Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

“Why are you determined to ruin my life?” Iris asked in the petulant tone Jack had, unfortunately, grown used to hearing.

“I had no idea you’d taken drama classes the first quarter of the year,” Jack said nonchalantly as he drove toward the dog shelter, refusing to let his sister see she was getting under his skin. “You really should consider getting a talent agent.”

“Hardy-har-har,” she groaned, but he caught the hint of a grin before she went back to scowling. “And you should take that stand-up act on the road.” Then she quickly added, “But I refuse to watch any of your acts. I don’t need more embarrassment. Thanksgiving may have been a week ago, but the memories will last a lifetime.”

“That’s okay,” he said, making sure his voice still sounded breezy. “I’ll stick to karaoke.”

“ Karaoke? ” she asked, swinging her head around to face him.

He’d had a feeling that would pique her interest. “Addy took me and Georgie. You should have seen Georgie singing Bruno Mars’s ‘Uptown Funk.’”

Iris started to grin, but it didn’t stick the landing. She remembered she was supposed to be mad and scowled again.

Seeing her struggle to keep the chip on her shoulder reassured him that she’d eventually come around.

“I can’t see Georgie doing that unless she was drunk. She seems uptight.”

While Iris was partially right, Jack still felt the need to defend his other sister. “Georgie’s got a lot on her mind.”

“Her wedding?” Iris scoffed.

“The brewery. It was a mess when we took over, remember? She put a lot of her own money into it, and it’s just now starting to pay most of the bills, like the payroll. A lot of people need the brewery to work—you and me included—and it’s pretty stressful.” He still felt guilty about that. He’d put a lot of pressure on her not to sell, but they never would have made it this far if she hadn’t invested the capital from the sale of her new age women’s product company into the brewery. Sure, she’d met River because of it, but she’d gone through tons of stress those first few months while he’d flown off to Chicago to deal with a different kind of stress with Iris and his mother.

Iris was quiet for several seconds, then said, “So bringing me to this dog shelter is your lame attempt to make me feel like I belong in Asheville?”

“It’s my lame attempt to help you make up for those mediocre grades.”

“I already turned in most of my college applications,” she said with a huff as she looked outside. “So there’s no point.”

“News flash—they still look at your grades for the rest of your senior year, Iris,” he said, irritation bleeding into his tone for the first time since he’d picked her up after school.

She didn’t respond.

“You like dogs, and this will be a great way to get some community service hours. And yes, I know,” he added, “you’ve already turned in most of your college applications, but like I told you, they’ll see your second quarter grades. Doing some good for the community might help offset the dip.” And they needed her applications to shine. He’d saved up a little college fund for her, but it was nowhere near enough to pay for a degree at Northwestern. If she didn’t want to take out loans she’d be paying until she was forty, she’d need a scholarship. It took grades and extracurriculars to get a scholarship. But she wouldn’t thank him for saying any of that.

Jack saw the shelter up ahead, and as he pulled into the small parking area up front, he shot Iris a glance, asking her something that had been on his mind for weeks. “What’s a harridan?”

“What?” she asked, scrunching her nose. “Why are you asking me that?”

“Because you scored a 32 on your reading ACT. So what’s a harridan?”

She pushed out a breath in exasperation. “A mean, cranky woman. A shrew. Now why do you want to know?”

He’d gathered as much, but a slow smile lifted his lips. “I read it in a magazine.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Since when do you read magazines?”

He reached for his door handle. “Since I moved to Asheville. Come on.”

He got out, telling himself he only felt eager because, for all her objections, Iris actually looked a little excited as she got out of the car. The one-story building looked like it had seen better days, but he supposed most of the money they acquired went to the animals, not into beautification.

Iris joined him and they walked in together. A man with long white hair and a neatly trimmed beard sat at the front desk, his fingers flying over the keyboard of his laptop. He glanced up and smiled. “You must be our new volunteer.”

Iris hesitated, then said, “Yeah. I’m Iris Durand.”

Jack was relieved she sounded more like herself and not the changeling she’d become upon moving to Asheville. “I’m Jack,” he said, “her brother.”

“I’m Dustin,” he said, walking around the counter. “Former volunteer turned employee.” He said this last bit proudly, as if it were a new status. “So you know anything’s possible.” He winked at Iris, who responded with a flat expression.

Jack had been told he looked like that too, when confronted with something he didn’t know how to react to. It had happened a lot in Asheville.

“Maisie asked me to let her know when you two showed up,” Dustin continued. “Why don’t you follow me?”

He led them to a door with a sign that said Kennels .

“I get to start out with the dogs?” Iris said in a hushed voice, and Jack was thrilled to hear her excitement.

He had warned her that her first day might be an orientation, that she probably would not be allowed to play with the dogs yet, but he knew how much she needed some simple enjoyment and the soul nourishment that came from doing something good. Somehow Maisie had known it too. She’d been the one to suggest it, after all.

He’d been skeptical at first, thinking that Iris would presume he was trying to pawn her off for free labor, and while she’d made a few smart-mouthed comments about child labor laws—he’d pointed out that she’d aged out of them when she turned seventeen—her objections hadn’t been too adamant. Iris had always loved animals. She’d begged their mother for a dog for years to no avail, which Jack had secretly thought was for the best given their mother’s instability. And while Iris claimed she hated everything about Asheville, he’d caught her snuggling with Tyrion on the sofa while she watched TV (always when Adalia wasn’t around, of course).

Dustin opened the door, and the noise level shot up before they even walked in. It only got louder once they did. Multiple dogs were barking at once, in several different octaves. The kennels were along one side, and the long aisle ended in a wall with multiple windows. Maisie stood close to them, giving Jack a perfect view of her as they approached.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Dustin said, then headed back to the lobby.

