CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

-:- JIG -:-

As Kenzie and I were walking back into the store, I didn’t notice immediately that Kenzie had stopped. I turned just in time to see Kenzie take out the guy with the dog. In that instant, I knew what I had to do, and walking back outside, I got down on one knee and proposed. We’d talked about getting married and even some of our wedding plans, but I hadn’t formally proposed and this was just the perfect time.

Hugging and kissing her after she accepted, I felt something pushing against me. The dog was sitting beside us and leaning against our legs. The damn thing was huge and even though it looked skinny, it must have weighed the same as a Newfoundland. It was a crossbreed by the looks. You could see the dog was of mixed blood. The one thing you could say about it was that it was all one color, gray.

Watching Kenzie scratching him behind his ear, I knew right at that moment we had adopted him. She was scratching him as though she’d been doing it for years, and he was looking at her with eyes that trusted her. It was obvious no one will ever hurt her while he is around. As if he could read my thoughts, he turned his attention to me and I swear I saw him give me a chin lift.

It was so close to the bookstore’s closing time, that we ushered the remaining queue into the store so we could close the doors. Before I went in, I checked the unconscious guy for any other weapons but found none. Taking the knife, I dropped it into a nearby dumpster and left him where he lay.

Everyone pitched in to help get the bookstore back to normal, hence it didn’t take long, and then we all headed back to the clubhouse. I rode my hog while Kenzie and her new friend traveled in one of the SUVs. Once everybody had gone in, we took the dog for a walk around the compound. After marking almost every blade of grass, bush, rock, or tree, he was happy to walk beside her.

I asked Kenzie what she was going to name him, “I am going to call him ‘BigDog’.” Grinning at her obviously simple choice, I tried it out for size. Nothing... not even an ear twitch.

“You just don’t know how to speak to him,” she states, stopping and telling him to sit. She walks a few paces away, then without turning to face him, she stops and calls out, “BigDog, come.” The moment he hears her voice, his ears perk up, he goes straight to her side and sits, leaning slightly into her, as if to say, ‘I’m here, Mom’.

“Well, he might be living with us, but there’s no mistaking he’s your dog,” I comment with a smile.

Heading inside the clubhouse, I’m a little nervous that he isn’t on a leash, but Kenzie doesn’t show any sign of nerves. She walks straight to a table that Jo and Knuckles occupy and takes an end seat. BigDog sits beside her and just looks around the room, calmly appraising all these strangers. Giving him a big fuss, Kenzie tells him to go make friends, but when he just sits there, she gives him a nudge. “It’s okay, go make friends.”

He gets up and does the rounds of each table, sniffing first and then allowing them to fuss over him, but just a little. He soon finds the kitchen door and everyone waits for Meat’s reaction to the invasion of his kitchen by this huge animal. Hearing a grunt and then nothing, we take it they’re going to be friends.

Meat walks out of the kitchen with an enormous bowl of deboned raw chicken wings. Placing it by the clubhouse door, he stands there while BigDog sits looking at him, drooling. Another grunt from Meat and BigDog approaches the bowl, sniffs it, and digs in.

“Thank you, Meat,” Kenzie calls to him as he disappears back into the kitchen.

Listening to Jo tell everyone how Kenzie saved the dog from certain death and saved her security detail from being molested, or worse, plus managing the day as a whole. She paints Kenzie as a cross between a Disney princess, an Amazon warrior, and Wonder Woman.

When she tells everyone how I proposed, the club goes nuts with hoots, hollers, foot stomps, and congratulations. BigDog stops eating and goes to sit by Kenzie, watching all this bedlam with calm indifference until Rock decides he should give Kenzie a hug.

As Rock approaches, BigDog stands up, squarely in front of Kenzie, and gives Rock the eye. There isn’t a growl, snarl, or bared teeth, but Rock gets the message loud and clear and stays where he is. Kenzie tells BigDog he’s a good boy and pats his back, standing up she holds her arms out to Rock, who carefully approaches her and hugs her.

The evening passes quickly and after eating the meal Meat prepared, which saved us from cooking later when we took BigDog to his new home.

Kenzie looked tired by the time we got home and BigDog settled, although that took little doing. As soon as Kenzie sat down somewhere, he was at her feet. Watching him around her, I’m amazed at how these things can happen. It makes you wonder if there isn’t a higher power at play, sometimes.

Sunday morning and church over, I’m sitting outside waiting for the women to finish their warm-ups prior to self-defense class. Church wasn’t much today. The businesses are doing well, we don’t have any issues with anyone, and all is well with the world in general. Rock told Axel in church that he’d finally managed to get hold of Ryker and give him the info on Jessica’s high IQ. That was a bit of outstanding business that Axel spat his pacifier over in a previous church.

I’ve got BigDog sitting with me while Kenzie warms up, but I’ve told her to be aware of what he’s doing during her session. I’m not sure how he’s going to take to someone ‘attacking’ her in class. Once they’ve done warm-ups and they’re paired up, she brings her partner, this time Winter, and reintroduces her to BigDog.

When they start the class, his ears are up, and he stands watching closely. After a couple of minutes, he seems to understand that she’s not in danger and sits to watch, his ears never go down, though. My phone beeps with a message and checking I see it is Flynn.

Flynn: Can you talk?

