Page 14 of Rescue Them

“Yeah.My grandmother had her secret recipe, and she taught me how to make her sauce.She never shared it with my mother, which peeved her off.My dad’s mom could be picky, and she never liked my mom.But she showed me how to make it.”

“It’s amazing.Did you ever show your mom?”

Lyle shook his head.“Gram made me swear not to tell her.Not that Mom knows I can make the sauce.I never told her.If she doesn’t know, then she can’t pester me for the recipe.”He took a bite himself.

A pounding on the door made him jump.James stood as Lyle paled and then followed the dogs as they barked in a frenzy.“What now?”

“Do you want me to answer it?”James asked, and Lyle nodded.So he went to the door, opened it, and started into the eyes of what could only be described as a six-and-a-half-foot bean pole of a man.

“That’s Debbie’s husband,” Lyle said from next to him.

James wondered for a second how he knew that, but then he supposed that if he’d seen him once, it wasn’t as though many people could be confused with someone a stiff breeze could blow over.“What do you want?”The dogs all growled and stood as sentinels behind the screen door.

“My wife and I are cleaning out her mother’s house.”He glared at Lyle.“You’ll be happy to know that after all the taxes and the bills are paid, there isn’t going to be much left.”He reached for the screen door, but when the dogs all barked, he stepped back.

“That isn’t my fault or my problem.Corky made her wishes known,” Lyle countered.

James gritted his teeth.“I’ll ask again, what do you want?Why are you here?”

“You should give one or two of those dogs to Debbie.She deserves them, and that will pay your share of the taxes.We can find them good homes where their blood lines can be carried on, and—”

“Yeah.I’m well aware that you and Debbie want to sell the dogs.But her mother wanted them to stay together, and she wanted them to have a good life.So I’m not going to give either of you anything.The dogs hate you anyway… both of you.So go away, and I don’t want to see either of you anymore.Clean out Corky’s house and sell everything.The money is all you’re after.Just don’t come here again.”He stepped forward and closed the door, then locked it.

James waited and then checked through the front window to make sure he was gone, and he was.

“Why do I get the feeling that the two of them are going to turn up again and again?”

“Because they’re entitled.They think they have some right to things that aren’t theirs.Who in the hell asks someone for one of their dogs?What kind of people are they?I mean….Jesus.It’s like saying that you have four kids and we have none, so give us one.”

Lyle chuckled.“Well, it’s not the exact same thing, but you make a good point.Corky always said that her ex-husband spoiled Debbie something terrible.I now know that was why she wanted to keep the dogs away from her.And I’m determined to do what she wanted.They don’t deserve the dogs or anything else.”

“Then all you need to do is keep them safe.”

“Yeah, but I keep wondering….They know where I live and where the dogs are.”The implication of that statement sent a chill down James’s spine.

Chapter 7

WHAT A DIFFERENCEa few weeks could make.He and James fell into a pattern.While they texted every day, Lyle saw him on Wednesday evenings and on Saturdays.It seemed to work for both of them, and it gave James the time he needed to keep up with his classwork.Lyle had decided to make volunteering on Saturday mornings at the shelter a regular thing, so he saw James there, and they went home together,

Corky’s townhouse had been emptied.Hell, Debbie and her husband has done it so quickly, you’d have thought they’d brought in a giant vacuum to suck everything out.A new family was supposed to move in this week.Everything seemed to be changing quickly, but at least with the townhouse empty and Debbie not coming by, there had been no recent visits or altercations about the dogs, which was a relief.

“How is your little pack?”Mitchell asked once Lyle walked into the shelter on the second Saturday of October.

“They’re good.I gave them each a chew treat before I left, and each of them were in their beds, guarding their booty like they expected the others to try to take it at any second.I have no doubt that as soon as I left, all four of them gnawed their way to heaven before they thought the others finished.Those dogs are weird sometimes.They each take their treat, but they don’t eat it until I leave.”He shook his head and went right up to the desk.It had become his domain, at least for the morning.“Is there anything I need to know?”

“Not that I can think of,” Mitchell said.

“Cool.James messaged that a few of his friends from the law school might stop in.One of his professors was looking for a dog for her daughter, and a colleague wanted a small dog to keep her company.I suppose there can be long hours of alone time, and that gets to some people.I ought to know.”Now that he had dogs, he wanted everyone to know the pleasure and companionship they brought.

“Sounds good,” Mitchell said.“I’m going to get started.Have James join me when he gets here.”He smiled and might have winked before heading back to the dogs.Lyle checked the time and wondered where James was just as tires sounded on the gravel outside.James hurried in, and Lyle smiled as he rushed over and kissed him quickly.

“I’m running late,” he whispered.“I was up too late last night, and I slept through my alarm.”

“Go help Mitchell,” he said gently as he smoothed down James’s cowlick.“You made it just in time.”Lyle tugged him into another kiss before James hurried back to help Mitchell.

Lyle answered a call and explained that they were open and to stop in any time before five.It seemed like it was going to be a busy day.

BY THEtime they left the shelter, Lyle had helped with a number of adoptions, and he was tired and thrilled at the same time.“I don’t know how happy the dogs are going to be that I spent much of the day holding Chippy,” he told James as they walked to the front door.