Forever Home Page 4

  “Sure you can.” Gabe held up a hand and lifted his index finger. “One, it’s the cost of the rent of our building. Two”—he raised his middle finger—“it’s the expense of your employees. You have me and a couple of girls who come in part-time when you need them. And when you can afford to pay them. And I assume you want to pay yourself so you can eat, too. Three, it’s the cost of food and supplies for the dogs. That’s a lot of numbers. You can’t ignore them just because you want to.”

  “Christ, you sound like my parents. My dad’s so worried that I don’t already own a house and a brokerage account, he’s threatening to cut me out of his will.” Which made no sense, and besides, Brad couldn’t care less. His parents had quite a bit of money, but it hadn’t made them happy. When they’d divorced, every fight had centered around their bank accounts. “When Forever Friends needs money, I’ll get money. We’ll be fine.”

  Gabe turned and started walking again, this time cutting across the wide field of Galt Park, which bordered a Japanese tea garden. The park was on Pineville’s south side, just two miles from the shelter, and had become a favorite of his and Gabe’s to exercise the dogs.

  “What’s your plan this time?” Gabe asked. “Another direct mailing?”

  “Maybe.” But he had an idea to kill two birds with one stone. “I was thinking about using Isabelle Lopez. Her rescue is an inspiring story, and I think it will draw attention. Maybe give her an award, get her picture under the Forever Friends sign in all the papers. That kind of thing.” No one had to know she’d broken into the abandoned apartments. They could say she’d found the door open when she went to investigate. And spending more time with Izzy could only help his chances with her. He was charming. He’d wear her down eventually.

  Gabe tipped his head. “That’s not an awful idea. Presuming she isn’t the one who abandoned the dogs in the first place.”

  “She’s not.” Brad blew out a breath. “Jesus, you have a suspicious mind.”

  “Yeah, well, you don’t know people the way I do,” Gabe muttered.

  Stephanie barked excitedly and tugged at the leash. Brad looked in the direction she was scrabbling for. Judge Nichols sat on a bench in front of a small pond. The older man raised a hand in greeting, and Brad and Gabe strolled over to join him.

  “Hello, Judge,” Brad said. “I didn’t expect to see you out here today.” Nichols was the one and only judge for Crook County, and although his jurisdiction wasn’t awash in lawsuits and crime, his schedule kept him busy. Too busy for an afternoon spent at the park on a workday.

  “And I didn’t expect to be here.” Nichols leaned over, stroking the Lab’s back and murmuring in her ear. A gust of wind lifted a tuft of the man’s snowy white hair into a messy peak. He sat up, his shoulders drooping. “But sometimes difficult decisions are easier to make on a park bench than in my chambers.” He looked down at the dog. “I see Stephanie hasn’t been adopted yet.”

  “Animals with physical deformities are hard sells.” Brad smoothed his thumb over the puckered skin covering her missing left eye. “But someone will want her. She’s too much of a sweetheart to go without a home for much longer.”

  Judge Nichols gave a bare whisper of a smile. “I’m glad you’ve kept such an optimistic view of human nature.”

  Gabe snorted. “Delusional one, more like.”

  Brad ignored that. He plopped down on the bench next to the judge. “Something wrong?” Usually the man was as cheerful as everyone’s favorite grandfather. He’d also been a good donor to Forever Friends in the past. Maybe if Brad helped Nichols with his problem, he could hit him up for another donation.

  Nichols spread the love around to a couple of other dogs. “Just wondering why a young man who seems to have every advantage would persist in acting like a jackass, excuse my French. I have to determine an appropriate sentence for a serial offender. But the problem is that I like the boy.”

  “If the punk did the crime, he can’t be surprised when he gets the time.” Gabe widened his stance and crossed his arms over his chest. “Everyone needs to understand there are consequences to our actions.”

  Brad stifled his eye roll. Out of a misplaced sense of guilt, Gabe was a bit of an annoying hard-ass. He had all the love in the world for four-legged creatures. People, not so much.

