Page 96 of Puppy Love

On the contrary, there was noof courseabout it.Of coursewas the last thing anyone would have expected when pairing a man like him and a puppy like Bubbles. In fact, the only person in the world who would look at the two of them and think,Huh, this seems like a great idea, was Sophie.

Not because her world was one of comfort and coddling, but because she was the only person to believe he could change. She’d taken one look at him, seen straight through to his heart, and decided to single-handedly bring it to life again.

And that was exactly what she’d done—up until the moment he’d crushed her with a few callous words.

Yet she was still here, helping him.

She was still here, making sure that whatever was left of his heart had a chance to thrive.

“I don’t believe in forgiveness and second chances,” he said with an abrupt change of subject.

His mother’s face fell. “I know I don’t deserve either one, but—”

“Just because Dad is capable of reversing twenty-two years of conditioning and is willing to open his heart to you again, that doesn’t mean I have to too.”

“No, and I completely understand, only—”

“Don’t hurt him,” Harrison said.

She blinked, almost as confused as he was by the sudden change in his tone. But althoughshecouldn’t know what kinds of battles were being waged inside his chest, had no idea that Sophie had triumphed there so many times already,hedid. Forgiveness and second chances sounded pretty good right about now. So did opening his heart to all those possibilities he’d shunned for years.

“That’s all I ask of you,” he said. “I don’t know why you decided to come back now, of all times, or what you said to convince Dad that this time would be any different, but these past twenty years haven’t been easy on him.Ihaven’t been easy on him.”

“Oh, Harrison.”

This time, when she reached for him, she made contact. It wasn’t much, just a press of her fingers before she dropped her hand away, but it was enough. This woman may not have had the strength to sit by his bedside and watch him in pain, but that was on her.Shewas the one who’d missed his childhood, his adolescence, his young adulthood.Shewas the one who’d run away rather than face the harsh realities of life.

Shewas the broken one. Not him.

“It must have been really difficult, seeing me like that,” he offered.

His mom’s lower lip quivered. “It was. You have no idea. I was—Oh, I don’t know. Weak? Scared? A little of both, I think. I’m not as strong as your father. I never have been. I took one look at you, so tiny and unconscious in that bed, and had to get away.”

It was a sentiment he didn’t understand, since Bubbles was tiny and could very well be unconscious, and he had no intention of stopping until he had her in his arms again. But he softened anyway.

Especially when his mom muttered a curse and said, “You were better off with him anyway, believe me.”

He had to chuckle. “I might not have agreed with you a few weeks ago, but I think I do now.”

She looked a question at him.

“I always thought it was the worst thing about me, how much like Dad I am, but I’m starting to think it might be a good thing.”

As if to prove it, his dad’s voice sounded in the distance. He called out for Bubbles in his usual cantankerous tone, offering several reasons why tiny puppies who took off in the middle of the night deserved their inevitable fates.

“He won’t stop until we find her,” Harrison said. “He won’t leave when things get rough. In fact, he wouldn’t even leave me until a few days ago when he finally realized I’d be okay on my own.”

“And will you?” his mom asked, watching him.

Harrison nodded. He had no way of knowing what the future held for him, and there was a good chance Sophie would never forgive him for hurting her, but he’d wait. Twenty-two years if he had to, growing even more irritable and set in his ways as the years progressed.

Parks men were built that way—for the kind of love that lasted a lifetime. For the fairy-tale ending they deserved. For the kind of life that refused to accept anything but a happily ever after.

* * *

“You should take a break.”

Sophie approached the wooded copse Harrison was searching with a bottle of water in her hand and a look of determination on her face. “You’re not going to do anyone any good if you faint out here. It’ll take at least twelve of the men to drag you back to the house.”