Lakeside Redemption. Lisa Jordan
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What was Caleb Sullivan doing in Shelby Lake?
Although Zoe hadn’t seen Sully in ten years—not since the day he graduated from Bartlett University and headed off to the police academy—she would have recognized his smile anywhere.
Zoe pulled her pink Canine Companions baseball cap lower on her forehead and slipped her sunglasses back on her face.
Hopefully he wouldn’t recognize her.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see him. She just didn’t want him to see what she’d become. She fingered the blue-and-silver butterfly pendant hanging around her neck.
Holding hands with two little girls—his daughters, maybe—Caleb approached the Canine Companions booth centered in the middle of the park for Shelby Lake’s annual Paws in the Park event.
Leona, her boss and owner of Canine Companions, had chosen the worst possible time to take a break from manning the booth and promoting her business while Zoe tried to stay in the background by overseeing the puppies. She hated being in the public eye, on display for everyone’s personal scrutiny.
With the late-August afternoon sunshine at their backs, they stopped in front of Harper, her black-and-white border collie, who was sitting at her feet and watching the park activity. Her brother, Ian, and sister-in-law, Agnes, had given her Harper for her birthday last year.
Caleb glanced at her, then held out his hand and allowed Harper to sniff it before petting the dog’s head. The older child did the same, but the younger one clung to his leg.
Zoe studied his dark hair threaded with silver, his hazel eyes and the shadow of a beard that did little to disguise his strong jaw. His navy V-neck T-shirt hugged his chest and displayed muscled biceps. Wearing faded jeans and a pair of running shoes, he bore a slight resemblance to the lanky guy she palled around with in college. The furrows above his brows and etched lines around his eyes and mouth showed this man had experienced life.
The older girl, who appeared to be about five, chattered like a hyperactive chipmunk. Dressed in an ice cream–stained yellow T-shirt, purple tutu and lime-green rain boots, with her blond hair pulled into a ponytail, she skipped over to the makeshift play yard where the puppies jumped and tumbled over one another.
Carrying the younger girl, Sully followed her and then knelt on the ground, a grimace tightening his face as he rubbed his right thigh. He wrapped his other arm around the smaller child wearing a denim skirt and multicolored flowered shirt while they watched the puppies.
The older child pulled on his arm. “Daddy, we need a dog. Avie thinks so, too. Right, Avie?”
Ava nodded.
“A dog?” He scratched his chin. “They need to be fed and played with and walked, Ella. I won’t be able to do it all by myself.”
“We could help you. Right, Avie?”
Ava nodded again.
Ella twirled and clapped her hands together. “Yay, Daddy. We can pick out a puppy today. Right, Avie?”
A look Zoe could only describe as fear crossed over the child’s face. Her eyes ricocheted off Sully to the puppies. She buried her face in his shoulder.
He ran a finger over her cheek. “Hey, baby girl, maybe the nice lady will let you hold one of the puppies. Want me to go ask?”
She peeked out at the puppies, then at Zoe, but her older sister held no reservations. “Oh, yes, Daddy, please ask her.”
Sully laughed, a rich, mellow sound that transported her back in time to a decade ago, when life held fewer complications.
His gaze locked with Zoe’s. “Would it be possible for my daughters to hold one of the puppies?”
“Of course.” Zoe smiled and stepped through the gate. She scooped up Riley, a caramel-colored, curly-haired cockapoo with a white patch around his left eye, and carried him outside the play yard to where Sully sat with his daughters.
Riley wriggled to be free and licked her cheek with his tongue, knocking her sunglasses at an odd angle. She laughed, trying to keep the wiggling puppy from jumping out of her arms. Her hat fell off her head but caught on her ponytail. She pulled off her hat and sunglasses and dropped them on the grass as she sat cross-legged in front of the girls.
Trying not to let Sully’s penetrating stare get to her, Zoe focused on the girls and patted the grass next to her. “Want to sit by me? I’ll show you how to hold Riley.”
Ava glanced at Caleb. He nodded. “Go ahead, sweetie.”
She clung to him for a moment, then crept over to sit next to Zoe.
“Hold your hand like this.” Zoe held her hand, palm side down, in a loose fist in front of Riley’s nose. He sniffed, then licked the backs of her fingers. “Riley will smell your scent and get to know you.”
Ava mimicked Zoe’s gesture with her tiny hand. Riley sniffed her fingers, then stroked them with his tongue. She giggled and wiped her hand on her shirt.
Zoe placed the puppy on Ava’s lap and positioned her small arms around Riley so she could hold him without hurting herself or the puppy. A smile lit up Ava’s face.
Ella plopped down next to her sister and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “You’re doing great, Avie. You like him?”
Ava nodded, but remained quiet.
Sully pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the girls. Then he looked at Zoe. “Is Riley available for adoption?”
“Riley is a recent addition to our shelter.” She reached behind her to grab a brochure off the booth and handed it to him. “This talks about our adoption policy, Mr....?”
Of course she knew his name, but since he didn’t seem to recognize her, she wasn’t going to let on she knew who he was.
“Sorry.” He held out a hand. “Sullivan. Caleb Sullivan.” His gaze zeroed in on her butterfly necklace. “That necklace...I’ve seen it before.” Still holding her hand, his eyes searched her face as if shuffling through his memory bank for some sense of recognition. Then a slow smile spread across his face, revealing even, white teeth. “Zoe. Zoe James. It’s been a long time.”
Pulling her hand out of his warm, firm grip, she nodded, then focused her attention on the girls. She patted the grass beside her, feeling for her sunglasses and hat.
Did Sully know what she had become? Where she’d been? If he did, he hadn’t let on. If he didn’t, she was sure he’d want nothing to do with her once he learned about her past.
Apparently their friendship had meant a lot more to her than it had him. After his graduation from Bartlett University, he had packed his dinged Toyota, hugged her goodbye and never looked back. Not a single letter or email.
She’d heard through the grapevine he had married Valerie Fergus, who had graduated with him. What Caleb ever saw in that woman, Zoe would never know. From the moment Caleb started tutoring Zoe in algebra, Valerie had gone out of her way to give Zoe a hard time.
Were they still married?
She glanced at his hand. No ring, but that didn’t mean anything. She’d learned long ago not to assume, given her own circumstances.
Sully moved next to her and stretched out his legs, blocking any attempt to stand and run. “How’s life been treating you?”
How did she answer his polite attempt at conversation? An ache pulsed in the pit of her stomach. She fingered the butterfly pendant.
Life treated her the way she deserved.
“Fine.” The trite words mocked her. She was anything