  The judge looked up at Gabe and pursed his lips. The dismal gloom in the man’s blue eyes gave way to a twinkle, and one edge of the judge’s mouth slid up. He looked between Brad and Gabe, his smile growing and opening until he was showing all his teeth.

  Brad swallowed. No good could come from that look. He popped to his feet. He’d ask for a donation another time.

  Gabe must have sensed the bad juju, too, because in unison they each took a wary step back. “Well, we gotta get going.” Brad rubbed the back of his neck. “Things to do.”

  “Of course.” The judge patted Stephanie on the back and stood as well. “You two must be very busy running that shelter by yourselves.”

  Brad and Gabe shot looks at each other. What was the old man’s angle? “Um, it’s not so bad,” Brad said. Gabe nodded.

  “But still”—the judge advanced a step—“it would be nice if you got some more help around there. Someone who could walk all the dogs, give them baths, that sort of thing. That would take a lot off your plate.”

  “Sure, but I can’t afford that right now.” Brad cleared his throat. “In fact, we’re just about to start a fund-raising drive and—”

  Judge Nichols chuckled. “You misunderstand me. This is really quite perfect. I have a young man who needs to be taught a lesson, and you need free labor. It’s a win-win situation.”

  “What is?” Gabe asked. His shoulders rounded, already resigned to the inevitable. If Nichols wanted something, he generally got it.

  Brad wasn’t quite so fatalistic. “You can’t think that you’re going to put your problem child at Forever Friends.”

  “Dax isn’t a child, even if he acts like one. He’s twenty-five, intelligent, and a nice guy. When he’s not acting like a jackass.” Nichols shook his head. “He just needs to learn he can’t do whatever he wants whenever he wants. I think several months of picking up dog poop will work wonders on his attitude.” He rubbed his hands together. “I’ll send you over a copy of my sentence that lays out all the specifics of Dax’s community service first thing tomorrow.”

  Brad’s shoulders drooped to match Gabe’s. “Great,” he said, his voice flat. He and Gabe had enough trouble training unruly dogs to behave. Now they had to train an unruly punk? But Nichols was a generous donor. And the judge wielded a lot of power in Crook County. It would be foolish to refuse him.

  “Well, I’d best let the young man in question know his fate. And let him know how easy he got off.” Nichols pointed a finger at Brad and Gabe in turn. “Don’t be nice to him. Make him do all the dirty jobs, and don’t let him slack off. If he does, tell me. I’ll have a jail cell prepared.”

  Stephanie barked, concerned at the judge’s stern tone, and Nichols bent down and gave her one last pat. “I’ll see you two later.” He turned to walk away. “Oh, and don’t forget to put me on your mailing list,” he called over his shoulder. “I’ll send my donation over first thing.”

  Gabe stepped next to Brad. “Did he just bribe us? He dumps a convict on us and then says he’s going to make a donation so we don’t object?”

  Brad rubbed his side and started back across the lawn to their van parked on the street. “I think that would qualify more as extortion. We take his problem child or else he withholds his donation. Either way, we’re stuck with this Dax.”

  Gabe grumbled. “Who the hell has a name like Dax?”

  “I guess we’ll find out.” They reached the van, and Brad opened the back door. He began loading the dogs up into their crates. Lifting the Lab brought a twinge to his side, and he winced.

  Gabe grabbed St
ephanie and settled her inside. “Your side bothering you again?” he asked in a low voice.

  “It’s fine.”

  “Having a kidney transplant doesn’t mean that you’re completely healthy when it’s over. Even though you didn’t have any complications after your surgery, you can still—”

  “I said I’m fine.” Brad rubbed the back of his neck and tried to take the steel out of his voice. “Look, the surgery was a long time ago. But it’s left me a little slower than someone like you. Staying fit is good for me. After a hard run, maybe I feel it a bit more than the average guy, but it’s nothing to worry about. It’s all good.”

  No one knew better than he how good he had it. After spending most of his teenage years in and out of hospitals, Brad could never be anything but grateful that he’d received a new kidney. Lagging a few steps behind his athletic friend was nothing compared to all those hours in dialysis.

