Kyron, page 13
Doug nodded. “Three works,” he agreed, “but give me a phone number in case I have to push that one way or the other, depending on what the day looks like for my kids.”
“Right.” Kyron smiled.
“The kids’ days always end up a whole lot busier than we think. They have a more active social life than I do,” Doug quipped. “And I guess that’s good, but, at the same time, trying to get them where they need to be at specific times can be a problem.”
“Got it.” Kyron nodded and gave the doc his cell number, then walked out to the vehicle with Miranda and Beth. He asked Miranda, “Why don’t you let me drive?”
“I got to sleep though. You didn’t.”
“And I’m not the one who’s stressed out and dealing with the shock of being shot at this morning.” She stopped and stared at him. “You don’t have to be a tough girl all the time, you know,” he said. “Let somebody else help for a change.”
She frowned and handed over the keys to the truck. “I really am okay to drive.”
“I’m sure you are,” he agreed quietly. He opened up the back door and helped Beth up into the back seat.
“Do you think she’ll be okay there?” Miranda asked.
“Well, this will give us a chance to see.” Kyron hopped into the driver’s seat and turned on the engine. When Miranda was in and buckled up, he started it up and put it in Reverse.
“Do you remember how to get back to where I live?”
“Yep, I do.” And, without any assistance from her, he drove back to her place.
“I guess you’re pretty good at navigating,” she muttered.
“I’m good at a lot of things,” he stated. “The accident didn’t change any of that. It just made life a whole lot more memorable in the sense that I need to enjoy every day a little more.”
“Can you do that though?” she asked. “It seems like we’re always told to do that, but it’s not so easy.”
“You’re right, and I don’t think it is easy. I think it’s one of those things you have to intentionally work at and have to keep reminding yourself on a regular basis that other things in life are important too.”
“I guess so,” she replied quietly. “It just seems like, … I don’t know. I guess I’m more shocked than I thought I would be.”
“Getting shot at is no joke. Regardless of his intentions, you could have stopped suddenly or changed directions, and he might have actually hit you. You could have been killed,” he murmured.
She nodded and stayed quiet.
Once they drove up to her house and parked, Kyron hopped out and asked, “How about the chores?”
“They’re done for the moment,” she stated. “I figured I’d be damned if the animals would go hungry because of that asshole.”
“A stubborn one, huh? And what about coffee and breakfast?”
“No, I tried for coffee but it didn’t taste right so I skipped both of those,” she replied. “I felt bad leaving you at the vet’s office without a means to get home again.”
He shrugged. “I could have called a cab if I wanted to leave.”
“Didn’t even think of that,” she noted, with a wry look in his direction.
“And that goes along with being stressed,” he added. “So let’s get going. I’ve got dog food for Beth and Grace, but I don’t think it would work to separate Beth from the other dogs.”
“No, it won’t,” Miranda agreed, “and she’s certainly welcome to be with the other dogs, but we’ll have to see how she handles being in a society with a lot of other animals. It might stress her out.”
“I’ll bring her in on a leash,” Kyron offered. “We’ll introduce them as slowly as possible,” he said, with an eye roll.
“Yeah, good luck with that,” she teased. “Most of them are okay, but a couple could get a little possessive.”
“And they would sort it out,” he noted quietly.
“Without bloodshed?” she asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Without bloodshed,” he confirmed, “but, hey, let’s see how it goes.” He waited until she had the door opened and the dogs called back, before he stepped up with Beth. Her tail was wagging as she saw all the other dogs.
“She really is social, isn’t she?” Miranda stared at Beth.
“A lot of the War Dogs are, and they’re used to being surrounded by a lot of people as well,” he noted quietly. “It makes sense that being isolated, like she was, abandoned really, was the hardest thing for her.”
“Not to mention going from an environment, where every need was met, to one of trouble and chaos, and then finally she had to survive on her own.”
“Exactly,” he murmured. Going one by one, as Miranda calmly held them back and released them one at a time, Kyron slowly introduced Beth to them. Finally, with all of them having had a good sniff at each other, they gradually disappeared to various corners, except for a dachshund that seemed to be stuck at Beth’s side.
“Who is this guy?” Kyron asked.
“Rocky,” she replied, with a smile. “I’m actually hoping that maybe he’s more adoptable than most. A lot of people like the smaller dogs, and some people don’t always do so well with bigger dogs.”
“That makes sense,” Kyron agreed. “The bigger ones just need a little more work, but they also get a bad rap because people don’t always know how to handle them.”
She nodded.
“So do you mind if I put on some coffee?” he asked. “I promise I’ll go pick up some later.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Oh, absolutely I do,” he stated. “I know that things are tight here because you’ve given everything to the animals. I won’t run you short on coffee.”
“You’ve done already a ton,” she said, with a wave of her hand. “The least I can do is get you breakfast.”
“I won’t say no to breakfast,” he replied, with a smile, “because honestly, I am on the hungry side.”
“Good. Did you let your brother know what was going on?”
