A Daughter's Homecoming

A family everyone in Lyndon Point knew. Only too well.

The shelter director’s question revealed how new he was to town. All the longtime residents knew her by sight, definitely by the picture her parents kept behind the cash register at Tony’s.

“I grew up here,” she said, “but I left for college in Ohio. Once I finished my degrees, I found a job I love in Cleveland...and so I stayed. But my family is still here.”

“Do you come back frequently?”

A blush crept up Gabi’s cheeks. “Um...well, not as often as my parents would like.”

Again, his brow rose, but he said nothing. He just studied her, and Gabi felt twitchier by the second. She wished she’d taken the time to clean up. Looking—and smelling—like she must by now from cleaning that mess of a kitchen and hugging a stray dog, he had her at a huge disadvantage. Especially since he seemed to be taking her measure, maybe judging her on even the little she’d revealed.

What would he think if he knew how conflicted she felt about life in Lyndon Point—where she was always surrounded by her big, boisterous family and measured by that yardstick? Viewed through that magnifying glass?

Gabi stiffened her spine. She’d made her choices years ago after much consideration. She had nothing to apologize for. Certainly not to some hunk who worked with a bunch of cute unwanted critters.

Just then, the critter in her arms began to wriggle. In less than a nanosecond, he bailed from her clasp. “Hey, you! Get back here.”

The scamp was no fool. He darted between the shelter director’s legs and slipped past the cracked-open door to the building’s inner workings. Gabi took off after him, embarrassment a powerful motivator. She chased her charge—temporary charge—into a large chamber where a cacophony of barks, yips and howls deafened her. She pulled up short.

A pang pierced her heart as she looked around at all the chain-link jails—well, cages, she supposed. Emotions aside, the room was lined on three walls with kennel runs, which were undeniably clean and large, but the residents still rattled the gates with the force of their efforts to escape. Or did they just want to join her, Zach and her foundling for what probably looked to them like a whole lot of hide-and-seek fun?

Oh, get a grip. Both of those thoughts were crazy. She shouldn’t project her feelings, good or bad, onto the dogs. They probably were simply excited by her unexpected presence in the building. And sure, every animal wanted to run free all the time, but it could pose a real danger to a dog out on the streets. At least here at the shelter, these guys were clean and safe.

A few kennels, however, revealed shy, skittish residents huddled in a corner. Her heart went out to them. The rowdy barking was enough to drive her nuts, so she could only imagine how these poor, scared canines felt about the constant racket. Or maybe her oversensitivity to the noise just showed she wasn’t cut out to be a dog owner, after all. Of course! That was it. The little guy she’d found would be better off in a forever home with someone else. She sighed. Somehow that didn’t comfort her much. Her stray had a quite a gift. He’d known just how to worm his way into her heart.

Setting her melancholy aside, she studied the large area, her attention lingering on the various dogs. The shelter population ranged from exquisite examples of the most popular breeds—a couple of retrievers, some shelties and cocker spaniels, a cute Pomeranian, one gorgeous blue-eyed Siberian husky—all the way to a collection of the typical mixed-breeds, whose only claim to fame was the pull they exerted on the viewer’s heart.

Gabi drew in a deep breath and caught the scent of good, strong disinfectant cleaner underlain with a hint of animal musk. The barking continued, the exuberance somewhat tempered but still begging for attention. She felt still another pang. In spite of the satisfactory conditions, these other guys still had no owner to play with and lavish love on them. Yet.

Again, yearning unfurled inside her, a longing for something just beyond her grasp. She was in no position to help these dogs any more than she could help her own stray. Which thought brought her back from her fanciful imaginings to her present dilemma. Where had the little scamp gone?

When she didn’t spot her wayward charge anywhere, Gabi spun around, plunked her fists on her hips and glared at the shelter’s director. “Don’t just stand there...er...” What was his name? “Um...Zeke—”

“It’s Zach.”

To her intense annoyance, she saw the corner of Zach’s mouth twitch as though trying to widen into a smile. Her mortification grew.

She tossed her ponytail back over her shoulder in an effort to regain the dignity she’d lost the moment she stuck her head in the refrigerator back at the restaurant. And...well, a touch of the bravado she lacked, too.

“Okay, Zach. Are you going to stand there and laugh at me, or are you going to help me find your newest—what do you call them? Residents? Guests?”

He glanced at the noisy canines with a gentle smile on his lips. The evidence of his caring touched Gabi.

