Seeing Forever Read Free Page A

canine.
    “And the dog trainer will be arriving too, along
with the lady who handles all the paperwork.”
    Luc’s head buzzed with everything his sister was
telling him. No one had told him about a dog trainer. He’d basically been
living as a recluse since he’d left the army hospital. He barely ventured
outside because he didn’t want people staring, asking questions, or worse yet,
taking pity on him. Josie had been his only connection to the outside world.
And now four people, and a dog, would all be descending upon him in one shot.
    “Let’s get you tidied up and we’ll go downstairs,
make some coffee, and then wait for everyone to arrive.”
    She helped Luc off the bed and put her arm around
his waist.   He must have fallen asleep
after taking all the tablets and assumed he was drifting into a coma, when all
the time he was just dead on his feet. He hadn’t slept well the night before so
right now all he wanted to do was stay in his room, but he knew Josie wouldn’t
let him do it.
    His sister walked him to the door.
    “I guess you won’t need me to buy you any oranges or
orange juice for a few weeks,” she said.
    Josie definitely had inherited their mother’s dry
wit.
    ****
    Katey pulled up to the curb and checked the piece of paper where she’d written down
the address for Luc Frasier. Jake had told her to be at the house around four
o’clock. 7892, that was the number written on the mailbox, and two cars and a
truck sat in the driveway.   She’d met
Jake and Gen two months ago, but had butterflies in her stomach about meeting
Luc. She didn’t want to say or do the wrong thing.
    Glancing in the rearview mirror, she gave her
appearance one last check.
    She got out of the car and headed across the road
while sliding her tongue over her lips. They always got dry when she was
nervous. She stood on the doorstep and rang the doorbell. A dog barked. She
guessed it was Willow, and through the glass panel in the center of the front
door, she saw someone approaching.
    A middle-aged lady with red hair answered it and
smiled at her.
    “I’m guessing that you’re Katey .”
    She nodded.
    “Come on in. I’m Sadie Sutton.”
    Jake had mentioned her to Katey .
    “The lady from the dog placement
agency.”
    “Well, sort of. Oh, and before I forget … I have a
form here for you to sign. It just says that you agree to help Luc with Willow.”
    Sadie pulled it out of her pocket and also a pen
with a huge white feather on the end. Not your usual everyday writing
instrument, but nevertheless Katey took it and the
sheet of paper. She noticed that Luc had already signed his name. She scribbled
hers underneath it.
    “I think you two are going to be perfect together,”
said Sadie, taking back the pen and paper.
    “I hope so, because this is my first time doing this
sort of thing.”
    Sadie put her hand on Katey’s arm and for some strange reason she suddenly felt more relaxed about the
situation. “You’re going to do just fine. Now why don’t we go through here and
you can meet Luc.”
    Katey followed Sadie to a screened-in porch at the back of the house, where she heard
men’s voices. Willow ran straight over to her and nuzzled against her thigh.
    “Hi buddy, it’s so good to see you again.” She
scratched behind the dog’s ears.
      Jake stood,
walked over to her and gave her a hug.
    “Great to see you again, and thanks for doing this
for Luc,” he said. “Oh, and Gen sent you some peanut butter cookies.”
    “That’s nice of her. I’m supposed to be on a diet,
but I guess one or two won’t hurt.”
    “And this is my buddy Mitchell.”
    A tall, dark-haired man approached her and shook her
hand.
    “And most important, let me introduce you to Luc,”
said Jake.
    Katey followed him across the room where the best-looking man she’d ever seen sat
looking straight ahead. He had a scar above one eye, but that didn’t spoil his
looks in any way. He was broad-shouldered, and although he was sitting