“A Great Dane and a Labrador.”
“Marshall and Darcy.”
He’d listened to her and remembered the names of her childhood dogs. The thought warmed her heart. “That’s right. But I don’t remember having so much paraphernalia for them. Maybe things were simpler back then.”
He grinned at her. “Or maybe your parents handled that side of dog ownership.”
“True.” She smiled back. “So have you had a dog?”
“Most of my life.” He threw Frank a quick greeting before starting the car again. “Dogs make life better.”
She waited while he pulled out into traffic, thinking his words through. There was a gaping hole. “Why didn’t you have one already, then?”
He shrugged like it was no big deal. “I was coming and going on deployment, and Melissa said she wasn’t interested in looking after a dog while I was gone.”
“But you’ve been divo
rced for almost two years, and, more to the point, you’re not in the military anymore.” She turned in her seat a little to see his profile better. “You’re not coming and going.”
“I hadn’t thought about it,” he said as he smoothly changed lanes to overtake a slower car.
She didn’t believe that for a second. Even if he hadn’t considered it, which was unlikely given his reaction to Frank and his comment about dogs making life better, the conversation in the diner with Ellie would have prompted thoughts about a pet dog. There was something else.
“Truth?” she said softly.
He blew out a long breath and rolled his shoulders back. “I guess I didn’t think I was in a fit state to take on any big responsibilities.”
“But you have,” she said, laying a hand over her stomach. “You’ve taken responsibility for these babies. You didn’t have to—you had several chances to bow out. But you stepped up.”
He was quiet for a few minutes, until they stopped at a red light. Then he turned to her, brows drawn together. “Before that day Malcolm called and told me you were pregnant, I was basically a hermit.” His voice was like gravel, his gaze serious. “The babies and our situation have forced me out of hiding. Prodded me back into the world.”
“Are you glad?” she asked, thinking about the discussion she’d had with Sophie and Emily the day before. “Not about the babies, I mean, but are you glad that you’ve been pushed back into the world?”
He speared the fingers of one hand through his hair. “I think so, but truthfully, I don’t know.” The light changed to green. His attention returned to the road, and he eased down on the accelerator. “All I know for sure is that I’m pleased you and the babies are in my life, and you three are all tied up in the package of me being out in the world.”
She slid her hand over and let it rest on his thigh, offering wordless support.
He seemed to give himself an internal shake, then when he spoke again, his voice was brighter. “Hey, you know who’s going to be the most excited about Frank?”
“Ellie,” she said, unable to stop the smile as she imagined the little girl’s face. “She’ll be thrilled.”
He laid a hand over Harper’s on his thigh. “Seriously, though,” he said, and his Adam’s apple bobbed down, then up. “I am glad.”
She knew he was talking about her and the babies again, and her heart clenched tight. She turned her hand over so they were palm to palm. “Me too,” she whispered.
Less than an hour later they were home, Nick’s stir-fry was sizzling on the stove and Frank had settled on his new bed, his belly full. He’d sniffed around the yard a little, peed on a plant, then explored a few rooms in the house before curling up in his bed with a sigh. He obviously didn’t have high expectations of this place, but then, he wouldn’t think of it as his own home yet—he was probably still waiting on his original owner to come back for him.
But he was keeping his gaze on Nick in the kitchen. It could have been because of the food, but Harper was hopeful it was more than that. That they were bonding already.
She wandered over to the stove. “This smells great. Anything I can do to help?”
“Not really,” Nick said. “I’m not sure what sort of food you like, so I just grabbed some things from the grocery store today.”
She looked into the sizzling pan. “This is exactly my kind of food. But you’re right. We should go shopping together when we get a chance so we can see what we both like.”
He considered her for a moment, his expression serious. “We’ve been trying to cover big-picture stuff, but I guess there’s still a lot of day-to-day stuff to learn about each other.”
She laid a hand over her stomach and glanced from Frank to Nick. “I think we’re doing pretty well. We just need to keep moving forward and not let the big stuff overwhelm us.”