The Perfect Match

Rowena hoped for some defiance, some fight to flare in the little girl. Instead, any spark in Charlie was snuffed out. Charlie was surrendering. Rowena could see it in the child’s eyes. Anger surged through her. “If you’ve got too many things inked into your precious schedule to give Charlie what she needs, then maybe you’d better reconsider your priorities, Deputy!”

“No!” Charlie exclaimed, looking from Rowena to her father in dismay. “No, it’s okay, Rowena. Daddy’s right.”

“No, he’s not!” Rowena exclaimed, feeling the little girl’s desperate need. Knowing in her bones that Clancy could heal her.

Cash Lawless’ lip curled. “Let’s get this straight once and for all, Dr. Doolittle. The day I take that dog into my home is the day they haul me off to the insane asylum and lock me up. What the hell?” He gave a bitter laugh. “Maybe I should let them. Sometimes a quiet cell might be a relief.”

“No!” Mac cried, suddenly tearful, her clinging arms all but cutting off the deputy’s windpipe. “Daddy, no! Don’t go to the ’sane asylum! You promised you’d never go ’way!”

Lawless flinched as if the girl had slapped him. Even Charlie looked ice-white, stricken, though she didn’t say a word.

“I’m sorry, button,” Lawless soothed, obviously appalled at his children’s distress. He tamped down his anger at Rowena to comfort his little ones instead. He stroked a curl back from his daughter’s cheek with a tenderness that surprised Rowena, confused her. “I’m not going anywhere, Mac. It was just a—a figure of speech. A grownup way of saying no.”

“Well, it’s a really bad way!” Mac plumped out a quivering bottom lip.

“It sure is, if it makes you cry. I won’t do it again.”

“Pinkie swear?” Mac demanded, holding out her tiny finger.

Lawless hooked his long, strong masculine finger with his daughter’s. “Pinkie swear,” he repeated, a sheepish flush spreading up his throat as he slanted a glance at Rowena. She didn’t want to feel touched by his gesture. Didn’t want to like him even a little.

Tears welled up in Charlie’s eyes, rolled down the silent little girl’s cheeks to plop on Clancy’s fur. There was something horrible in the resignation on the child’s face. Rowena fought back tears of her own. The child’s heart was breaking. Rowena could see it.

Lawless held out his other hand to Charlie. “Come on, cupcake. Better get a move on or we’ll be late.”

“Late? Again?” Rowena grumbled. “If being late is more important than taking a little time with your daughter, to—to—”

“To what?”

“To soften this for her. To explain…”

Charlie was losing Clancy once and for all and the little girl knew it.

Fury bubbled up in Rowena. “Is your precious appointment schedule more important than taking time to pay attention to your daughter’s needs?”

The deputy’s jaw hardened, his eyes black ice. “Don’t you dare tell me how to run my family! Look at you. Telling impressionable kids you can talk to animals when anyone with a brain knows that’s a bald-faced lie. If that’s how you get your kicks, lady, there’s nothing I can do about it. But tell your bullshit fairy tales to someone else’s kids. Not mine. Got it, Ms. Brown?”

Rowena stared at him, stunned at the rage in his face, the bitterness, an almost…hopeless edge.

Clancy’s worried gaze flickered between the two grownups. He whined piteously.

“Don’t yell!” Charlie cried. “You’re scaring him!”

Cash fell silent. Rowena’s throat closed, aching for the little girl as Charlie turned back to the Newfoundland, stroked him lovingly.

“Don’t be sad,” Charlie pleaded, giving the Newfie one last hug. Clancy looked up at the little girl, his eyes mournful as if he understood her every word. “Maybe Rowena was wrong,” she tried to reassure him. “Maybe you’ve been waiting your whole life for some other girl to love. Maybe you’ll be so happy you won’t even remember me. Maybe…” Her voice choked. Lawless stepped forward, took her hand.

“We’ve got to go, Charlie.” He drew her gently away. Then he leveled Rowena a glare filled with loathing and blame. “Looks like you and that dog have exactly the same M.O., Ms. Brown, bashing around in places you don’t belong. Maybe next time you’ll think about the damage you could do before you go interfering in a child’s life. Unless you like breaking kids’ hearts as much as Destroyer likes breaking china.”

“I didn’t…I mean I don’t…” Rowena stammered, unable to shake the sick feeling the deputy was right. Why hadn’t she listened to the warning in her head? Why hadn’t she been more careful? Waited until she could be sure Charlie’s father would welcome the dog into his home?

