Jenner, page 9
“Not really, why?”
“Just wondering. I thought I saw a dog.”
“I thought I saw something dark the other night, but I wouldn’t have known it was a dog. And after seeing the neighbor’s dogs, I sure as hell wouldn’t have thought anything good about it.”
“Right.” Jenner looked down at the cone that he was busy eating and said, “As soon as I’m done with this, I’ll head up there and take a look.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because when I said I think I see a dog, I mean, I think I saw my War Dog.” And, with that, he got up and quickly walked away, leaving her to stare after him.
Chapter 6
Kellie didn’t see Jenner for the next hour. She worried about him out there, thinking of him getting around on his prosthetic out there on the rough terrain, then shrugged it off. If he didn’t seem to care, then she certainly shouldn’t. He seemed quite capable enough. When her phone rang not long afterward, she answered it to learn that he was still out there.
“Hey,” he greeted her. “Do you have any dog food at home?”
“No, not at all,” she said. “Why? Do you really think he’s out there?”
“Well, something’s out here. I’m just not sure because I think I see him, but he won’t come close to me. When I get closer, he takes off.”
“What else would you expect?” she asked jokingly. “It’s not like you’re a friend to him.”
“I know. That’s why I was wondering if you have any dog food,” he replied. “When I get back, I’ll run into town and get some.” He hung up, and she hesitated at that because, well, she might not have any traditional dog food, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t scrounge up some food here that a dog would eat.
When he popped in a little bit later, she added, “I don’t have dog food, dog food, but I have meat and bones.”
“No, I don’t want to do that,” he explained. “I don’t know what he’s been eating, so I’ll roust up something at the pet store in the center of town. They surely have something.”
“Oh, they’ll have something, for sure.”
He raced out to his vehicle and took off.
She stared out in the hills behind her, but all she could think about was those damn wild dogs and how they had surrounded her. She’d never been frightened of dogs before, until then. She also wasn’t sure if there weren’t more running loose in the wings. Knowing that she had been that close to getting killed by them and ripped to pieces still woke her up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.
It wasn’t fair; she hadn’t done anything to the dogs, but, of course, she didn’t even know that they saw her as a threat as much as they just saw her as somebody in their way. Maybe they were just out having fun. She could imagine what any other animal must have felt like, being caught up in their clutches.
And it was scary, like seriously scary. Still, not much to be done about it now. She worked on dinner, and soon Jenner was back.
He told her, “I’ll wait until it gets a little darker outside. Then I’ll go look for Sisco.”
“But is it safe?” she asked. “Think about it. I mean, that dog’s been on its own for a long time.”
“I don’t know what’s going on,” he admitted. “I need to go out there and figure it out.” He looked at her and smiled. “He won’t come back after you.”
“You say that,” she stated, with a wry look, “but I’m not sure I believe you.”
He nodded. “I get that too. I don’t think that Sisco would ever be the kind that would have hurt you.”
“No, but those other dogs …”
“I know.” Jenner nodded. “Those other dogs are enough to scare the crap out of anybody, but two are dead.”
She shrugged. “But there’s two more.”
At that, he nodded again. “We’ll see what comes of them, but I have to get out there and see if I can track down Sisco before he gets shot.”
“Dinner first,” she stated firmly. “Dinner first, then you can go out.”
He looked at her and asked, “What makes you think I even have any appetite for dinner? I just ate three scoops of some wonderful ice cream.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Roast chicken and all the fixings?”
“You’re right,” he agreed. “Dinner first.”
She chuckled and said, “You can set the table, if you want to help.”
“I’m okay with that.” He headed to the sideboard immediately. “And thank you,” he said. “Best recommendation ever to come stay with you.” She looked at him in surprise, and he nodded. “I’m serious. You’re a very gifted chef.”
“Well, I’d like to think that I’m a good cook.” She laughed. “The gifted chef part seems a bit much.”
“Nope, not at all,” he argued. “That ice cream was divine, and the cone was absolutely out of this world. You can easily sell that stuff, but, with all your time involved, I fear there won’t be a whole lot of money in it for you.”
“I know,” she muttered, “but I was wondering about doing some of that teaching stuff online and showing other people how to do it.”
“You know something? That could be a huge moneymaker.”
“I don’t know about moneymaking,” she admitted, “but I would sure like to find some joy in life again.”
An hour later, after a delicious meal, Jenner raced out to the back of the property, again catching sight of something black and dark out there. From his right-hand side, he thought he heard some barking, but the flash of black had come from the opposite side. Trusting his instincts, he headed toward the barking, and, as soon as he came close, he heard a rustling in the underbrush; it sounded like the wild dogs taking off through the area.
He wondered what the hell was going on that so many dogs were loose out here. But then, considering two had been killed, of the possible four that the squatter had, maybe the squatter had ducked out to avoid paying any fines for his dogs. Maybe the squatter had thought they were just enough of a headache and a hit to his wallet to not be bothered with rounding them up. A lot of people got animals, and then, when they required training or medical expenses, they ditched them.
