Second Chance Soldier Read online

  Too soon, she thought again. As she turned, she caught Evan’s eye briefly…and believed she saw in his look a hint of concern, or maybe sympathy, which suggested she wasn’t imagining things.

  If only she could be more like Evan and cultivate more of a relationship with dogs than with people.

  *

  It had gone well. Or so Evan believed. It was all he could do to keep himself from grinning and patting himself on the back.

  As the students and their dogs got ready to depart, he said goodbye and arranged for the next class with this group for the following week. It would be early evening then, since they’d all chosen this time to meet their new instructor as soon as they could, but it wasn’t the most convenient for them. They each had jobs of their own.

  Then they all got their dogs to heel and moved forward on the rolling lawn toward the gate—and every one of them, Aaron included, did it well. Even the dogs appeared happy, tails wagging and heads turning as they walked to look up at their owners.

  Evan began looking for Amber. Maybe she would be the one to pat him on the back, and the idea sounded good, especially if it consisted of a real pat on his back with her hands. He quickly spotted her just down the lawn from him. She was also watching the class leave…or was she? As he followed her gaze he noticed that she was looking at Sonya. Amber’s mom stood there, not alone with Lola, but also with the neighbor, Nathan.

  His initial reaction was to smile toward the ground as he and Bear walked toward Amber, up the hill. Sonya might have plans for dinner that night. Maybe he could eat with Amber again. It could become a habit, their sharing many meals to discuss dog training and more…

  Before he reached Amber, though, she began walking toward the gate. He couldn’t quite read her expression but she didn’t look thrilled.

  He shut the gate behind them and watched the class members leave in their cars. Another car, Nathan’s, soon followed, after the neighbor said a brief hello and goodbye to Amber and him as Evan joined them on the driveway.

  As it turned out, Nathan and Sonya weren’t having dinner together, but Sonya and Amber were. They didn’t invite him, so he didn’t ask.

  No reason for him to feel so disappointed. They were his employers. Eating together wasn’t part of his job.

  Plus, he had brought more than lunch meat home with him from the grocery store. He wouldn’t starve that night, nor for breakfast the next morning since they weren’t getting together again then, either.

  But what Amber and he did discuss briefly was that they’d meet again tomorrow fairly early in the lawn’s smaller fenced-in area.

  It was time for him not just to demonstrate with them, but to dig in and begin training the three shepherd puppies with the preliminaries they needed to know to eventually become K-9s.

  Which was a good thing. He’d feel even more comfortable doing that than training owners how to work with their pets. It was what he knew best. And it didn’t involve other people.

  Although…well, he remembered his idea about patting himself on the back.

  He’d done well, after all. But he should do even better tomorrow.

  Chapter 8

  They were in the living room with the TV tuned to the national news. Lola was lying on an area rug that covered the hardwood floor between where Amber sat on the sofa and Sonya occupied the nearby gray upholstered chair. The dog, black nose in the air, clearly hoped that one of them, or maybe both, would drop some tuna casserole or salad on the floor so she could eat it.

  Amber couldn’t pay attention to the news. She felt too frustrated. Her mother clearly had something on her mind. She’d cooked a meal that included one of Amber’s favorite dishes from childhood but hadn’t allowed her daughter to help prepare it. Nor would she talk while cooking. “We’ll chat later,” she said when Amber attempted to start a conversation.

  It was later now. But Sonya seemed glued to the news commentator’s rundown of a store robbery in the Bay Area, where the owner’s ten-year-old son helped to stop the bad guys. Kind of sweet, but it wasn’t what was occupying Amber’s mind.

  That afternoon was. And—

  Her mother suddenly reached out with the TV control and turned the sound off, then stared at Amber. “You wanted to talk,” her mom said.

