The Best Is Yet to Come (16)

Mellie made an indiscernible sound that Hope couldn’t decipher.

“Preston must have mentioned I’ve been under the weather,” she said.

“Preston shouldn’t have done that.” Mellie didn’t appear to be the least bit happy with her husband. “I told him not to interfere, and he promised me he wouldn’t.”

“Interfere?” Hope repeated.

“My husband,” Mellie said, with an elongated sigh. “You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but he is a romantic at heart. He thinks you and Cade would make a sweet couple.”

Hope nearly laughed, and she would have if she didn’t have a sneezing fit right at that moment. Her and Cade? It was ludicrous. “Preston’s wrong,” she said, when she could manage to speak again. “Cade barely says a word to me.”

“Yes, so I heard. He doesn’t say much to anyone. But according to Preston, Cade watches you.”

Busy as she was with her duties and the extra work she put in training Shadow, Hope hadn’t noticed.

“I warned Preston to stay out of your business.”

“I’m sure he meant no harm.”

“I don’t care. A promise is a promise.”

“I see.” Hope didn’t know what else to say.

“Furthermore,” Mellie added on a sigh, “I don’t know if Cade can be trusted.”

That piqued Hope’s interest. “What makes you say that?”

Mellie paused, as if she’d said more than she should have. “Preston has a connection with Harry Milton, the VA counselor. He recommended Cade complete his community service at the shelter.”

“Community service?”

“I don’t know what his crime was,” Mellie hurried to add. “It couldn’t be a felony if his sentence was community service. It isn’t my business to be telling you this, and I apologize. I blame Preston for getting involved where he has no right to do so.”

“I…”

“I apologize on my husband’s behalf,” Mellie added. “I’ll make sure he understands he’s stepped over the line. I’m sure Cade isn’t dangerous. I’m sorry if I upset you.”

“You didn’t.”

A baby wailed in the background, and Mellie quickly made her excuses and ended the call.

Hope set aside her phone and lay back down on the sofa. She’d been bingeing a Netflix series all afternoon. Following her conversation with Mellie, the series no longer held her attention. Her head spun and refused to return to the storyline that only minutes earlier had intrigued her.

Instead, her thoughts drifted to Cade and his unexpected visit. It’d been a shock to learn his work at the shelter wasn’t driven by his desire to help the animals. He was working off court-ordered hours for some unknown offense. That gave Hope pause. It also helped explain his attitude and behavior.

While the hours he spent at the shelter hadn’t been his choice, he genuinely seemed to care. More times than she could count, Cade went the extra mile with those dogs who arrived lost or abandoned.

While she didn’t know what he had done to get on the bad side of the law, Hope wasn’t completely put off by what she’d learned. In her experience, she felt a dog could be a better judge of character than some people.

As far as she was concerned, Cade had proven himself.





Chapter 6




Hope was back at school, following her bout with the flu. Right away she knew something was up with Spencer. Several times during the two classes she had with him, she caught him smiling in her direction. Yet when she looked to Callie, the dance team leader seemed oblivious to him. Nevertheless, something was definitely up.

After her classes, Hope headed for the counseling office and noticed Spencer following behind her.

The instant she was in the door, he said, “I did it!” His eyes were bright with excitement. “I asked Callie to homecoming.”

“And Callie accepted?”

“She did.” Clearly Spencer was walking on air. “And you know what’s crazy?” he asked, much too eager to explain or to wait for Hope’s answer. “Callie was the one who approached me.”

“Callie did what?” Hope was unable to disguise her surprise.

“She has some computer problem she wants my help with. It was like fate, you know. You’d have been proud of me. After our talk, I kept thinking maybe dating Callie isn’t impossible, and then the opportunity practically landed in my lap.”

Hope wasn’t sure she trusted Callie not to break Spencer’s heart.

“We struck a deal. Callie needed my help and offered to pay me. I didn’t want her money, so I said I’d be willing to help if she went to homecoming with me.”

“And she agreed?” Clearly she had, although Hope had her suspicions.

“I don’t think she was especially eager, but a deal is a deal. She broke up with Scott, so this seemed the perfect opportunity.”

Oh dear. Hope had a bad feeling that there was more to this than Spencer was willing to admit. She rubbed her palms together, searching for the best way to respond. Callie was using Spencer, and sure as anything, the minute she got what she wanted, she’d dump him like yesterday’s garbage, although she could never tell Spencer her thoughts.