Spock stared at Tyler for a moment, cocking his head as if he were trying really, really hard to understand English. Tyler nodded encouragingly at him, but Spock just wagged his tail.
“Spock, you had this a minute ago!” Tyler took a breath and then repeated the phrase. Spock just wagged his tail harder.
“Fine, we'll do it your way,” Tyler conceded. He held the stick like a weapon and pointed it at Spock. “Pew, pew! You're dead!”
Spock promptly fell to his side and rolled up onto his back, sticking his legs up in the air and holding perfectly still. I giggled as Tyler completed the act with a long, “NOOOO” and ran to the dog's side. It would have been perfect, except Spock's tail started to wag as soon as Tyler touched him. Actually, that made it even better.
Logan and I applauded as Tyler and Spock took sitting positions before us in the sand.
“Even better than what I had in mind,” Logan congratulated him. “I'm really impressed you taught him so fast.”
“He's really smart,” Tyler said with a grin as he hugged the dog to him. “Do you have any other ideas for tricks?”
“Teach him how to fetch your mom's slippers,” I advised. “Possibly how to make coffee. It will make her like him more.”
“I've got a couple more ideas if you want. How about tomorrow, we get together and I'll show you some of them?” Logan offered. Tyler eagerly nodded.
I thought about discouraging this friendship. Tyler was only going to get hurt when the billionaire decided that playing with kids wasn't his speed, but the fact that Tyler was excited and talking to another human being, besides his mother and me, was too good to make him stop.
I hoped that Logan understood the importance of what he was doing. Tyler hadn't spoken this much to anyone recently, and it was Logan's influence that was encouraging him. He never would have interacted with Izzy last night if Logan hadn't given him the vote of confidence earlier in the day.
Logan had made him a hero and was now making him worthy of plans. I just hoped that he wouldn't let Tyler down as much as Tyler's father had.
“Okay, so I'll see Tyler tomorrow at ten,” Logan said to Tyler and then grinned at me. “And I'll see you tonight at seven.”
“Sounds good!” Tyler agreed. Spock wagged his tail. I nodded.
“Excellent.” Logan flashed us one last smile before turning to head back toward the resort. He walked with a pep in his step I hadn't seen before as the wind plastered his shirt against his back. I shook my head as I tryed to figure him out. He seemed legitimately excited about dinner tonight. I wondered just what he had planned. The resort had boasted several romantic excursion opportunities.
A gust of wind drove handfuls of sand into my bare legs. The waves out on the ocean had gotten rougher, and whitecaps crested with each swell. The storm was officially moving in, and the previously calm waters were now growing agitated.
“Come on, Tyler, we should head inside,” I said, offering him my hand to get up. He took it, and I pulled him to standing. Another gale of wind came off of the ocean, lowering the temperature and making sand flurries in the air. “Let's go get cleaned up and have some lunch.”
Tyler wiped some sand from the front of his shirt and did his best to brush most of the sticky, white grit from Spock. Even then, they were still incredibly dirty. “You think we'll be able to find a place to put Spock for the night? I don't want him out here in this.”
“I'm sure if we ask the hotel, they'll have an idea. If nothing else, we'll sneak him into the garage or something,” I assured him. Tyler nodded, and together the three of us headed back to the resort and out of the wind.
Chapter 11
“I have to run to the bathroom real quick,” I told Tyler as we approached the resort’s main building. “If you want, you can talk to the concierge and see if she knows a place where Spock can stay the night.”
Tyler's brows pinched together slightly. He hated talking to strangers. “Okay.”
I hurried across the lobby, fairly sure that he wasn't going to talk to the concierge. Tyler was incredibly shy. He had trouble answering the door for pizza, let alone talking to the hotel concierge. My sigh echoed off the marble surfaces in the bathroom. I quickly finished and washed my hands, prepping the mental speech to convince the concierge to help us find a place for Spock.
When I came out of the bathroom, I didn't see Tyler or Spock in the lobby. Glancing outside, I didn’t see them there either, but the wind was picking up. I wondered if the storm was swinging further South than expected.
“Are you looking for Tyler and his dog?” the concierge asked, coming up behind me. I turned quickly to see a petite woman of Asian heritage smiling at me. She wore the resort’s dark blue uniform and I recognized her as the usual person behind the concierge desk.
“Yes, I am, actually,” I replied. “Where are they?”
“Tyler is getting the dog comfortable in one of the storage areas. We aren't using it right now and it's out of the storm,” she explained. “I can show you to them, if you'll follow me.”
She motioned behind the main desk toward a door I hadn't noticed before. She opened it and I stepped into a well-lit cement hallway.
“Where does this go?” I asked, glancing around as she continued on.. There were other corridors connecting to the main one, each junction marked with a map. It smelled like rain and wet cement the further in we went.
“All over the resort. This one connects the main building with the laundry facilities and storage. There are other tunnels that connect the kitchens, restaurants, and other maintenance buildings. They were all built specifically to adjoin everything in case of a hurricane, but we use them to move things around without having to bother guests.” She turned at a yellow marker. “Here we are.”