Maisie wore a long-sleeved T-shirt, a pair of well-worn jeans, both of which clung to every delicious curve, and navy blue rain boots. Thoughts of her unclothed curves filled his head—his fingers digging into the flesh of her ass as he pinned her to her bathroom wall. Her legs wrapped around his waist…

Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, exposing the delicate skin of her neck. Skin he remembered nipping and sucking.

Every ounce of blood in his body shot to his crotch, and he shifted uncomfortably. Not now.

But another voice insisted, She’s still interested.

He’d mulled over their interactions on Thanksgiving so many times, it was like a video clip in his mind. He only had to press play to watch it again. The way she’d touched his upper thigh at dinner, sending desire pulsing through him in a way he didn’t feel comfortable with, given how close they were to his sisters. How she’d stood so close to him after dinner, looking at him in a way that implied she’d prefer to go upstairs with him than stay for dessert. She still wanted him as much as he wanted her. Was it fair to hope she didn’t meet someone else before Iris left for college?

She was holding a garden hose and shooting a spray of water into a kennel. She seemed intent on her work, and even though it was apparent this was one of the more unglamorous jobs of running an animal shelter, he liked that she hadn’t pawned it off on someone else. Then he grinned, realizing she was probably about to.

She turned to face them, and he was once again blown away by her beauty. He’d met a lot of beautiful women, especially working as a bartender—women in slinky dresses with makeup expertly applied to accentuate their best features—but Maisie’s natural beauty captivated him in a way he scarcely understood.

“Hey,” she called out, her gaze lingering on Jack for a split second longer than necessary before she turned her full attention on Iris. “You ready to work with some dogs?”

Iris cast a glance at the empty kennel Maisie had been cleaning. “Yeah…”

Maisie laughed, and the familiarity of it did something funny to Jack’s chest. The fact that he recognized it. That he’d heard it while he had her pinned to the wall with his arms and another part of him. That it was so natural and lighthearted it made him want to hear more.

“I’m going to show you how to do this, but not today. I’m going to have you walk the dogs while I clean their kennels.” A soft smile lit up Maisie’s face. “Keeping things clean is important, but the dogs need plenty of love and attention too.”

Her gaze flicked so quickly to Jack, he almost missed it.

Maisie turned off the hose and walked to the next kennel. She grabbed a leash from a hook on the wall next to the door, then showed Iris the small whiteboard attached to the kennel gate. “These are very important. They’ll tell you the dog’s name and important information about them. This one is Pete, and you can see that he jumps up on people. Some of the boards might tell you a dog’s a biter. You steer clear of those ones, okay?”

Iris nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”

Jack checked out the large black lab, who looked like he was over fifty pounds. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of Iris dealing with a huge dog jumping on her.

“When he or another dog tries to jump up,” Maisie said, “turn your back to them as you say no. When he gets down, turn back around and reward him. We try to teach them how to obey commands like sit, stay, and heel, but we don’t always have enough volunteers to work with them regularly. It’s super helpful if the bigger dogs are somewhat trained so their owners can manage them. After you’ve been here for a while, we’ll teach you how to train them too.”

He liked that she didn’t say “if”—she treated it as an eventuality rather than a possibility. Like she understood the gleam in Iris’s eyes just as much as he did.

“How do I reward them?” Iris asked, her gaze on the lab, who was already jumping up against the cage, eager for attention.

“A pat on the head. Making sure you have a friendly pitch to your voice when you praise them. Sometimes treats, but it depends on the dog. We try to be careful with some of the overweight and elderly dogs, but we’ll teach you as we go,” Maisie said. “For now, I’ll show you how to deal with Pete.” She opened the kennel door and stepped inside.

Pete jumped up, his paws hitting Maisie in the chest and pushing her backward.

Maisie turned her back to the dog. He moved around her, trying to jump up again, but she repeated the maneuver, and Pete stayed down this time, nuzzling the side of her leg.

“Good boy!” Maisie said enthusiastically as she rubbed the top of the dog’s head. Then she looked up at Iris with a smile. “Okay, your turn.”

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Jack asked, hating to question Maisie, but the last thing he wanted was for Iris to get hurt or to have an experience that kept her from coming back.

“Are you still here, Helicopter Brother?” Maisie teased. “You can come back at five to pick her up.”

Jack’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

“Your job is done. You delivered her safe and sound,” Maisie said, then made a shooing motion. “Now it’s my turn. And not to worry. I’ll keep her safe and sound.” She shot him a mischievous grin. “Probably.”

Jack hesitated, and Maisie laughed. “She’ll be fine. I promise. Actually, don’t worry about coming back to get her. I’ve got to pick up Addy at your place for our girls’ night with Blue, so I can drop her off.”

Once again Jack hesitated, long enough for Iris to groan. “Jack.”

But it wasn’t the kind of groan she’d been making for the past month. She sounded more like the girl he’d known for seventeen years, not the pod person who’d shown up in her place.

“Okay,” Maisie said. “Off with you.”

“Okay…” He took a few steps backward, telling himself he was being ridiculous, but if he were honest with himself, he’d hoped to spend more time with Maisie. Sure, he couldn’t pursue a relationship with her now, but he still hoped there was a chance for them in the future. Was it wrong to want an excuse to see her? Was it fair to either of them?

He gave Iris a soft smile, but she was already opening Pete’s kennel to walk in. He caught Maisie’s eye instead. He had trouble reading the look she was giving him, but at least she didn’t seem pissed that he’d turned her down—or sort of turned her down—at Thanksgiving. He thought maybe she understood. And for now, maybe that was the best he could hope for.