“Yeah, I sent him a text last night, so they didn’t worry, and another one this morning. If you don’t mind, I was going to call him and ask about your rights and try to find out more about this guy who is your neighbor. For all we know he already has a couple misdemeanors on his record.”
“That would be too much to hope for,” she replied.
“And then,” Kyron added, “I’ll take a walk with this dog in full view, where he can come out and attack me if he wants.” She stared at him in shock. He smiled. “I know. That sounds like I’m being aggressive, but, if it’s this dog that he seems to think is his, we need to nip that in the bud right off the bat,” he snapped. “And, if he thinks that you’re alone and unprotected, he also needs to know that’s not the case.”
With that, he motioned at the coffeepot. “I’ll put a pot on when I return. Let me go out and have a look around. I want to check on the horses and introduce Beth to the outside animals as well.” And, with that, he pushed his way out the back door.
Chapter 9
Kyron was definitely confident in his ability to handle the dog, and, so far, it had been proved out, but Miranda wasn’t at all sure about his ability to handle her crazy gun-toting neighbor. She’d seen Kyron’s prosthetic leg, and he’d mentioned a bunch of other injuries. Though Kyron seemed strong enough and very fit, her neighbor was obviously not quite all there, and that made him unpredictable. She also worried about Kyron being a little more aggressive than she thought would be necessary, but, if he thought it was important, she didn’t know what to do anymore. She really had no choice but to let him take the lead on this one.
The fact that his brother was a cop couldn’t hurt either. Maybe it would give her an inside line, but she wasn’t sure. Just so much crap was going on in her world right now that she was a bit overwhelmed. The trouble was, she needed to solve her property problem, and that was really the big issue. But how could she do that when she didn’t have nearly enough money? She’d spent quite a few hours in the last couple weeks looking at real estate online, and sure, moving out of town would definitely help the situation—but not enough, definitely not enough.
She watched from the window as she put on the coffee, but Kyron and Beth walked outside, completely undisturbed. Her neighbor didn’t call out to Kyron or point a gun at him or threaten him. Kyron walked all the way down to the horses and out of her view. She stepped out to watch him, as Beth made acquaintances with the llama and the horses—everybody apparently quite content with each other, which Miranda put down to being a well-trained War Dog versus an animal already afraid of horses, something that they all would pick up on.
As he slowly walked back to her, Kyron smiled and waved. She stepped out a little farther, cautiously looking over at her neighbor’s place, but saw no sign of him. As Kyron reached her, he noted, “Doesn’t look like he’s home.”
“Not home or else he’s just waiting,” she muttered darkly.
“Is that a possibility?”
“With him, yes,” she replied. “He seemed pretty convinced that I had stolen his dog, and Beth’s presence here just confirms it.”
“Well, you didn’t steal Beth, and neither did I,” he stated. “If he wants to go to court over this, that’s fine. This is a War Dog, and he has absolutely no legal claim to it.”
She brightened at that. “Right, although I don’t know that the government will back you on that.”
“I don’t know for sure either,” he replied, “but a lot of people won’t go down that pathway regardless.”
She nodded. “The coffee is ready. Come on in.” With that, they slowly made their way back inside. As he stepped forward to close the door behind him, she thought she heard something. She frowned. “What was that?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t hear anything.”
She motioned at the door. “Can you push that open again?”
Kyron pushed it open, and he stepped back out again, this time without the dog. He looked around, listening. “I’m not sure what you heard, but I don’t see anything.”
She stepped out beside him and frowned. “I don’t know either. I guess I’m hearing things.”
“Or you’re just being naturally cautious,” he added, “and that’s a good thing.”
“Doesn’t feel like a good thing right now,” she argued. “It feels like a bad case of nerves.”
“And, if that’s what it is, that’s just what it is.” He shrugged. “Don’t go blaming yourself for being cautious.”
“I don’t know what to say anymore,” she noted. “He’s got me twisted up inside.”
“Got it,” he agreed, “but still, this is not your problem.”
“Maybe not,” she replied, “but he’ll think it is. And you don’t know what he’s like.”
“No, so I may go over there and talk to him myself,” he stated. “I wonder if he’s still as aggressive when he doesn’t have a gun in his hand and when he’s confronting another man.”
“I don’t know,” she admitted, “but I’m telling you that he is the kind to take it out on me later.” He stopped, looked at her, and frowned. “So yeah,” she stated, “it would be very helpful if you consider that part of this before you go piss him off even more than he is already.”
“Got it,” he replied thoughtfully. “First, let’s get some coffee and food. I’ll be in much more amiable mood to talk to him if my stomach is full.”
“Coming right up,” she said, with a smile. “Anything to avoid a huge collision of testosterone, with the two of you duking it out.”
“Duking it out would be fine with me,” he agreed, “but I don’t want to bring a knife to a gun fight.”
She stopped and stared, then winced. “Right, now that’s not exactly a thought to sleep on,” she muttered.
“Don’t worry about it,” he told her. “We have enough things to deal with right now.”
“Yeah, which one of the many worries were you thinking about?” she asked, with a laugh. “I mean, I’m trying to pay bills that I can’t afford, buy a larger property in the country that I can’t afford, and deal with a gun-happy neighbor who hates me and has gone off his rocker,” she spelled out. “Have you got anything else in mind?”