Anybody who would squat in somebody else’s house and who then stole its contents, after beating up the legal homeowner, leaving him injured in the ditch to die, obviously didn’t give a crap about anything or anyone else in life.
Jenner moved swiftly, looking for the barking dogs. In the distance he saw two dogs, racing flat-out—one large, one smaller. A series of yells came from the direction the dogs had left. People were already on the scene of whatever was going on. Chances were the dogs had gotten into something that they shouldn’t—like chickens. Jenner headed after them, but they already had a hell of a good start.
When he slowed down, he found a large pasture up ahead. He looked around but saw no sign of people or of the two dogs. As he slowly turned to look in the opposite direction, he caught sight of something dashing through his peripheral vision. Not sure if it was one of the wild dogs—or the War Dog that he was looking for—he stopped and stilled.
Letting his eyes adjust, he waited to see what might show up. Almost immediately he saw a decent-size dark-looking shape. And instinctively he knew it was the War Dog that he was looking for. His heart leapt for joy. Finally something positive. He called out “Sisco, stay,” in a soft voice and then in a stronger voice repeated the command again and again and again.
When no response came, he turned to look and realized that the dog was gone. He wasn’t sure what to make of that attitude because, if somebody had misused Sisco’s training commands, the War Dog would experience a lot of distress. A lot of people didn’t realize that there was a bond between trainer and dog as much as an obedience to the commands.
The dog had to trust the person giving the commands in order to listen, and, if Sisco had been beaten or abused, or if somebody had read some of these instructions or orders online and had used the commands to confuse or to abuse the dog for whatever reason, that kind of trust could be forever broken. But Jenner had faith in the War Dog’s training and faith in the animal world, much more so than he did with people.
Swearing, he took off after Sisco, knowing there’s no way he’d be fast enough. When the dog swiftly took a sharp veer to the left, Jenner followed and heard a horrific growl coming from behind him. Some other dogs—possibly the ones he’d been chasing earlier—had backtracked around behind him. He turned to see two dogs coming silently through the bush up on him, and he swore.
“Well, if you guys were the ones that surrounded Kellie and scared the crap out of her,” he murmured, “no wonder she’s terrified of dogs.”
Although she did her best to make it look like she was okay, it was obvious that she was really unnerved at the idea of dogs now. As Jenner studied the two in front of him, both looked to be mutts, broad in the shoulder, huge heads, so some Rottie mix in there somewhere.
They stared at Jenner with a look in their eyes that said they were hungry.
“You guys haven’t been fed at all, have you?” he muttered. “That’s bad news because now you’re hunting.” Once they hunted in packs, it was even worse news for everybody around them. Only two were before him now, but that just coincided with the information that he’d already received about how they had originally been a pack of four.
He couldn’t even imagine what Kellie had gone through. Thank God the dogs’ owner had called them off. But then why had the squatter disappeared? Unless he’d been afraid that he would get caught—either through the antics of his killing dogs or especially once Jim showed up.
The beating Jim had taken, under any other circumstances, wouldn’t have brought Jim down so easily. But, already weak from surgeries and still struggling with his own handicap, he’d been taken by surprise, and it had been a short fight after that. But it would never be okay in Jenner’s books to take down a man who was already in some way healing. This squatter guy was just a shitty asshole. But Jenner already knew that, and assholes came in all shapes and colors, so it didn’t matter who and what. Jenner and Jim just had to deal with the fact that they needed to find the asshole, hopefully fast, but it wouldn’t stop these dogs right now.
Jenner called out in a calm voice, “Hey, guys.” One’s ear twitched. “Yeah, you’re not sure what happened to your world, are you?” The dog in the front stepped a paw closer and hunkered down lower.
“Yeah, I see you. And having successfully taken down God-only-knows how many animals in the last little while,” he noted, “you’ve got a thirst for blood right now too, don’t you?”
Jenner didn’t have a weapon on him, and that was something he should take care of. Fighting off one dog was definitely possible. Fighting off two? Not so much. But thankfully it was only two and not the four. He hated to see good or redeemable animals get put down, but he suspected that it would end that way for these two.
He studied the second dog, as he continued to talk to them both in a calm voice. Backing up against the trunk of the closest tree, he realized that second dog was more of a follower and probably didn’t have the same hunting instincts that the bigger one did. Because that bigger one, the leader, the aggressive one, looked like he would need a bullet, and it took a lot for Jenner to say that. Once they got the taste for human blood, it was pretty damn hard to stop them from killing more.
They needed fences and secured yards to be rehabilitated. Yet, when they were already this far gone, very few people could take on animals like these and succeed. And Jenner didn’t blame the animals one bit; they’d been deserted by whoever it was who had had them. Jenner couldn’t even be sure that the squatter guy who walked away from them had actually had them for very long. For all Jenner knew, these dogs may have been taken from the Stippletones’ house that the squatter decided to live in. But, with no answers, Jenner knew that he needed calm actions right now.
At least calm until the first dog took another step forward and showed lots of teeth, followed by a low growl.