  “Well…yes.” But Amber wasn’t quite sure how to start this conversation, how to ask about the amount of time her mom suddenly seemed to be spending with their neighbor. It probably meant nothing more than that Nathan was a nice man. He’d lived around Chance longer than her family, and his hotel and resort facilities seemed to be doing well. Maybe he was an advocate for the area and its residents, someone who tried to ensure his friends and acquaintances were as happy as possible.

  As far as Amber knew, he wasn’t married. He might be taking advantage of this situation, the idea of propinquity bringing him next door more than he should. “I noticed that Nathan came by again today,” she began, taking a bite of casserole to appear casual.

  “Yes…and, well, I wanted to talk to you about that, too.”

  Uh-oh. Was her mother going to admit she was attracted to the man? How could she be, so soon after her husband’s death? Amber knew her parents had had a wonderful relationship, loving and caring and…well, enviable.

  And why did Evan’s face superimpose itself on the TV screen as Amber’s imagination went into overdrive? She had just recently met the guy, and though she needed to get to know him better, the only emotions that should be involved had to do with saving her family’s reputation and ranch—nothing at all resembling what her parents had had.

  “He does seem nice,” Amber ventured, to keep the conversation going. “But we really don’t know him very well. I’d be careful about getting too friendly with him.” Although her mom knew him better than she did. Perhaps they’d become friends after Amber moved away, while her father was still alive. Maybe her dad and Nathan had been buddies.

  Or not. Amber couldn’t help considering everyone she met around here as possible suspects in her dad’s murder, though she’d no reason to think it was Nathan.

  And even if the former was the case, Amber hoped her mother wasn’t putting herself in a situation where she’d be hurt in another way. The death of her husband was surely more than enough for now.

  “Maybe, but the thing is, he does appear to be a wonderful businessman,” Sonya said. “He’s mentioned to me how he approves employees for his hotel, and supervises his staff in charge of hiring. He checks into applicants’ backgrounds and skills and, well, while he watched your training class with me this afternoon he pointed out possible problems with Evan and how he does his new job.”

  Oh. That was none of Nathan’s concern, or it shouldn’t be. Still…well, Amber had been in merchandise distribution before with the Ever Fitting clothing company, not human resources. She believed Evan was the person they needed to keep the K-9 Ranch going, but—“What problems?”

  “Evan’s dog skills seem fine,” her mother said hurriedly, “but his people skills… We already talked a little about his PTSD but I guess it’s obvious to more than just us.”

  “I thought he did fine with our students. Aaron needed a little disapproval, or at least some instruction in how best to get poor Baxter to obey commands without hurting him. Evan demonstrated how to do that.”

  “Right, but—Well, I just hope it got Aaron to change his ways without hurting his dog any more. Evan might have been too nice to the guy.”

  “But he singled him out, showed him how to do it right,” Amber protested.

  “Was that enough? And there was something going on also when Julie seemed to ask a question and Evan got all…well, uncomfortable. She looked concerned for a while. We didn’t know what was going on, but you were right there.” She looked expectantly toward Amber.

  She’d been a little concerned about that, too. Julie had asked Evan to do something out of the routine he’d anticipated, like coming up right away with a new command to teach them. He had definitely seeme
d uncomfortable.

  But he also promised to do that kind of thing in future classes. It wasn’t enough reason, not even combined with his way of quietly criticizing Aaron, to think he wasn’t the right guy for the job.

  Although she realized she might be biased. After all, she had chosen him from among other candidates.

  And the fact she had started feeling a little attracted to him—Well, that was irrelevant.

  She looked Sonya in her concerned brown eyes—something Evan was unlikely to do—and said, “I understand what you’re saying and will keep it in mind while I supervise Evan. And learn what I can from him, too. Maybe even work with him on that book idea, about how Dad trained dogs and taught other potential trainers. If things don’t work out, I may wind up being the head instructor, or I can hire someone else—though I really think Evan will be fine.” She made herself smile at her mother.

  Sonya’s expression still looked troubled. “Maybe. Well…let me know if I can help. I think it’ll be better if I don’t let Nathan come around while classes are going on. He’s not particularly into dogs and their training, so he may not be the best of judges. But—” She seemed to hesitate as she took a final bite of her tuna.