Without bothering to text, I just ring him back.

“Hi, Jig, thanks for ringing. I want to plan a surprise visit to Kenzie. When would be a good time? We’ll be looking to stay over for a couple of nights, if that’s ok? Is any time better than another for you guys?”

“Kenzie is between jobs next week, so I guess that’s as good a time as any, or is that too short a notice?”

Flynn says something to Kayla and then says, “No, that could work out well for us. I’ll sort out the finer details and call you back once we have everything sorted. Everything okay, otherwise?”

“Everything's great here. I’ll wait until you’re here before I give you any gossip, though.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Watching the rest of the class, I see Winter giving Kenzie extra bits of coaching. They look like they’ve been friends for years and I hope they keep this up, it would be good for both of them. I hope she doesn’t wear herself out, we have to collect all her gear from the condo and move her into the cabin this afternoon. Once the training session is over, Kenzie makes a big fuss of the dog and me. I can see how this is going to work for a while, I tell her with a smile.

“I make a fuss of you in better ways than scratching behind your ear. Don’t forget that,” she purrs as she wiggles her eyebrows at me and disappears for a shower and a change of clothes.

Waiting for her in the common room, Meat brings a bowl of raw wings in for BigDog and leaves them by the door again. Waiting to be told, he sits by me drooling like a waterfall.

“Go get ‘em, boy.” He walks to the bowl and starts eating. I haven’t seen him do anything other than a sedate pace, he just seems to be so laid back. Finishing his meal, he looks at me, then the door, I guess he needs to go out. Walking down the compound with him, he stays close but still sniffs around as much as he can. Finding his spot, he squats and poops. This is when I realize two things, I need to clean up after him, damn it , and more importantly, his crap is in proportion to his size. Oh, my God...

Once again, taking advantage of a club meal, we eat and let our food settle before we head off to the condo. Kenzie has the Jeep and BigDog, while I take an SUV. Realizing that we aren’t going to get much in the Jeep with him in it, Winter offers to follow us in another of the club's SUVs.

I don’t know how she got most of the condo packed into boxes and cases, but it doesn’t take long to get it all into the vehicles. Taking a last look around, she locks it up and pops the keys in her purse.

Once back at the cabin, I help get everything unloaded and inside, most of what Kenzie has is clothing, so when the two women disappear upstairs, I leave them to it. Naturally, the dog goes with them.

Making coffee, I sit in the kitchen and reflect once more on life. Now I have my woman, a home, and a dog. Although I still have to pin Amelia down on selling me the cabin. I think I’ll get PT and TwoCents onto that. They might have more success in avoiding the fact that Amelia’s nemesis is moving in.

Kenzie’s life has also taken quite a turn when I think about it. From a single woman to engaged, although no ring yet, brother and family moved away. Moved from home town to a condo and now here. Also, let’s not forget the dog.

I hope Flynn and his family are able to visit next week. It would be an ideal time while Kenzie’s between jobs. They could spend some real quality time together. She hasn’t said much, but I can tell from the way she got upset over that phone call how much they mean to her, she’s a lot softer than people give her credit for.

Seeing a message from Web about the trike, I go out into the back garden and ring him back.

“Hey, Web, is everything okay?”

“Everything’s great, except one thing. I don’t like the color. It isn’t as good in sunlight as it is in the photos. Don’t get me wrong, the quality of the paint job is fine, no issues. It just doesn’t do justice to the lines of the trike.” Web sounds like he’s got this all figured out already, so I just jump straight in.

“Okay. I’ve got to say, I’m a little disappointed I can’t just hand it over, but what are you thinking?”

“Match it to her Jeep. That thing looks fantastic in that color, and I think you’ll kill two birds with one stone if you go that way.”

“Why two birds?” Now he has my undivided attention.

“Matching her Jeep, I don’t think she’ll see it as a trike. I believe it will change her perception of it. That being said, I also think she’ll be keener to ride it if she’s not thinking of it in that way.”

“You are a genius, Web. I like the way you think.” I’m standing here nodding my head as if I’m talking to him face-to-face. “How soon do you think it can be done?”

“Fist is going to get started on it first thing in the morning. Should be good to hand over Wednesday afternoon or, better still, Thursday morning.”

“Now that’s what I call being confident with your decision-making. I’ll speak to Grease about getting Thursday off then, unless you’ve done that as well?” I laugh at him, as it wouldn’t surprise me.

“No way. That ball’s in your court,” Web chuckles.

“Thanks for everything, buddy. Anytime I can do something for you, just ask.” Ending the call, I could almost dance with excitement.

Going back into the cabin, with a huge grin on my face, I walk straight into Kenzie and Winter as they enter the kitchen from the hall.

Looking at each other, Winter shakes her head. “Good luck with whatever he’s done. That is the biggest shit-eating grin a brother ever wears, and only when they think they’ve done something out-of-this-world clever. Which normally blows up in their face.”

Looking me up and down, Kenzie asks, “What have you done?”

Taking a few seconds to think of a good excuse as I open my mouth, but before I utter a single syllable, Kenzie and Winter both say, “Liar, liar, pants on fire...” Shit, more rubbish Star’s left in their heads.

Taking my coffee from the counter, I squeeze past BigDog, who’s sitting in the doorway, and take a seat in the living room where I can’t say anything and give the game away.