"Actually, I only keep him on his leash when he's in training, so he knows he's working.
When he can
roam free and exercise I let him. He's a working dog, but he's still a dog."
Otis was back for more affection and Cody obliged before he could think otherwise.
"He's tall. What breed is he?"
"German Shepherd. Most guide dogs are retrievers because their temperament is good and consistent. But we use shepherds, too. He's beautiful, not just his color and stand, but his personality. He's such a sweet thing."
"Now where have I heard that before?"
She chuckled and Cody had the amazing image of Lyssa's nose crinkling just slightly, the mental image of it making his head swim. He wondered how true that was.
"Don't let him scare you off," Beau called out. This time the sound of his voice was closer than it had been before he'd sat down. Terrific. Now he had to deal with his brother too.
"She's the one that brought the beast," Cody said sarcastically.
"I was talking about you and you know it." He could tell Beau had turned toward Lyssa by the change in his voice.
"Cody's been an ornery old goat since the day he was born. Never forgave Doc Masterson for swatting his behind. But we keep him around for laughs."
"At least I'm not ugly."
"Says you," Beau shot back.
"Did you have anything to do with this?"
"Lyssa? Hell no, that was all Dad's doing, but I'm glad he did. It'll be nice having some female company on the ranch again."
The smile in Beau's voice was like fingernails to a chalkboard.
"Mandy ought to appreciate that."
"Mandy is the one who introduced us. She picked Lyssa up from the airport."
"Your wife is very nice," she said, the smile in her voice so obvious that it had Cody gritting his teeth. She hadn't talked to him that way.
"Great, so everyone knows everyone now. Everyone likes everyone. Now I can leave."
Beau's sigh was more of a grunt. "Well, if it were my choice I'd haul you out to the back of the barn and beat you with a board like an old rug just for your rudeness. We were raised better than to treat our guest with so little hospitality."
"I learned from you."
"Hey, you were still getting your dirty diaper changed when I was standing up by the—"
"Enough already!"
No one answered and Cody took the few seconds of silence to calm himself.
"Sorry about that, ma'am," Beau finally said, quietly.
"Lyssa," she corrected, her voice soft and sweet as summer rain. It irked Cody to no end how the smoothness of her voice changed when talking to Beau. With him, she'd been sharp, her voice holding little of the warmth he heard now.
He supposed he deserved it. No, he had deserved it. He'd been a horse's behind earlier.
Had he been this ill-mannered with company as a child he probably would have been hauled out behind the barn for a whippin' by his old man.
Cody turned to leave, and a wave of panic smacked him square in the chest. His head began to swim when he realized he had nothing to hold on to, nothing to ground him but the vast earth beneath his feet. Somehow in the commotion of the dog, the conversation, he'd gotten himself turned around and now had no idea which direction to take back to the house.
He hated it. Hated the helplessness consuming him. Hated even more that now he was forced to swallow a baseball-sized lump of pride and ask for help.
"I need to finish up with Sweet Sassy's Smile before I can get back to the Double T.
Maybe you can talk this old bag into showing you around, Lyssa. It was nice meeting you."
"Likewise."
To Cody, Beau said, "Sassy's coming along real nice. You ought to think about coming out to see her. I can't imagine why but I think she misses you."
Cody's heart squeezed. Sweet Sassy's Smile, his four-year-old cutting horse, was his pride and joy. For two years he'd been training her every day. That is, until the accident. He'd never felt more connected to any living creature as he did when he was riding her, whether in the arena or out in the fields. It had been a long time. Too long. It hurt too much.
"You think about it." Cody could hear Beau's wide strides move along the grass, then hit the dry dirt as he walked away.
A cold ache settled inside him. He shouldn't be at war with his brother. The things they'd argued about as kids didn't matter now, and maybe they never had. But to hear Beau talking about Sassy, knowing he was enjoying the very thing that had driven Cody his whole life, tore into his soul.
