Just One Wish (The Kingston Family #4.5)(4)

“All of which I’m sure you told Mrs. Frankel. If Anna would stop feeding the dog table scraps, she could have avoided needing to spend money on a special diet.”

Tara nodded. “That is the truth.” She smiled at her mother, who was a beautiful woman.

They shared the same thick brown hair that Tara wore past her shoulders and her mom had cut just above hers. Marsha Davidson, not Stillman anymore since she’d married Glenn Davidson, had gorgeous skin she took good care of with expensive creams and always wore her makeup perfect. She was warm and generous to a fault.

She loved to work whether it was necessary or not, a trait Tara had inherited. Marsha had been the receptionist at her first husband’s and Tara’s dad’s veterinary clinic in California. Gary Stillman had passed away from a heart attack right before Tara had been due to leave for college, leaving Tara and her mother devastated.

Ultimately, her mom had sold the practice that Tara was supposed to join when she’d graduated vet school. Unable to bear the painful memories and wanting to be near Tara, who’d gone to her dad’s alma mater in Manhattan, her mom had moved to New York City, too.

Once Marsha had adjusted to her new surroundings and being a widow, she’d moved to the Hamptons full-time and taken a job with Tara’s godfather, her dad’s college best friend and a veterinarian, Dr. Harry James.

Harry had become Tara’s mentor. He owned this clinic and had been there for her, helping her make vet school choices, giving her a job when she graduated, and they had an agreement. When Harry was ready to retire, Tara would buy out the clinic with the money she’d been left in trust from her mother’s sale of her father’s vet business. Her dad had left her mom well cared for with life insurance, and her mother insisted her father would have wanted Tara to use the money to open her own practice.

Losing her father had altered the course of Tara’s entire life and led to her moving across the country to settle in New York. Her mom had married Glenn Davidson, a man who treated Tara like a daughter, and she cared for him deeply. Thanks to Glenn, Tara had two stepsiblings, Amy and Connor. But being a part of the family had always made her feel disloyal to her real father. Only here, with her dog, and at the shelter where she volunteered, did Tara feel truly at home.

“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day,” her mom said. While Tara had been lost in thought, her mom had walked to the windows looking over the parking lot.

“What is it?”

“A dog in a convertible wearing sunglasses,” her mom said, laughing. “Come look!”

Tara strode over and glanced out the window, recognizing the golden dog. “Is that Bella?” she asked, narrowing her gaze. “That definitely looks like Bella Kingston. Is she on the schedule today?” Tara hadn’t seen the retriever on the list of appointments, but Sasha or Xander could have called to bring her in if the dog was sick.

“No, she’s not,” her mom said.

A man climbed out of the Corvette, a gorgeous royal blue convertible, and strode around to get the dog from the passenger seat.

“That’s definitely Bella, but that guy is not Xander.”

The man in question tried and failed to keep the sunglasses on the dog’s face and finally tossed them onto the seat. Tara couldn’t help but laugh. People and dogs were always fun to watch. This guy had a tall, lean frame and dark brown hair. Something about him seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place him. He grasped the leash and led the dog on a walk, obviously doing the smart thing before bringing the pup inside.

But before he’d walked away, he’d turned toward the building long enough for Tara to get a good look at his face. Even with aviators on his eyes, she knew.

“Oh, my God. It’s Axel,” she said, her stomach feeling like a kaleidoscope of butterflies had taken flight.

“Your Axel?” Her mother’s voice rose in excitement.

“He hasn’t been my Axel in forever.” Tara covered her churning belly with her hands.

“He’s the last guy you dated, so sue me for calling him yours.”

Tara frowned and glanced at her mom. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Well, I would.”

Tara sighed at her mother’s persistence. “I don’t tell you everything.” Not that there was anything to tell, which was why her mother’s dig hit home.

Marsha meant well and wanted her daughter happily settled, but Tara had never met a man who lived up to … well, Axel and what they’d shared. But it wasn’t like she’d chosen between school and career or a nunnery, for God’s sake.

Her mother took another glance between the horizontal blinds to get a better look.

“Cut it out,” Tara muttered.

She stepped away from the window and headed back behind the counter, gesturing for her mother to follow. Which Marsha did. Tara did not want to get caught ogling the rock-star drummer. Even if he was her ex.

She bit down on her cheek, her heart pounding hard as she waited for him to walk in. Why was Axel here with Bella? Was he helping out his bandmate and friend? Though Tara made it a point not to check out gossip or celebrity sites, she couldn’t live in this small town, especially one that emptied out after summer, and not know that Axel Forrester had joined Dash Kingston’s band and moved here. She’d just been lucky enough not to have run into him before now.