Nodding, she stood. “Wait here. I’ll put my pajamas on in the bathroom.”
Going to the bathroom, Ginny shut the door. Sliding on her black, silky pajama pants, she then buttoned the top. Removing the towel she had wrapped around her head, she brushed her still damp hair, her mind a chaotic swirl of emotions. There wasn’t anything more disheartening than knowing she made the man she loved sick to his stomach.
“This is how Gavin is feeling. It’s not about you,” she whispered to herself in the mirror.
Not bothering to put her robe back on, she carried it back to her bedroom.
“Do you want me to sit on the bed or stand?” she asked nervously.
Gavin stood up. “Just turn around where you are.”
Turning, she used her good hand to start scrunching up the back of her top.
When Ginny didn’t feel him rubbing the lotion into her skin, she knew Gavin had underestimated his ability to cope. Letting her top fall back, she turned to the side to reach her chest of drawers. “You mind if I blow-dry my hair while you work on my back?” Opening the top drawer, she took out her blow dryer. Plugging it in the socket below the light switch, she started blowing out her hair, pretending it was nothing unusual for Gavin to get started.
“I’m glad all the dogs were found,” she started talking. “Moses said he used the hamburger meat and bacon to catch them. All of them are at the vet and doing well.”
“What will happen to them? Will they be put down?”
Ginny felt his tentative touch at the hem of her top.
“Moses has offered to retrain them. They were used as bait dogs, so the owner won’t get them back. Once the court finalizes the surrender documents and Moses retrains them, he’ll find them homes or will keep them. Rocky is getting older, so Moses will probably let one of them take his spot.”
“Rocky? I haven’t seen him.”
“You wouldn’t.” Ginny tilted her head to the side to get underneath her hair as she felt her top going up in the back. “He’s one of the guard dogs that watches the property. If you had met Rocky, you would have known.”
“How many does Moses have watching the property?”
“I think six.”
“How did the loose dogs get past Moses’s dogs?”
“Because Moses is that good of a trainer. He teaches them only to attack other animals if they see them trying kill the farm animals. Unless ….”
“Unless?”
“Unless they have two legs and aren’t supposed to be on our property. Then he lets them have them for dinner.”
“I left the other night.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t see them.”
“Moses must have given them something with your scent.”
“They didn’t attack you when you came here?”
“No. I knew Moses trained them to my scent even though I was no longer in contact with them. I had left some of my clothes, so I imagine he used something from one of those.”
The cold cream touching her had her holding the dryer tighter.
“I was terrified Suki would get hit with a bullet when you fired. Did you learn to shoot in the military?”
“Viper taught me.”
Ginny turned the dryer to hit the back of her neck at the husky voice coming from behind her. “Who’s a better shot—you or Viper?”
“We’re both good.”
“Were you worried about hitting Suki?”
“Yes.”
The feel of Gavin’s fingers sliding across her back had her mind going blank.
“She’s a sweet dog.”
“My heart stopped when those two other dogs came out. Were you scared?”
“For you. I didn’t know you could run that fast. Then I didn’t think you would ever stop rolling.”
“Me neither.”
“There. That should do it.”
Ginny felt the glide of her top fall back down.
Shutting the dryer off, she turned back to Gavin. “Thanks, I appreciate your help. I hope it wasn’t too bad.”
“I’m good.” Gavin closed the cap but didn’t move away.
The sound of thunder struck outside her window, causing the windows to rattle. Ginny saw the mirror of her star chart begin to shake. Her chart was on an opposite wall of Leah’s, which remained unmoving.
Ginny saw it trembling at another crack of thunder and moved quickly, but it was too late. Ginny watched in dismay as it bounced off the wall.
Before she or Gavin could catch it, it fell down, hitting the headboard of her bed and shattering the mirror into tiny shards of glass.
The mirror wasn’t the only thing that had just been smashed. Ginny felt a terrible premonition, as if her hopes and dreams were never going to come true.
Looking down, she saw only the remnants of one lone star.
Just one … lone star.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Don’t move!” Gavin barked out when she started to leave to get a broom and dustpan, unable to contain her grief in front of him.
Ginny found herself swept up Gavin’s arms.
“Why are you crying? Did the glass cut you?”