Now Beau was gone and he was alone with Lyssa, the savior his father brought to the ranch to exorcise the demons from his son's soul. Or at least get him a little further than from the house to the pool.
A gust of breeze kicked up some dust and blew it his way. He had no choice, Cody
realized. Asking Lyssa for help now would be like saying yes to this ridiculous plan they all had to bring him out into the world again.
Just get it over with, he told himself sharply. He could lock himself in his room later if he wanted. Until then he could handle this much humiliation.
Before he could push the words past the prideful lump in his throat, Lyssa said, "I need to unpack my things and put out a bowl of water for Otis. If you don't mind, I would appreciate you showing me to my room."
He would have sighed with relief if he didn't catch himself. "Showing" Lyssa to her room would be easy as long as he kept up conversation and followed her to the house.
Maybe she knew that or sensed his panic. If his father had hired her, she must have been working with the blind for some time and knew he was standing there practically wetting his pants with fear. She was a smart woman for handling him when he didn't want to be handled at all and for that, a smile crept up inside him.
"After you," he said smoothly. And thank God, he couldn't see her smug smile.
# # #
Not again.
Lyssa groaned as she let the sheer curtains float back into place, unable to stand seeing Cody stretched out on that lawn chair by the pool one more second.
It was common for people to sink into depression after losing some function of their life, but for Cody Gentry, that had been allowed to go on far too long.
To start as a team, both Cody and Otis needed to be willing. Cody hadn't gotten there yet.
Not by a long shot.
In the three long days since she'd arrived at the ranch, Lyssa had seen Cody very little except for his daily jaunt out to the pool. He kept to himself in his room mostly. Any coaxing on her part only made him withdraw deeper.
From what Beau had told him, Cody had become a bit unreachable. The stubbornness and determination that had made him a hardworking man his whole life was now the demon that chained him down.
He didn't want to move on. His whole life hinged on the success of future surgery. Until then, he was in limbo.
Lyssa had to change all that. Having Mike Gentry away for the next month didn't help either. The owner and patriarch of the Silverado Ranch had left her stranded with no direction to reach the very person he'd hired her to teach. Moreover, he'd lied about Cody's willingness to participate. And then he'd left Lyssa to deal with that lie on her own.
Well, she'd deal with it all right, with some strong words to Mike Gentry as soon as she could reach him.
She slipped the leash on Otis and stroked him behind the ears the way she knew he liked it. If circumstances were different, she would have packed her bags that first day and taken Otis with her. She was certainly free to leave, but because of the agreement made between Mike Gentry and the school Otis was not.
Most of the guide dogs Lyssa trained were owned by the school, and the school continued to hold ownership even when they were placed with a handler. When a blind person no longer needed the services of their guide dog, the dog was returned to the school and placed with another handler. Extensive training went into each dog and their ability to act as guide to their handler was too invaluable to waste.
However, there were cases where a handler chose to retain ownership of a dog, which, on Mike Gentry's insistence, was the case with Otis. If Lyssa left the ranch now, she would have to leave Otis behind. All his skills, all his training would be wasted on a man who wanted nothing to do with him.
That simply wasn't an option for Lyssa.
It wasn't going to be easy for Cody. It never was when you had to try to redefine yourself.
Yeah, she'd gone through that herself when she'd regained her eyesight. What to do? So many things were now open to her when she could finally see the world in front of her face.
Kim had just graduated high school and was ready to go off to college when Lyssa
finished college and started training at the school as an apprentice. Her younger sister had been her best friend. She had other friends, sure, but there was no one like her sister. And soon after she'd finally been able to see her sister's bright smile, she'd left for college.
For three years after she'd regained her sight, Lyssa dedicated herself to the very thing that had given her independence as a child. She was finally certified as a guide dog trainer. Any other profession just didn't seem right.
