He got out and came around to the
other side of the
car, took her hands and pulled her
out. He put his arms
around her waist and kissed her
forehead. “Just for you, he
said.
“Oh, Ian. She
hugged him, unable to think of any
words eloquent enough to express her
feelings.
But he understood. She saw it in his
eyes when she
looked up at him. “Did
I tel you I love you?
Ian glanced at his watch. “Not
in the past hour or so.
“I do, she said.
“I do.
He kissed her, the gesture assuring
her of his love more
than words could. A few moments
later, he said, “I wanted
to tell you about this sooner, but I
had to make sure I
could get the building permits and
that sort of thing first.
It's been a real chal enge making
sure those two didn't spil
the beans.
She sent a teary glance toward Luke
and Lena, stil
standing by the sign, thoughtful y
giving them a moment of
privacy.
“When you two get
finished with that, Luke called
out, “we've got a
building site to show you.
Colby looked up at her husband and
smiled.
“Teenagers. They
don't know a thing about patience, do
they?
336
GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
Ian shook his head. “That
comes with age.
“And a lot of
other good things.
“And a lot of
other good things, he repeated, a not-so-
innocent look in his eyes.
With their arms around each other,
they made their way
toward the son and daughter waiting
to tel Colby al about
her very special wedding gift.
337
Thank you so very much for spending
some time with Good Guys
Love Dogs! If you enjoyed it, please
consider leaving a comment at
your favorite bookstore or on
Goodreads.com. It is so very helpful in
helping the book get in front of
other readers. I appreciate it greatly!
Just use the links below:
Amazon.com
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Wishing you a future of wonderful
reading!
Inglath
P.S. Here's a list of more stories
by me. !
Jane Austen Girl
Good Guys Love Dogs
Truths and Roses
A Gift of Grace
RITA Award Winner John Riley s Girl
A Woman With Secrets
Unfinished Business
A Woman Like Annie
The Lost Daughter of Pigeon Hollow
A Year and a Day
Novellas
Nashville: Part Two Hammer and a
Song
Nashville: Part One - Ready to
Reach!
On Angel s Wings
An Excerpt from Truths and Roses:
Prologue
New Orleans, Louisiana
he ball flew out of the
quarterback's hands,
Twhistling down the length of the
Superdome field
like a missile. A missile aimed at
Will Kincaid.
From his spot on the fifteen-yard
line, he narrowed his
gaze, willing the oncoming ball to
land in his waiting
hands. Nothing existed except this
moment. There were
no fans lunging to their feet, no
vendors hawking popcorn
and Cokes in the stands, no TV
cameras zooming in on
him. Just the knowledge that within
his reach hung the
brass ring.
The moment he'd waited for all his
life. The Super
Bowl. A single chance in which to
make his mark in
history. He could taste the victory,
feel its reassuring caress
through the sweat and grime that
covered his face. His. It
was his. Before his eyes flashed an
image of his father's
face—
340
GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
"
You'l make me proud out
there, son. Never given me reason to
be ashamed yet. I know you won't
start tonight.
Winning. Nothing else mattered.
Determination
roared up from deep inside him. He
launched himself at
the ball, reaching, reaching….
It landed solidly in his grasp, and
he catapulted
forward. A hand grabbed for his
shoulder, missed and
snatched again. He ran, flat out,
every self-doubt that had
ever plagued him pushing him down
that field. But just as
Wil 's feet crossed the line, the
safety tackled him, taking
him down, slamming him into the
unforgiving turf. His
right knee twisted and took the full
impact of his weight.
The resounding crack echoed in his
ears.
He lay there, not moving while
thousands of fans
roared their support, hero worship
for a young man who,
at twenty-nine, had reached the top
of the ladder he'd
chosen to climb. Nausea rose inside
him, swift enough to
draw a groan from his midsection.
Then the blackness
overtook him, and everything else
faded against the
backdrop of his father's unreadable
frown.
341
Chapter One
annah Jacobs had long been aware
that most of
Hthe people in Lake Perdue
considered her a
mystery. They thought it odd that a
young woman would
go months without showing her face
at a public function.
Odd that she seemed content to work
in a smal town
library week after week, month after
month, year after
year, when most of her peers had
moved away to make
their fortunes.
They didn't know that the old brick
building with its
slate roof and musty memories of the
flood of '64 suited
her. It no longer mattered that
she'd once entertained
other dreams. The library had become
her solace. Her
refuge. Books did not question or
judge. They made safe
companions.
As assistant librarian, Jenny Dudley
did not share
Hannah's passion, but she went about
her work with
singular efficiency and enthusiasm.
In the past few years,
she had become Hannah's closest
friend. But even with
342
GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
Jenny, she avoided talking about
anything personal,
preferring, instead, to discuss
topics associated with the
library—which
books had received favorable reviews in
Publishers Weekly, how many they
could order and stay
within budget.
Today, though, their conversation
did not run toward
anything so dry. Hannah would have
given a day's pay to
be arguing the merits of stocking
the shelves with extra
copies of Faulkner. Avoiding Jenny's
eyes, she reached for
the L encyclopedia and shoved the
volume into its proper
spot.
"It would do you good to get
out for a change,
Hannah, Jenny said. “A
parade would be just the thing.
You need to start living a little."