  “But what?” Amber prompted in as lighthearted a tone as she could.

  “But Nathan is so nice, and kind… And successful. He told me earlier how well things are going at his resort, that his property is the perfect size for him to keep expanding his hotel and related facilities. But he also said that if things don’t go well here he doesn’t want us to suffer any more than necessary. He told me to let him know if we need help, and if so he would even try to work things out to buy our property for a good price so we wouldn’t have to keep an unsuccessful business going.”

  Yeah, and offer her mother a job there? Her, too? Otherwise, they would probably leave town, Amber thought. Then what would happen to the apparent relationship with Sonya that guy seemed to be after?

  Maybe it would be a good thing after all…

  But what he described simply wasn’t going to happen. They would be successful. She would make it happen. And she genuinely believed Evan would be an essential part.

  “That’s nice of him,” she said, forcing herself not to show any emotion. “But if the subject comes up again, please let him know I’m sure we’ll be here for a long time to come.”

  *

  It was getting late. Evan had enjoyed his dinner alone with Bear, or so he’d told himself. That was how he’d spent most evenings for a long time before moving here. He was used to it. He had all the company he needed.

  Never mind that he avoided glancing out the window toward the main house.

  “We’re better off on our own,” he told Bear now as he washed his dinner dish and other things he had used in the metal kitchen sink. “Less stress.” But as much as that phrase had helped him in the recent past, he felt less concerned about such things now. Sure there was a bit of stress in what he was doing, but the results would definitely be worth it. His most recent goal in the military—as opposed to when he was just concerned with surviving and healing—and in the work he had done afterward had been training dogs. He’d been schooled in it. Loved it.

  And that was what he was doing here…thanks to Amber.

  Too bad he couldn’t just turn to her at the dinner table now and thank her again…

  For dinner this evening he’d thawed a frozen meal that he’d bought. Bear’s healthy canned dog food had looked more appealing. Yet he refused to use the idea of not liking what he’d had available for dinner as an excuse to go see Amber.

  He had instead used the opportunity to go over in his mind what he’d accomplished that afternoon with the four students and their dogs. It had worked well. Some minor glitches, sure. But he would be prepared for Aaron’s unnecessary forcefulness, and Julie’s extra training ideas, next time. And he could incorporate what he’d learned as he took on additional students, since Amber clearly wanted him to start other classes.

  Best of all, tomorrow he would work with those future K-9 puppies of Amber’s again, and demonstrate to her how that kind of training was done.

  He finished, putting his dish, flatware and a glass in the drying rack. Now, he could stay here, get on his laptop, or watch TV, or…

  “It’s time for a walk,” he told Bear, who sat near him on the kitchen floor. His shepherd perked up immediately. Bear recognized a lot of words, and “walk” was among his favorites. He stood and began slowly circling Evan, who laughed. “Okay, let’s do it.”

  Because he didn’t know the kinds of creatures who might also be out after dark on this ranch, or other kinds of distractions that could cause Bear to react, he decided to leash him despite what a well-behaved dog he was.

  Besides, one of Evan’s excuses to himself was that he wanted to approach the main house and check to see if his young canine students of tomorrow might be outside, possibly being walked by Amber or even just fenced in for their final nighttime outing.

  He had no intention of knocking on the door if they didn’t happen to be out, though. He had no reason to believe that Amber or her mother were in any kind of trouble that night or in dire need of talking with him.

  No—no genuine excuses other than that Bear and he needed an outing. Although if he happened to see Amber outside with any of the dogs, he would be happy to say good-night to her.

  Evan pulled on a gray sweatshirt though the May night wasn’t too chilly. “Let’s go, boy.” Bear bounded toward him and Evan fastened the leash onto his collar. After he’d flicked on the outside light above the front door, they exited onto the front stoop. He looked around. A pole light he had noticed before was lit at the top of the main house’s driveway, strong enough to provide a little illumination even this far away.