She was comfortable among the dogs, working with them, training them. And yes, she was always a little sad when it was time to say goodbye. It was impossible for her to keep her love from these animals she trained. Knowing the gift these dogs gave their new owners was enough to dry her tears.
This time it would be no different. But only if she knew Otis was doing what he was meant to do.
"Come on, Otis. Time to get started."
She held on to the leash with her left hand and let Otis guide her through the house. It was important for him to become familiar with his new surroundings. It was even more important for Cody to step in and take the leash himself. She needed to wean Otis off her as soon as possible if this transfer was to be successful.
But first, she had to convince one stubborn mule to cooperate. How she was going to manage that, she didn't have a clue.
Cody sat by the pool and listened. And listened. And the fact that he knew he was listening for a bark or the sound of Lyssa's voice irritated him. He shouldn't care, but he knew he did. As much as he'd tried to avoid her these last few days, the woman had the uncanny ability to get under his skin, surprising him when he least expected it.
He couldn't hear anything but a determined group of hornets, most likely working at building a hive under the soffet. He made a mental note to talk to the ranch foreman later about having it removed.
Crossing one boot over the other, he decided he wouldn't give Lyssa the chance to catch him off guard today. He'd been fine these last months without her presence on the ranch. He'd get along just fine when she finally gave up her crusade and left him alone to deal with his life his own way.
Funny how the thought of that didn't leave him feeling as good as he'd once thought it would.
Cody was still at the pool when she made her way downstairs. Good Lord, his fear had to be higher than his boredom threshold.
Lyssa decided to take the long way around, getting Otis familiar with the house by taking him out the front door and going along the walkway to the back where Cody was sitting.
"The sun's kinda hot out today. You ought to think about putting some sunscreen on your face," she said, taking the chair on the opposite side of the heavy wrought iron table. She settled Otis next to her and pulled the sunscreen out of her pack, putting the pack on the table.
The sun was tearing down hard, though it seemed a bit cooler than it had been in days.
Still, with her fair skin, Lyssa knew the temperature could easily fool her into getting a nice burn.
"I have my hat on," he groused.
"So much for small talk."
"If you consider sunscreen small talk."
"Your father told me your face wasn't that badly burned in the accident."
"That's right. No ugly scars to frighten people away."
"All I meant is that the new skin still needs to be protected."
She scrutinized his face for a second. He still wore a dark pair of sunglasses, hiding his eyes. But even with them, she could see Cody was a handsome man when he didn't scowl. Okay, even with that undeviat-ing frown he was still handsome, with his angular jaw and rough outdoorsy good looks.
"I'm never out here long enough these days to do any damage."
She sighed nonchalantly. "Then you're lucky. Me, I burn like a lobster even in fifteen minutes of direct sunlight. My skin is way too light to handle this Texas sun."
"Get a hat," he said, his lips lifting on one side in a lopsided grin.
She chuckled. He was trying way too hard to be difficult, and she suspected part of him was having some fun poking at her, even if he wouldn't admit it.
"I don't need a hat. Not like you cowboys do anyway. I spend a lot of time training the dogs outside, but I'm not out in the fields in direct sun for long periods of time like you are."
His sunglasses protected his eyes and hid the scarring, the marbleization that most likely occurred as a result of the chemical burn. She'd seen enough burn victims to know how truly awful it could be.
"How did it happen?" she asked. Immediately, his body tensed. "We don't have to talk about it if it's too painful."
Cody's voice was low when he finally spoke. "We had a young ranch hand who got a little impatient and decided to mix a nasty cocktail of chemicals to unclog a drain. I came along just as he was done mixing his potion."
She closed her eyes imagining the horrible scene in her mind. Lye burns were
devastating. "Was he hurt badly?"
Cody bit his lip. "No. I pushed him out of the way and got the brunt of it myself."
A peculiar warmth enveloped Lyssa, making her smile. "You saved him."
"Some would see it that way."
She chuckled at his modesty. "You're a hero, Cody. He could have been killed mixing drain cleaners that way."