“Lots,” he said cheerfully. “But I’m not necessarily sure where or what.”
She stared, yet nodded. “I guess you still have to figure out your family stuff, don’t you?”
“Even that seems really small compared to everything you’re going through,” he noted, with a shake of his head.
“I don’t think it is,” she muttered. “It’s just a matter of each of us sorting out the things that we have to deal with, and, while mine seems impossible to me, I’m sure that yours seems impossible to you.”
“Maybe, … but it does bring up an issue about whether I’m staying close or what I’ll do,” he muttered.
“I guess you weren’t thinking about staying local, were you?”
“I wasn’t at first,” he admitted, then looked down at the dog lying at his feet. “And then I see a dog like this, and I realize that I really do have some skills to offer. I can do rehab K9 training or all kinds of related stuff for that matter,” he noted quietly. “I did get a pension, and I was medically discharged, so it’s not like I’m destitute. However, I would still need something meaningful to do with my life.”
“Well, you’re right in the sense that you would certainly be a welcome addition around here,” she agreed. “There are definitely K9 units in Aspen, but I don’t know whether any local trainers are here or there’s a need for someone here. I assume they bring them all in from out of town.”
“I could be a local one, if and when there is a need, which would be something I could consider,” he stated. “Animals have always been a huge part of my life, and to see how people treat them? Well, that has always upset me. And now I may have just inherited two dogs,” he said, with a smile.
“Can you keep them both?” she asked.
“I can if I want to, yes.” Kyron reached a hand toward Beth. Almost on instinct, she lifted her head, looked up at him, and nudged his hand with her nose.
“There is a bond between the two of you,” she noted. “I’m quite surprised that it’s already there.”
“I’m not because it was a long night at the vet clinic, and we did lots of talking together. Lots of reminiscing, discussing our rough childhoods and all the other stuff that we have had to deal with,” he admitted on a humorous note.
“Ah.” She nodded. “All the lovely bonding that goes into any good relationship.”
“Apparently,” he replied. “Though I can’t say I’ve had too many of those either.”
She asked, “Relationships?”
He nodded. “At least the good bonding kind.”
“But you were always leaving town, weren’t you? Not everybody is happy to have a man who’s not around.”
“Exactly, which is also why, once I realized that would be a stumbling block, I decided it wasn’t a big enough deal that I wanted to go in that direction,” he explained, “so I didn’t really worry about it. You know that short-term relationships work just fine, if everybody knows and agrees on it from the start.”
She nodded. “I can see that, though I think it’s kind of sad in a way because you military guys probably needed that security to come home to, a reason to come home for every time you left. Yet, if it wasn’t the type of relationship you wanted or that you could count on, that’s probably worse than not having a relationship at all.”
He stared at her and nodded. “That actually was part of my thought process for a lot of friends of mine. More than a few came home to find that their wives weren’t faithful while they were away.”
She nodded. “I’ve heard certain things like that myself over the years, and that’s always sad, so maybe, in your case, it was probably better that you didn’t go in that direction.”
“Yep, and now I don’t have a job—or a visible means of support—or a lot of other things going for me at the moment. Just a broken-down body. So most people, most women,” he corrected, “won’t be interested.”
She stared at him. “Wow, I guess you’ve been meeting all the wrong women.”
He burst out laughing at that. “You know what? I probably have. But are you really telling me that a guy who’s already got a prosthetic leg and a whole series of injuries to deal with is somebody you’d be interested in for a relationship?”
He had asked her in such a way that it was not geared personally to her, but Miranda still wondered if some level of that question was directed at her regardless. She answered him as honestly as she could.
“Given the fact that I’ve seen what you can do with the animals, and how you care about the animals,” she replied, “I couldn’t give a crap about how broken your body is. Because your soul and your heart, those are both intact. At least I can see the physical damage, versus these guys who have broken and cracked hearts and blackened souls that are hidden from view. Their bodies may look pretty, but the rest of it is festering and corrupt.” She visibly shuddered at the words. “Those are the guys I don’t want anything to do with. Yet it’s hard to find out which ones are the good guys, unless you spend some serious time with them.”
With a reassuring smile, she continued. “So, Kyron, don’t worry about that broken body. You’re doing just fine with what you’ve got. Obviously you’re doing the best you can, as you learn to adapt to this new life. Even if no further improvement is coming, you’re still doing just fine right where you are at now. It’s a miracle you’re even alive.” He stared at her, while she shrugged. “But then, that’s just my take on life.”
“Hey, I kind of like the world according to Miranda,” he replied.
“Good,” she murmured. “Because anything less than that is short-changing yourself. You’re a good man, Kyron. Don’t ever let the bad people in the world get you down.”
Kyron spent Sunday morning having a belated breakfast with Miranda, enjoying the coffee and the company, getting to know her better. He had learned about her family hating the choices she had made for her life, the fact that potential boyfriends refused to have anything to do with her, and that her sister thought she was something to be ashamed of. At one point in time, Miranda even shook her head.