  Tugging slightly on Bear’s leash, he headed in that direction along the narrow walkway. He heard nothing except his footsteps on the paving and Bear’s on dried leaves beside it, the distant motor of a plane and…was that an owl?

  But he didn’t hear Amber’s voice talking to any of her dogs. His idea of possibly running into her seemed unlikely. It still wouldn’t hurt for Bear and him to circle the house as part of their outing. He didn’t have to mention it to Amber as his concerned way of ensuring their safety.

  They passed the other houses along this row. There were no lights on inside or outside of Orrin’s place, so the ranch hand must have gone to bed. They neared the main house, and Bear stopped walking and assumed the position he took while on duty as a K-9 when alerting because there was a potential bad guy ahead.

  Evan stopped, too. He bent and whispered, “Good boy,” without knowing what was on Bear’s mind, but he trusted his dog. He rose and stood perfectly still, listening.

  But he heard nothing more than he had before.

  Bear’s attention appeared riveted toward the back of the main house. Evan gave the hand signal to move, then slowly, quietly, he walked with his dog in that direction.

  He saw a dim light, as if from a flashlight, behind the house. It was moving.

  Damn. He wasn’t armed—nor had he been since his return to the States. He needed to remain as stealthy as possible, sneak around to see who it was.

  It might just be Amber walking around her backyard, with or without a dog. But if it was her, or her mother, why use a flashlight rather than turning on the house lighting? Or why not stay in the front, which was already illuminated from a light on a pole?

  If it was Orrin, still awake, he’d surely have had his lights on.

  Evan gave the motion to Bear to heel, not saying the word this time. He moved stealthily toward the house, intending to stay close, in its shadow, as much as possible. He just hoped Lola wasn’t a good enough watchdog to sense them and start barking. The pups, even if they barked, probably did so enough that they wouldn’t alarm the human occupants.

  His shoulder nearly against the wall, he listened while continuing to move slowly but with determination. When he reached the
corner, he motioned for Bear to stop and sit. Then, as carefully as he could, he peered around toward the back of the house.

  He had walked there before with Amber, in daylight, on a brief tour of the property. Along with the driveway to the garage, this area consisted of another lawn not connected with the large, fenced expanse. It contained a garden, where flowers struggled to bloom this spring. Amber had also said she was growing tomatoes and other vegetables, but it was too early in the season for them.

  None of that was relevant now. Whoever was there stood right behind the building, the flashlight indicating he—or she—was walking slowly toward Evan.

  What should he do? He saw no weapon in the person’s hands but that didn’t mean he wasn’t armed.

  Nor did it mean he hadn’t armed some kind of explosive nearby, perhaps against the house. But Bear was an explosives-detection dog and he hadn’t reacted, so that was highly unlikely—and just Evan’s military mind at work.

  He motioned for Bear to stay, although he was prepared to give his dog a verbal command to attack. He pulled his phone from his pocket, and as he turned on its light he strode from behind the wall.

  “Hi,” he said in a normal tone of voice. “So who besides me is sneaking around this house?”

  He heard a gasp, and the person stopped. Evan shone his phone light onto his face.

  It was the most logical person to be out here: Orrin. But why was he sneaking around, and at this hour?

  Chapter 9

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Orrin demanded, aiming his flashlight toward Evan.

  “I was going to ask you the same thing,” he said calmly, stepping from the shadows with Bear at his side. He reached down to unhook his dog’s leash, not a threatening gesture but it would hopefully keep this guy from doing anything foolish—unless he wanted a seventy-five-pound German shepherd attacking him. “Do you prowl in the dark around the ranch a lot?”

  “Yes, if you really want to know.” Orrin, dressed in black, approached Evan, though he kept his gaze down on Bear. “I’m sure you heard that the owner, Corbin, was murdered, right here on the ranch.”