Because she’d been so certain this time. She would have wagered her shop, her last dime, her own life that Charlie Lawless and the Newfoundland were a match made in heaven. But now the little girl looked as if she’d been through hell. What use was this “gift” Auntie Maeve had given Rowena if it could make such a painful mistake?

“How could I have been so wrong?” she murmured to herself as she watched Cash Lawless and his daughters disappear beyond the pet shop door.

The Newfie tugged at his collar, looking up at Rowena as if he were sure she would chase after them. As if she could fix things. Make things right.

But she couldn’t mend the damage she’d done to Charlie Lawless anymore than she could make Miss Marigold’s teapots whole. This must be some kind of record, even for you, Rowena chastened herself grimly. Two mistakes impossible to mend. Two broken hearts in a matter of days.

Maybe more, a voice inside her whispered. She couldn’t help but wonder if Charlie had been the only Lawless she’d hurt moments ago. Had she bruised Cash Lawless’s heart, as well?

Absurd. The man didn’t have a heart if he could turn his back on the love in his daughter’s eyes when she looked at Clancy, her desperate need for everything the dog could bring into her life. The dog would always be there when the little girl needed him, would love her even if she made the mistakes Charlie was so afraid of.

Clancy nudged the door with his big head, bulldozed past Rowena to run after Charlie. But it was too late. Through the shop’s big front window Rowena could see Cash Lawless’s forest-green SUV pull away.

Clancy scratched at the door, whining. Did even the Newfoundland sense that he’d just lost his chance to be the magical dog she’d known from the first he could be?

She thought of Charlie Lawless with her tidal-wave-proof watch and little Mac in her sparkly raincoat with the unicorn on its front. And the deputy, their father, with his blasted appointments and his stubborn loathing of the dog that could bring his daughters such joy.

She wanted to hate him, and yet…he’d seemed so strong, so gentle, when he’d tried to soothe his daughters’ fears. Solid in a way that surprised Rowena.

She hadn’t expected that kind of tenderness. Not from Cash Lawless. Not when he was so angry, so harried, obviously so upset.

You promised you’d never go ’way… Mac’s cry echoed through Rowena, wringing her heart.

So somebody had left the little girls. Their mother? Rowena couldn’t help but wonder. But why? Death? Divorce? No, not divorce.

No woman would leave those beautiful girls by choice. If Miss Marigold was still speaking to Rowena, Rowena could just slip through the gate and ask her. Those bug eyes beneath the lenses of her cat’s eye glasses had a knack for ferreting out top secret information the CIA would envy. The old woman was a more reliable source than the library archives when it came to unearthing town gossip. But Miss Marigold would welcome Attila the Hun and his barbarian hordes into her beloved tea shop before she would Rowena.

Clancy scrabbled at the door and whined again.

So, now what are you going to do? Rowena asked herself. Sit down and cry? What good will that do Charlie and Clancy? You didn’t go into this business to give up. Just think of all the matches you’ve made over time. How many people refused to believe you knew what was best for them where a pet was concerned. What makes this time any different?

Cash Lawless.

There was something about the deputy that unnerved her. Irritated her. Confused her. Made her feel restless inside, the way she did when her intuition hit the ‘on’ switch, hard. But just because the man rattled her nerves was no reason to give up.

“Damned if Cash Lawless is going to make a quitter out of me!” she resolved aloud. “I have to make this happen. For Charlie. For Clancy.” She grimaced wryly. “So I can get some sleep.”

Because she wouldn’t be sleeping anytime soon, now that she’d made that perfect match—it would churn inside her, keep her awake. Until she settled Clancy in that house it would make her half crazy—

Only half crazy? Deputy Lawless mocked in her mind. Lady, you’d rate certifiable in any psych test I can name.

Terrific, Rowena thought. Now I’ve got him talking in my head, as well. As if Bryony and Ariel and Mom and Auntie Maeve weren’t enough.

Don’t be fobbing me off, you cheeky lass, the old Irishwoman’s voice whispered in Rowena’s memory. It’s important work I’ve given you to do. Rowena’s palm tingled with cold, as if she could still feel the imprint of the tin whistle her godmother had pressed into her hand. No one else in the wide world but you can do the task you’ve been given. This pipe, Cuchullain’s own, holds the power to charm all broken creatures’ hearts.

“But what about my heart?” Rowena sank to her knees and hugged Clancy tight, sudden loneliness wrapping around her. She found so many ways for other people to give love. Had put so many pets in other people’s arms. She’d never once found one her gift told her was destined to fill her own.