Hot Sauce (Suncoast Society #26)(33)

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Exactly.”

Was possibly fooling around with a couple of handsome guys who had been close to her brother any weirder than that?

Not even close.





Chapter Thirteen


Lyle parked behind her car in the driveway. He recognized Basco’s car parked there as well and fought back a wistful pang of emotion.

Of course Vanessa still had his car. She said she hadn’t been able to really go through his things yet, and he didn’t blame her. It was too soon.

She didn’t live in a bad neighborhood, but the thought of her walking her dog alone this late at night didn’t settle well with him. He shut off the engine and got out before she’d even emerged from the passenger side of her car. He hurried to open her door for her and help her out.

“Thank you guys for this,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

Inside, he heard a dog’s bark.

“Is that Carlo?” he asked.

She took her keys from Reed, who’d hit the button on the key fob to lock the doors. “Yes, that’s him.”

“Mind if we meet him?” Lyle asked. “And, seriously, we’d like to stick around and make sure everything’s okay before we leave. We’ll help you walk him. Or walk him for you.”

She cocked her head at him, apparently studying him. “Tony—Basco said that he should have taken it as a sign when Carlo didn’t like Kelly. His ex.”

She smiled, and despite the sadness there, Lyle caught a glimpse of how beautiful she must look in better times. “Yeah, maybe you should meet him now. Let’s see if you pass the test. Let me get the alarm shut off first.”

Leading them up the front walk, she unlocked the door and slipped in, closing it behind her, followed by the distinctive beep of an alarm being deactivated. They heard her talking to the dog, whose barks had turned into happy-sounding whines.

Then she opened the door again, holding onto the dog’s collar as she stepped out of the way so they could come in. It was dark inside, but she reached up and hit a light switch that turned on lights in the foyer.

“Sorry. I’m used to where everything is.” Once they had the door closed behind them, she released Carlo’s collar. “Carlo, this is Reed and Lyle.”

The dog had the head and ears of a cocker spaniel, and the buff-colored coat, but he also had longer legs and a lankier build than Lyle was used to seeing, as well as an undocked tail. As soon as she released the dog he rushed over to them, not quite all the way, stretching his head and neck out toward them, his tail falling still.

The men held still as the dog sniffed them, then finally started wagging his tail as he rushed all the way in and started begging for attention.

“Did we pass?” Lyle asked as he knelt to pet the dog.

She leaned against the wall. “Apparently. If he doesn’t like someone, or is scared by them, he’ll spook, turn, and run to his crate.”

At that, the dog turned and ran off.

“Uh-oh,” Reed said.

“No, this is good,” she assured them. “Just wait.”

The dog returned seconds later, mumbling at them around the large stuffed animal in his mouth, his tail still wagging, so hard that his butt was wagging, too. He charged at them, mumbling, jabbing his nose at them but then ducking away when they reached for him.

She laughed. “He’s bringing you one of his talky-wubbies.”

“Talky-wubbies?” Lyle asked.

“That’s what Tony called them,” she said, not correcting herself this time, Lyle noticed. “He only does that mumbling thing when he’s got one of his wubbies in his mouth. The game is you try to take it from him, but you don’t actually take it. Just make him think you’re going to try to take it.”

“Ah.” Lyle reached out, and the dog playfully ducked away from him, play-bowing at him and mumbling even more loudly and forcefully at him.

“Just like that,” she said.

“What is he?” Reed asked, also making a half-hearted swipe with his hand at the dog’s toy.

“He’s part cocker and part something. His mother was a pure-bred cocker spaniel show dog who had a wild party afternoon in the backyard, apparently, when one of the owner’s teenagers let her out when she was in heat and didn’t stay with her and bring her right back in. A male dog got into the backyard and had some fun before they could stop him.”

“How’d your brother end up with him?” Reed asked.

“He belonged to a friend of Tony’s who had to move overseas unexpectedly for work and couldn’t take him. Broke the guy’s heart, and he didn’t want to take him to a shelter when none of his family could take him. Carlo was only six months old. So Tony adopted him.”

“He hated your brother’s ex, huh?” Lyle asked, taking another turn reaching for the toy and laughing at the dog’s delighted reaction.

“With a passion. Tony said when she got home from work that night, she went to go pet him and Carlo growled at her and ran. They thought maybe he was just shy because of the new surroundings, or upset because of the move. His previous owner had him from when he was eight weeks old. But he never liked Kelly, and the feeling quickly became mutual. Carlo only tolerated her when Tony wasn’t home.”