“They’re our guests.” He set down the manila folder he’d carried since he’d first walked into the shelter’s waiting room and crossed his arms. “But it doesn’t look like yours wants to join the others.”

She shot Zach a rueful smile. “No, it doesn’t. And it won’t make a difference, since I don’t have much choice.”

He turned slowly, his gray eyes scanning the auditorium-sized room. “I know you said you have a lease issue, but what about your parents? Wouldn’t they like to help you out with your new friend? After all, you did say you found him behind their business.”

Gabi winced. “Any other time, I would have taken him home to Papa, but my father had a stroke four weeks ago, and his recovery has been rougher than we ever imagined. Mama’s hands are full taking care of our cranky patient, who has no intention of slowing down, no matter what the doctors say.”

“I’m sorry.”

The warmth in his expression made Gabi’s eyelids sting. She fought back the tears, knowing full well that the moment she let down her guard the floodgates would open, and then even Noah’s rainstorm would pale in comparison. She didn’t want to bawl like a baby in front of the most dynamic man she’d met in years.

“Yeah, me too. Thanks.” She took a deep breath. “Let’s see if we can catch this escape artist so I can get back to work.”

“Work?” Zach dropped down on one knee to check behind a stack of white five-gallon pails near the back of the room. “I thought you said you work in Cleveland.”

“I do, but I’m helping out at Tony’s right now. Mama hasn’t gone in since Papa had the stroke.”

He glanced over his shoulder. “No wonder you looked familiar. That picture in the restaurant is you.” He studied her for a moment, then he smiled. “So you’re the Carlinis’ Gabi. I’ve heard a lot about you. Everyone who meets your parents does.”

The blush shot straight up to her forehead. “I’m sorry they bored you with all that stuff. No matter what, I can’t get them to stop.”

“Don’t apologize.” He stood. “My mom and dad have been gone for six and eight years now, and I miss them every day. I wouldn’t mind being embarrassed by their pride every now and then, if that meant they were still around. You don’t know how lucky you are.”

Gabi braced against the shudder. Oh, yes. She knew.

Sure, she had some issues when it came to her family—fine, fine, more than some. Still, a surge of fear so intense it knotted her stomach, making it hard to breathe, and strong enough to almost bring her to her knees, had struck when Mama had called to tell her about Papa’s stroke. Her knees had remained weak and her icy hands had shivered for hours after the phone call. Gabi had never felt so vulnerable in her life.

Antonio Carlini was gruff and a tease and as Old Country as they came, but he was also a rock, her papa. In a vague, subconscious way, she’d always known her parents were getting older, but her mother’s phone call had made that reality much more real. It had shaken her that day. It still did.

But as much as she loved her folks, there were some things about their boisterous...oh...Italian-ness that made her crazy. That wasn’t anything Zach needed to know. “Thanks—again. Anyway, no sign of the beastlet over there?”

He chuckled as he stood. “None, but let’s not give up yet. He’s pretty small, and we store mountains of supplies back here. He could hide just about anywhere.”

Gabi smiled back. “And we won’t hear an informant ratting on him, will we?”

She peeked into the corner behind a neat stack of sealed tubs of antibacterial products but found no trace of her escapee. Then she heard a rustle and a crunch from the other side of the room, where fifty-pound sacks of kibble lay in a neat stack about ten high, looking much like a store display—supersize, of course.

She turned, grinned, brought a finger to her lips. “Listen.” More crunches. “I found him. Look over there, at your mountain of dog kibble sacks.”

He quirked up one corner of his mouth and pointed toward their left. “You go that way,” he said in an equally quiet voice. “I’ll go to the right. Maybe he’s so hungry he won’t hear us coming.”

Gabi grinned. “The element of surprise.”

“You got it.” Mischief twinkled in the silver-flecked gaze. “On the count of three. One, two, three...go!”

Quickly and quietly Gabi followed his command.

The munching continued. A few feet away, she slowed, matched her steps to Zach’s. The pup’s hunger appeared unabated, his burger meal notwithstanding.

With her bottom lip between her teeth, she stepped closer, hoping the fugitive didn’t make himself sick eating so much so fast. Time to retrieve him, for his own good. She mouthed, Ready?

Zach nodded. “Grab a bag—I will, too. That’ll flush him out.”

They reached at the same time, yanked two sacks of kibble out of the way. The munching stopped with a startled yip. Sharp claws scrabbled against sleek concrete floor after a second of silence. Then the filthy scrap of canine darted out from the right side of the rest of the stacked bags. Zach was ready for him.