Swearing gently, Jenner reached for a branch above him, and, just as the dog surged for him, Jenner kicked up and swung onto the bottom branch. After that, it was a quick several hops to get up even higher. From that new vantage point, Jenner stared down at the pissed attack dog, as he barked at Jenner from below.
“You really would kill me, wouldn’t you?” he asked, studying him. “I’m sorry about that, you know? That just won’t happen today.” He reached for his phone, and first thing he did was call Kellie at the bed-and-breakfast.
“Don’t go outside,” he snapped. “Two dogs chased me up a tree. I don’t have any weapons right now, but I’ll call the sheriff and get some assistance. This one dog in particular looks like he’s just out for blood.”
“Yeah, the one with that massive black head, isn’t it?” she asked. “I remember him.”
And he heard the shiver in her voice. “That’s all right. We’ll take care of him,” he stated.
“You’re in a tree,” she noted, with a nervous laugh. “How do you expect anybody to take care of him?”
“Well, that’ll be the trick,” he admitted. “Although I think the sheriff would be all too happy to kill these two.” And just then one of the dogs tried to make a jump for him. Jenner swore, as he pulled his foot up and away. “Damn tree isn’t quite big enough either,” he stated in a cheerful voice.
Just then, out of nowhere, came a black streak, and it plowed into the shoulder of the second dog, with one solid thud. The first dog spun at the noise, jumped in, snapping and snarling, and attacked the new arrival.
Chapter 7
Kellie had to admit to waiting on pins and needles, constantly stepping out the back door to check up at the hills and then racing to the front yard at the sound of any movement. Surely Jenner would be back soon. Just the thought of him being alone and up that tree set her nerves on edge and her tears just out of sight.
When she heard a vehicle, she raced to the front door, threw it open, a big smile on her face, only to see Laura step out. Her smile immediately dropped away. “Hey, I’m surprised to see you.”
“I don’t know why,” she replied crossly. “Until this baby comes, all I can do is keep busy.”
“I’m sure a lot of soon-to-be moms say things like that,” Kellie noted, with a commiserating look.
Laura rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I should have had a surrogate.”
“Oh, wow. I never thought that would be something you would want.”
“Why not?” she muttered. “You look like you were expecting somebody else.”
Kellie felt a flush rise on her cheeks. “No, not necessarily. I had the cops—the sheriff—come and talk to me this morning. I was expecting him back.”
At that, Laura leveled Kellie with a hard stare. “Since when do you care about the sheriff like that?”
She rolled her eyes. “Come on in. Have a seat and get comfy.”
“I’m not staying. Just wanted to tell you to cancel those reservations for the family. They don’t want to stay here,” she stated, with an eye roll. “I convinced my husband, and he wants them to stay at our place.”
“Okay.” Kellie’s heart sank at the thought of losing that many reservations. “I understand.” She gave Laura a negligent shrug. “It is life.”
“It is, indeed,” she muttered. At that she heaved herself back inside her vehicle. “I’m leaving, don’t want to see him.”
“Or you could just talk to him and get it over with,” Kellie suggested. “He seems quite nice.” At that, she got a flat stare.
“Of course he does. That’s the thing about him. He was always nice. He was always one of the good guys—but good guys end up last.”
“I didn’t realize you were so anxious to get someplace else with him.”
“For the first year, I guess I thought he’d get there on his own, but it didn’t seem like anything would change. I just couldn’t hang around and wait for him.”
“Got it,” Kellie noted. “With the baby, your life will definitely change now.”
She nodded. “I’m just not sure if it’ll change for the better or not.”
And that comment had Kellie’s jaw dropping. “Seriously?”
Laura shrugged. “The only reason I’m having this baby at all is for my husband,” she snapped. “Otherwise you can bet I wouldn’t be going through this.”
“But it is such a beautiful experience,” Kellie argued, when she could speak again.
“Yeah? And what happens if it’s something like what you went through?” she asked. “I’m not cut out for that kind of stuff. Not even sure at this point that there’s anything maternal about me.”
“Well, you won’t know until you get there,” Kellie replied impulsively.
“Yeah, great,” Laura muttered. “Still not thrilled at the idea.”
Kellie watched as Laura drove away, her heavily pregnant belly still not impeding her ability to drive. Shaking her head, Kellie considered how she had generously thought of Laura as a friend, then as an acquaintance, and now as just some rude person she saw during the school year, but, as an adult, Laura was an even ruder client, who Kellie must endure for years to come.
Kellie couldn’t quite believe the things that Laura had said. Kellie was finding out more about Laura, and she wasn’t exactly who Kellie had thought Laura was. Then again pregnancy sometimes also brought out the worst in everybody. Laura saw it as quite a challenge, especially what was happening to her body, particularly since Laura didn’t want to be pregnant for her own sake.
When Kellie had first found out she was pregnant—at seventeen no less—she had been more shocked than overjoyed, but it certainly hadn’t taken long for her to realize how special that child growing within her was. Yet she also understood that it wasn’t the same for everybody. If one thing had helped Kellie, it would have been the therapy after Quincy’s death and belonging to several grief support groups, where she understood—slowly, over time—that pregnancy was a different experience for everybody.