  “Well, when we get back to the shelter, I want you to get your ass hydrated.” Gabe closed the back door and gave him a hard look.

  “Yes, Mom.”

  Walking around him, Gabe knocked his shoulder into Brad’s, making him stumble. “Asshole,” Gabe muttered. “I don’t even know why we’re friends.” He climbed into the passenger seat and slammed his door closed.

  Smiling, Brad strolled to the driver’s side and hopped in. He knew why they were friends. Beneath Gabe’s crusty exterior, he was a loyal person who just needed a little encouragement to lighten up. Kind of like Isabelle Lopez. Checking for traffic, Brad pulled out into the street.

  Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, Brad remembered the real estate agent as he’d first seen her—ass up rescuing a puppy from under the dumpster. It was a pleasant image. Once he got back to his office, and after he hydrated, he’d find her card and give the professed non-dog woman a call. She might say she didn’t like animals, but once he impressed upon her how much the dogs needed her help to raise funds, Brad was sure she wouldn’t be able to say no.

  And once she got a little practice saying yes, he’d ask her out again. After all, he was a decent-looking guy who liked kids and dogs. What single mother could resist that?

  Chapter Four

  Izzy snuck a grape from the grocery bag on the SUV’s passenger seat and popped it in her mouth. The sun was just beginning to lower in the sky, and for once she didn’t have anywhere to be except home with her daughter to help her work on her homework. She’d finished her proposal on Bob Burker’s properties and put out feelers to interested parties. A condo she’d worked on had closed, and she’d just signed a contract to represent a newly wed couple looking to buy instead of rent. But as their lease didn’t end for another four months, Izzy didn’t have to work nights trying to find them a new home.

  She ate another grape and enjoyed the feeling of an evening with no work ahead of her. Ana was singing along to a pop song in the backseat, holding a purple comb up to her mouth like a microphone. Izzy smiled in the rearview mirror. She didn’t get many moments like this.

  Her phone rang, an unwelcome interruption. She didn’t recognize the number. Turning down the music, she glanced into the backseat. “I’ve got a call and it might be a client. Can your audition for Idol hold on a sec?” Ana made the motion of zipping her lips and throwing away a key.

  Izzy grinned as she pressed the button on her steering wheel to answer. “Izzy Lopez. How can I help you?”

  “Hello, Izzy Lopez. It’s Brad Cohen with Forever Friends. How are you doing today?” His voice filled the interior of her car, as warm and sweet as honey in July.

  “I’m fine,” she said, wary. He couldn’t know that she was trying to sell the building his shelter was housed in, could he? Maybe she shouldn’t have taken the pictures of the kennels, but the opportunity for interior shots had been too good to pass up.

  He laughed. “You don’t have to sound so scared. I won’t grab you again. Not unless you want me to.”

  She glanced in the rearview, but Ana was looking out the window, seemingly not paying attention to her mother’s conversation.

  “I’ll take a pass on that,” she told Brad. “What’s up?” Please don’t say you called the police.

  “Well, Gabe and I decided that you deserved recognition for what you did, and we want to give you an award for outstanding service to the community. Not many people would climb through a window to investigate barking.”

  A twinge of guilt fluttered inside her chest. She didn’t think she would have climbed through a window to investigate some barking dogs, either. “An award is completely unnecessary. And besides, you know why I don’t want to call attention to what happened.”

  “I’ve thought about that,” he said smoothly. “And whoever left the dogs in the apartment probably left the door unlocked as they left. If you get what I’m saying.”

  Ana’s head perked up at the word “dogs,” and Izzy inwardly cursed the man. She fumbled in her purse and pulled out her bag of Goldfish crackers, Ana’s favorite snack. Distraction time. She handed them back to her daughter. “Be that as it may, I don’t want the recognition. If that’s all—”

  “You’d also be helping out the shelter.” His voice took on the quality Lydia’s got when she tried to convince Izzy to split a dessert with her. “I thought we could have a little ceremony slash fund-raiser. Put out some food. Get the press involved. Forever Friends could use the support that kind of media attention would give. You wouldn’t want to have saved those dogs just to see them starve, would you?”

