals romping with not even a single family member in there with them.
“On Sundays, this pen is full of the family dogs,” he told her. “I’m not here that often, but I think that’s how it works. Everyone brings their dogs on Sundays.” They took a few steps closer to the metal fencing.
“They’re all so happy,” she said, putting her hands on the rail and narrowing her eyes. “Gosh, look at the Husky. What a gorgeous creature.”
“Judah. He belongs to Evie and Declan.”
“And those three Labs. They look like Destiny’s Mavvie.”
“Same…mother, I think? I don’t know. I wasn’t around when they all joined the family, but those three are Alex and Grace’s dogs. They own Overlook Glen Vineyards, and Grace found them as strays.”
Her gaze drifted around the pen, making him wonder if the dogs were “talking” to her. But he’d teased her enough about that stuff, and he didn’t want to antagonize her any further. On the contrary, he just wanted to get to know her.
“So everyone in the family has a dog?” she asked.
“Not Ella. She fosters, but can’t commit.”
She laughed. “I got that impression from a few things she said.”
“And me,” he added, then leaned closer to whisper, “but don’t tell Clem. She’s gonna have a hard enough time when you take her back to Miz Marie’s ranch tonight.”
“And so will Clem’s main squeeze, based on the rumors of how easily you caved when she cried in the kennel.”
He chuckled. “How could anyone not have a soft heart for this dog?”
“Marie and I will take good care of her,” she promised him.
“And I’ll see her a lot.”
She looked up, a hint of surprise in her eyes. “You will?”
“Marie’s been looking for some help on the ranch and asked me if I could come by and work on a few things.” At the change in her expression, he eased back. “Why am I getting the idea that’s a problem?”
“It’s…not. What are you going to do there?”
“Fix things that are broken, figure out solutions to her problems, make the whole place run like an aircraft carrier.” He gave a slow smile. “That’s what I do.”
“Okay. That’s…good.”
But she still didn’t sound sold on the idea.
“I promise not to tease you anymore,” he said. “About, you know…” He tapped his temple, then notched his head toward the pen. “Madame Woo-Woo. Or should I call you Woof-Woof?”
She fought a smile. “It’s fine. I have to get used to the skepticism if I’m going to talk about it publicly.”
“Let’s go this way,” he said, gesturing to a wide path that cut through a clearing. “It’s really pretty down by the pond.”
They turned from the fence and started walking past the kennels, moving slowly as Clementine stopped to sniff and get her bearings. A loud cheer came from the game he’d left, and he turned.
“Hope the Terrible Terriers didn’t steal my lead,” he mused.
She looked, too, her gaze moving over the property and the huge yellow farmhouse that he was going to call home temporarily.
“So, I’m trying to get the history and families straight,” she said. “You didn’t grow up here, right? These two families merged recently when your mother married Daniel?”
“Yep, about a year and a half ago.”
“Wow. You’d think this gang was raised together, everyone’s so close.”
“The Kilcannons and Mahoneys were, and they’re like one huge Irish blockade. The Santorinis are from a nearby town, but when my mother got married and moved here, Cassie wanted to, as well, and my brothers opened up a location of the family deli here.” He frowned at her, hoping that wasn’t too much info. “Are you from around here?”
“Charlotte,” she said.
“Ah. You going back tonight?”
“I’m not going back for a while. Maybe a month.”
A month? It shouldn’t have, but that news definitely pleased him. “Well, my crew all lives here now. Except my oldest brother, Nick. The truth is, I still feel a little like an outsider, since I’ve lived in San Diego all this time while everyone got all, you know, intertwined.”
“Intertwined?” There was a slight note of sarcasm in her voice. “Is that what they call it?”
He didn’t quite understand the question. “Well, in addition to my mom and Daniel, who is the father or uncle to everyone, my sister married Daniel’s nephew, Braden.” He gave a laugh. “Yeah, I’d call that intertwined.”
She gave him another indecipherable look, then they walked quietly for a while, both watching Clem trot along a few feet ahead.
“Interesting, too,” she said pointedly, “how some of that intertwining happened, don’t you think?”
Yeah, he was lost. “You know, Ayla, I’m an engineer. I think…linear. And right now, you’re not talking linear. In fact, it seems like you’re going in circles. What are you asking me?”
She slowed her step on the hill. “About the Dogmothers and their intentions.”
“The…isn’t that what they call the grannies? Yiayia and Finnie?”
“That’s what I’ve been told.”
He frowned, trying to figure where she was going with this, and then he remembered his conversation with Darcy and Cassie, and it all started to make a little sense. Just then, they reached the bottom of the slope and the trees cleared, and Clementine let out a sharp bark.
She turned, whimpered, and ran toward Theo. At his feet, she curled into a ball and started whining.
“What’s the matter, girl?” He dropped down to comfort her. “You were doing so well.” She put her paw over her face, trying to hide.
Next to him, Ayla got right down on the ground with the dog, putting her hands on her.
“What do you think?” Theo asked.
“It’s not about what I think,” she said, closing her eyes. “It’s about what she thinks. And it’s a…a picnic table.”
“What?” he croaked the word.
“I think that’s what it is. She’s seeing it from underneath, looking up, and there’s rain. Lots and lots of rain.”
The memory of the bathroom lady’s desperate tale echoed in his head.
Dog’s been chained to a picnic table for months! I walk my own dog by that place three times a day, and I can see through the trees. No matter what time or what the weather is, this poor animal is out there.
“Well, that’s a little freaky, because—”
She quieted him with one raised hand. “I see a chain. A thick chain.”
“She was wearing one when I got her.” How could Ayla know that? “Darcy switched it out for this comfortable collar.”
Wait a second. Was he really encouraging this conversation about what she saw in Clementine’s head?
“No. A long chain. Hooked up to…yes, that’s a picnic table.” She shuddered a little bit and then bent over, petting Clem. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. No one’s going to do that to you ever again.”