Flirting with Love Read Free Page B

service-dog training program, the dogs in training went to weekend puppy raisers, or foster homes, on the weekends. During that time, they went everywhere the foster families did, exposing the dogs to people, traffic, stores, and other noises and elements that weren’t available at the prison.
    The bell rang above the door as Ross and Storm entered the diner.
    “Two of my favorite boys,” Margie called from behind the counter.
    “Settle,” Ross said to Storm, in preparation for the flurry of activity that was Margie Holmes. She hurried over in her pink waitress uniform and touched Ross’s cheek. Margie had been a waitress at Trusty Diner forever, and she knew the rules about not petting service dogs, but when it came to people, Margie knew no boundaries. She hugged, petted, and squeezed as she wished.
    “You know I love you, Ross, but it kills me not to be able to love up that baby of yours.”
    “I know it does, and thank you. I’ve already got three boys who didn’t make the cut. I’d like to see Storm go to a good home.” That was only partially true. Ross loved the six-month-old black Lab as much as he loved his own pups, but truth be told, his bed was getting a little small for any more bodies. Well, other than a warm womanly one, which brought his mind back to Elisabeth. He hadn’t dated a woman in town in years. Knowing about gossip was one thing, but being the center of it was a whole other ballgame.
    Margie patted her eighties feathered hair. “Yeah, yeah. I hear ya. You here for dinner, hon?”
    “Yes, and I’m starved.” Ross climbed into a booth. “Go in,” he instructed Storm. Storm crawled under the table and lay down. “Good boy.”
    Margie brought him a tall glass of ice water and a menu. “If you could train men like that, you’d make a fortune.”
    “You do realize I’m a man, right?” He smiled up at the woman who was as much a hallmark of Trusty as the crisp mountain air.
    “Sugar, that’s something no red-blooded woman could miss.” She winked at him and then went to help another customer.
    Forty minutes later Ross stood before the cash register sated and happy, with a belly full of meat loaf and mashed potatoes and Destination Elisabeth on his mind.
    “Heard you had a pretty visitor today,” Margie said as she rang him up.
    Ross handed her his credit card. “How did you know Alice Shalmer came in to see me?”
    “Playing coy, are we?” As Margie ran his credit card through the machine, her eyes never left his. “You know I read right through that coy stuff.” She leaned in close and whispered, “She’s mighty pretty, but she’s an LA girl, Ross. Trouble with a capital T . Probably only here to sell Cora’s place, take the money from Cora’s hard work, and run.”
    “Hm.” Ross slipped his card into his wallet and tried not to let Margie’s judgment cloud his own. Margie had always been protective of Ross and his siblings. He figured it was because their father left them when Ross was only five, but he’d since learned that Margie was protective of most of the respected residents of Trusty. Even those she gossiped about could win her allegiance if they set their stories straight.
    “Have a nice evening, Margie. Dinner was delicious, as always.” He looked down at Storm, standing patiently by his side. “Let’s go.”
    Ten minutes later Ross pulled down the driveway that led to Cora’s farmette. Elisabeth’s farmette . Cora had been widowed at the age of forty-five, when her husband died of a heart attack. They didn’t have any children, and the town had rallied around her for the next twenty years. When Ross purchased the adjacent property and built his veterinary clinic and home, he too came to her aid, helping her with her animals and small repairs around the farm, checking on her during storms, and making sure she had groceries in the winter. She’d eventually hired a farmhand, and after she died, the farmhand had continued caring for the animals. Ross