Page 35 of Worth the Fall

“He did that all by himself?” she asked, her eyes as wide as saucers, as if this was news to her.

“I think he might have had a little help, but your uncle is extremely talented.”

A dog I’d never seen before suddenly bounded toward us, his paws scraping against the side of my SUV as he jumped to see inside the windows.

“Jasper!” I heard Patrick shout from somewhere I couldn’t see.

The dog ignored my brother and kept hopping on my car.

“Wait in here,” I told Clara before opening my door and stepping out, hoping his nails hadn’t scratched the shit out of the paint.

“What is this?” I asked, staring from the dog to my brother, who now had the dog reined in by the collar.

Patrick narrowed his eyes. “You see, brother, this is what we humans call a dog. A dog is a pet. A pet is—” he started to explain like a sarcastic ass, but Clarabel opened her door and hopped out of the car even though I’d asked her to wait.

She folded her hands together as she beamed at the scruffy mutt.

“Is this your dog, Uncle Patrick? What’s his name? Is he a boy? Can I pet him? Will he bite me? Where’d he come from? Oh my gosh, he’s so cute.” She fired off a million questions the way only children and women seemed to be able to do, and Patrick laughed.

“He won’t hurt you, but here.” He took her hand in his and helped her pet the dog’s head. “This is Jasper. Jasper, this is our best girl, Clara. We don’t hurt Clara. We only love her.”

The dog looked at him, his tail wagging, before Patrick finally let him go, giving him free rein to do as he pleased. Jasper took off running into the field, and I shot my brother a look as Clara watched him go with stars in her eyes.

“Is that what you wanted to show us? Some mutt you picked up from God knows where?”

He shrugged. “Well, yeah. I just brought him home from the vet and figured he should meet the family.”

I glanced at the watch on my wrist and wondered what was taking Matthew so long to arrive. He shouldn’t have been far behind myself and Clara.

“So, you wanted us to come over so we could meet this dog? But you didn’t want to show us this incredible home that you’d built?” I asked as I looked around at the finished product, taking it all in and ignoring whatever look Patrick was currently shooting in my direction.

The log home had been stained and treated since the last time I’d seen it. The plastic around the windows was long gone, and the trim was painted a soft yellow that shouldn’t have worked, but somehow did. Barn door shutters framed some of the windows, but not all. And I could see furniture sitting on the giant upper deck from where we stood on the ground floor. In a word, my brother had truly built something spectacular.

“I’m kind of more excited about the dog,” Patrick said matter-of-factly, and I decided not to analyze whatever that comment meant.

Maybe a dog was exactly what my brother needed so he wouldn’t be alone out here with all of his thoughts and aching heart.

The grumbling sound of a truck coming up the drive had us all turning around to see Matthew pulling in.

“What took him so long?” Patrick asked at the same time that I commented, “Finally.”

Matthew was waving like a lunatic from the from seat of his lifted truck as he parked next to my SUV and cut the engine.

Where was Jasper now? How come the little shit only jumped all over my car?

“Hey, everyone,” Matthew said with a giant grin as Clara ran straight for his open arms. “Sorry I’m late. I was, uh, helping a neighbor.” He sounded like he was hiding something.

“Uncle Patrick got a dog!” Clara shouted, and Matthew threw his head back in disbelief.

“Is that so?” Matthew took turns giving us each a look.

“Listen, this dog was hanging out at the resort. I’d seen him a few times, but whenever I tried to get close to him, he’d run. I left some food out for him one night, and when I got to work the next day, he was sitting in front of the wedding barn. Like he was waiting for me to get there.”

It was kind of a sweet story.

“Then, what happened?” Clarabel asked, completely invested in the meet-cute between my brother and his new best friend.

He walked over and booped her nose, making her giggle and shake in Matthew’s arms. “Then, he wouldn’t leave. He followed me around all day. So, I figured I’d take him to the vet and see if he belonged to anyone.”