  Ana gasped in the backseat. The Goldfish hadn’t worked.

  Izzy stopped at an intersection and turned. “No one’s starving,” she told her daughter.

  Brad thought she was talking to him. “Technically that’s true. I wouldn’t let that happen. But we could use the help.”

  Izzy was saved from a response by her call waiting signal. “Brad, I have another call coming in. I’m going to have to let you go.”

  “No, I’ll wait.” He sounded confident. Too confident. And Izzy grew suspicious of who was on the other line.

  She pressed a button. “Izzy Lopez. How can I help you?”

  “Izzy, it’s Liz.”

  Her heart sank. So much for a work-free night. “What’s up?” she asked, trying to sound cheerful.

  “I just spoke with a Brad Cohen. He said he runs that shelter that’s in Burker’s building.”

  “Yeah…?”

  “He told me his idea to have a little awards banquet in your honor. You didn’t tell me you found some dogs in the foreclosed apartments.” Liz’s voice was more curious than accusing, but her boss definitely didn’t like being kept out of the loop.

  “It wasn’t a big deal.”

  Ana jumped up and down in her seat, her lips pressed together tight, looking like she was ready to burst. Izzy shot her a look.

  “Maybe not, but this Cohen guy seems to think so.” A stapler thwacked loudly over the line. “I think the award thing is a great idea. You should do it.”

  Izzy blinked. “You do? But…you know the deal with Burker has to be secret.”

  “I don’t see why that issue would have to come up.” Another staple bang. “It would be great publicity for you and Goldstar. Everyone likes dogs. And a story of you rescuing some…Think of all the potential clients who will know your face if it’s plastered in the papers next to a cute dog.”

  “Take the picture with the dogs, Mom.” Ana leaned forward and grabbed her shoulder. “I’ll take it with you.”

  “That wouldn’t hurt, either,” Liz said, thoughtful.

  Izzy might use animals to make a sale, but not her daughter. “Sit back, Ana. Liz, I have to go. I have another caller on the line.”

  “Of course,” she said. “Think about the dog thing. I’ll see you tomorrow.” The call clicked off, and Izzy switched back to Brad.

  “Hi. You still there?
” Maybe he’d hung up and she wouldn’t have to think about it. She liked recognition and free publicity as much as the next person, but the situation just seemed sticky, what with her B&E and her connection to Burker. Also, it was an honor she didn’t deserve, and that never sat right.

  Luck wasn’t on her side. “Yep,” he answered. “Was that your boss?”

  Izzy turned onto Mayfair Lane, where her house sat. She lived in Pineville, about a ten-minute drive from her office. Her street consisted of tidy two- and three-bedroom single-family residences. Rows of beech trees lined the sidewalks, their branches stretching overhead to form a canopy over the street. “Are you trying to strong-arm me into taking the award? Talking to my boss first wasn’t cool.”

  “Your office number is listed first on your business card. She picked up.” There was a smile in his voice. “But she seemed most enthusiastic about the award ceremony once I laid it out for her.”

  Sneaky bastard. Izzy turned into her driveway and put her SUV in park.

  “Come on down to the shelter and I can explain my idea more fully to you. And if you’re still not convinced, I’ll take you out to dinner and use a different set of persuasive skills.”

  A squeal came from the backseat. “Can we go see the dogs, Mom? Can we, can we, can we?”

  Izzy winced. Brad laughed. “That must be Ana. I didn’t realize I was on speakerphone. If you’re in your car, point it toward Forever Friends. I have lots of furry companions to introduce to your daughter.”

  Ana bounced up and down. “Turn around. Turn around. Turn around.”

  Brad joined in the chant until Izzy couldn’t take it anymore. “Enough! Ana, mind your manners. And, Brad, stop riling up my daughter.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, not sounding sorry at all. “As penance, I’ll take you both to the Pizza Pit after you visit the shelter.”