At forty-five, Jenny
followed her own advice, coming in
with a new hairstyle
every week. Keep a man guessing, she
said, convinced it
would eventual y help her find the
man she'd been
searching for in the twenty-odd
years since she'd lost her
husband.
"I don't have time today."
"Don't you ever get tired of
the same old routine?
You're here every day except Sunday.
And every night you
head straight for that old mausoleum
you call home.
You're the only person I know whose
spice cabinet is
alphabetized. Not to mention that
you've read ninety-five
percent of the books in this
library. Books and reality are
two different things, you know. What
you need, Hannah
Jacobs, is something to ruffle your
feathers a bit."
343
INGLATH COOPER
Hannah closed her eyes and rubbed a
hand across the
back of her neck. She'd heard it
before, how the romance
of spinsterhood had gone the route
of the wooden icebox.
"Jenny, don't start this
again—"
"A young woman like yourself
ought to be getting out
more."
"Jenny." The word was a
warning.
"And I can't understand why you
insist on playing
down your God-given good looks. It's
like you're trying to
hide them or something. Why on earth
don't you—"
"We've been through this
before, Jen. Please."
Jenny muttered something about the
fol y of a woman
hiding her light under a bushel,
then made a mock salute
of truce. "All right. But it's
not as if a local hero comes
home to roost every day of the
week." With a what's-this-
world-coming-to sigh of
exasperation, she urged the metal
book cart down the aisle and said,
"You real y aren't
going?"
"It's February," Hannah
said, hoping to divert Jenny's
mission. "How can you have a
parade in February?"
Jenny shrugged. "No one ever
complains about having
the Christmas parade in cold
weather. What's the
difference?"
A gust of wind caught a limb of the
pine tree outside
the front window, slapping it
against the pane. Hannah
flinched, then reached for another
book. "Parades are for
soldiers coming home, retired war
veterans, even Santa
Claus. Not football players,"
she added with a shake of her
head.
344
GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
"For goodness' sake, Hannah,
you act like Will
Kincaid's an ax murderer or
something. He won the Super
Bowl."
"And the rest of the town is
acting like he's the
messiah."
"Oh, that's hogwash. You know
he's just a local boy
made good. What's wrong with giving
him a little pat on
the back?"
"Certainly a contribution to
mankind." Hannah
aligned the row of encyclopedias in
soldier-like precision,
despite the fact that the two-thirty
school bus would drop
off a dozen or so hands to interpose
A with C and P with
Z.
"Come on. Sandy will be here
after school to work the
front desk. We could slip out for a
few minutes—"
"I have a dental appointment at
four." For all the
sorrow in her voice, she could have
been announcing her
imminent departure for Tahiti.
The corners of Jenny's mouth
puckered in a frown. "I
guess I'l go by myself, then."
Hannah didn't take the bait. "I'm
sure you'l have
plenty of company."
"Wel , then, you might just be
sorry," Jenny said,
attempting one last tack. "He's
awful y good-looking, if all
those magazine articles are anything
to judge from."
Smoothing the front of her dress,
Hannah grabbed the
remaining books from the cart,
sending her co-worker a
look that said it wouldn't have
mattered if he'd been
345
INGLATH COOPER
Adonis himself. "I need to run
a few errands before my
appointment. I'll see you in the
morning, Jenny."
Hannah slipped the last three
volumes into their
appropriate spots, then walked to
the front desk. She
opened the bottom drawer and pulled
out her purse,
humming as she went, an apparent
portrait of indifference.
346
Chapter Two
he yellow twenty-five-miles-an-hour
sign warned
Twould-be speeders of the hairpin
curve marking the
entrance into the Lake Perdue town
limits. Wil Kincaid took
note of it, then dismissed it much
the same as he'd once
dismissed his ninth-grade algebra
teacher. He knew today the
same reckless uncertainty for his
future he'd known then.
Downshifting, he sent the car
accelerating into the curve.
The new red Ferrari hugged the
pavement at wel over double
the sign's advised speed. The tires
squealed in protest before
the car hummed on, fourth gear, back
to fifth, leveling off
with a purr that was to the auto
enthusiast what
Rachmaninoff might have been to the
New York
Philharmonic patron.
Limits. Life these days revolved
around them.
Wil didn't have time for speed
limits today. He was late.
Late for this parade his father had
planned. He'd wanted
nothing more than a few weeks to
recover. A few weeks to
put body and soul back together
again. To forget about
347
INGLATH COOPER
footbal . And Grace. To convince
himself he'd done the right
thing in walking away from both of
them.
The Super Bowl. The high point of
his life. It had
shattered not only his knee, but al
sense of direction, as wel ,
leaving him with no idea of where to
go or what to do.
Not that he hadn't had his share of
wel -meaning friends
and relatives intent on showing him
the way.
Head for
Hol ywood. New York's the place
for you. Come home for a while, son.
Do not pass Go. Do not col ect
two hundred dol ars.
Despite the barrage of wel -intended
advice given him,
Wil had let Lake Perdue beckon and
win for the time being.
Wil 's father had wanted him to move
back home, an option
total y out of the question. He'd
rented a house in
Tarkington's Cove, instead. Close
enough to visit. Far enough
away to secure the space he needed.
Although, so far, physical distance
hadn't been a
deterrent for his father. John
Kincaid had stil managed to
talk Wil into sitting on some
ridiculous float and being pul ed