Warm Nights in Magnolia Bay Babette Jongh (best romance ebooks .txt) 📖

the driveway, backpack in hand. Wolf sat about ten feet away from him. “Hey, Dad,” Sean called. “Watch what he does.”

As Sean took steps toward the right side of the driveway, Wolf moved to the right and crouched, elbows to the ground and butt in the air. When Sean went to the left, Wolf did the same. When Sean walked toward Wolf, he backed up, always keeping the same distance between them.

“What’s he doing?” Quinn asked. “Is he guarding the house? Keeping Sean from coming closer?”

“No,” Abby said. “He’s just playing. See how he puts his elbows down and his backside up? It’s called a play bow.”

“I don’t care what you call it; it looks like a challenge to me.”

Abby had to admit that the dog was sending mixed signals. “Wolf,” she called, making kissing noises. “Come here, puppy.”

“Wolf!” Quinn commanded, striding forward and clapping his hands. “Move, dog!”

Wolf didn’t move.

Georgia ran up to Sean and jumped at his legs. He picked her up, and she licked his face. Under the spell of Georgia’s calming presence, Wolf’s body language changed from playful yet intimidating to a calmer vibe. His plume of a tail swayed side to side, and he walked up to Sean and sat in front of him. Tongue hanging out in a doggy smile, he waited for Sean to bend down and pet him.

“Sean, no.” Quinn’s long strides had brought him nearly even with Sean, but too late to keep the boy from kneeling and putting his hand on Wolf’s neck. Georgia hopped out of his arms, circling the boy and the bigger dog with excitement.

“Quinn, it’s fine,” Abby called out. The last thing Wolf needed was for Quinn to scare him away at this critical moment when he willingly solicited human touch. She pushed the scooter over the gravel, but the uneven surface was more uncooperative than it had ever been. “Let them be.”

Quinn glanced at Abby and stopped moving. It was clear that he was ready to spring forward if need be, but at least he was giving her opinion the benefit of the doubt—kind of a big deal considering the situation. Wolf’s plumy tail swayed back and forth as Sean stroked his fur. Then the big dog gave Sean’s face a big, wet swipe of his long tongue. Sean fell back onto his butt, laughing. “Quit it!”

Wolf didn’t quit; he walked right over the boy’s prone form and licked him even more, with Georgia joining in. Sean wrapped his arms around Wolf’s neck and rolled. Then both dogs and Sean were wrestling on the dusty gravel driveway, with Sean giggling like a girl and both dogs’ tails wagging with glee.

Quinn stood over them, hands on hips. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

Abby caught up with the crowd and linked arms with Quinn. “After all the hours I’ve spent courting that elusive dog, he does this.” Her feelings were a little hurt, but at the same time, a warmed-honey flood of gratitude and happiness overflowed her heart and flooded her entire body.

Quinn shrugged. “I guess he likes kids best.”

A cloud of dust rose up from the driveway where the happy trio played together. Sean’s dark hair was turning gray from the dust, and so were his jeans. “I’ll have to wash his clothes while we’re eating dinner. I don’t want his mother to get mad at us for ruining his clothes. Do you have something he can change into?”

Quinn snaked an arm around her waist. “Yeah, I’ll find something.”

Sean sat up and hugged Wolf, who laid his chin on Sean’s shoulder and looked for all the world as if he was hugging back. Satisfied with her good work of successfully introducing Sean and Wolf, Georgia came back to Abby and hopped onto the scooter’s seat. Abby moved her knee to the very edge of the seat to make room and fondled Georgia’s ears. “You always know just what to do, don’t you, girl?”

Georgia looked up and grinned. Abby heard in her mind, clear as a bell, Yes, I do.

* * *

After Sean left that evening in the small, loud car without a top, Wolf lazed in the dappled sunlight that filtered through the cat’s-claw vines. He sighed with repletion, not from a full belly, but from a full heart. He had missed playing with his kids, even more than he’d realized until he had the chance to do it again with the little Quinn whose name he later learned was Sean.

When he saw the boy get out of the car, he had slunk behind him at first, but then Sean noticed him and clapped a hand on his thigh to call Wolf to him. Not trusting, Wolf hadn’t come at first. But when the boy started to walk on, Wolf found that he couldn’t let him go. He realized in that moment that he needed to play. He needed to connect with a human who was still young enough to play, but more important, someone who wouldn’t try to trap him. He didn’t know how he knew that about Sean, but he did. The boy’s energy wasn’t as tight or controlling as either Quinn’s or Abby’s.

So instead of letting the boy walk away, Wolf had run around in front of him and done a play bow to show what he wanted. And he did want to play! But then when the boy came closer, Wolf got scared and backed off. They did that dance for a while, the dance of coming close and then backing away, until Georgia came outside and helped everyone to relax—even Quinn and Abby, who had rushed outside, too, determined to interfere. But Georgia hadn’t let them. She had, as usual, taken charge of the situation. She had given Wolf a great gift, one of many.

Then the grown-ups got tired of watching Sean play with Wolf and Georgia, and they both said some words that made Sean stand up and follow them inside. The boy invited Wolf to come, too, and Georgia hopped around