Caleb (The K9 Files Book 11) by Dale Mayer (sneezy the snowman read aloud TXT) 📕

whether he was willing to or not—because they didn’t need that extra stress in their life right now. But, if they could do this one small thing, then she felt they needed to do just that for the healing of the family; his family. She hadn’t realized all the ins and outs of his relationship with Sarah, but obviously some things Sarah had definitely shielded Laysha from. Now that she heard his side, she didn’t really want to see the witch either.

With a shake of her head, she headed upstairs. She saw him going through room by room, but he shrugged and said, “It looks clear of footprints. Must have been dry enough before he got here.”

“Good,” she said, “we need to buff it with the light sander.”

He nodded. “I can get started in this room,” he said. “I’ll sand with the buffing machine. Give it a smoothing out so it’ll take the next coat. I won’t overdo it.”

So, with him sanding, she came behind him with a very damp cloth to wipe up the dust, and then, once one room was done, she sat down and put a new layer of finish on the floor. By the time she was done in the first guest bedroom, he was in the second guest room. So she followed him again, washed off the sandpaper dust, dried the floor, and then refinished that room. The hallway was finished pretty fast. It took about two and a half hours before they were done. Then she rolled over, sat on the top stair to look behind her and said, “I wasn’t thinking ahead,” she said. “I didn’t grab a nighty or anything or my toothbrush for the night.”

“Does it matter for tonight?” he asked gently.

“No, it doesn’t,” she said, “and I’m too tired to think right now.” She made her way down the stairs, to her temporary bed in the living room for her. She smiled up at him. “If I didn’t thank you for setting this up yesterday, thank you,” she said.

“We’re both tired. We’re both a little stressed,” he said. “So let’s get a good night’s sleep and get through the wedding tomorrow.”

“I hear you,” she said. “For a moment there, I wondered if we should be going.”

“I’ve been wondering nothing but,” he said. “However, I think it would be good to go and do the duty and let everybody know that we’re okay.”

“You mean, that you and he are okay. I don’t know how you can ever be okay with your ex-wife again.”

“I don’t plan on being okay with her,” he said. “Obviously my brother and I won’t be visiting because that would involve her.”

She nodded slowly. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Me too,” he said, “but you know what? Choices were made, and actions done, and, somewhere along the line, I’m the one left holding the bag, trying to recuperate. But thankfully I don’t think that’s an issue anymore.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” she said. She walked into the small guest half bath, wishing she could have had a shower, but the only full bathrooms were upstairs, and she couldn’t walk on the newly sealed floors for several more hours. She quickly washed up, as much as she could, and then headed to the living room, where she stripped down to her T-shirt and panties and curled under the covers.

“This is like old times,” he murmured from his room, the door open, and their beds lined up perfectly to see each other.

She rolled over to see him in his bed, lying on the covers, just in his boxers. “Almost,” she said, “we definitely camped out enough times.”

“I recall a time when your boyfriend broke up with you, and you needed somebody’s shoulder to cry on,” he said.

She winced at that. “Wow, that’s a memory I’d like to just ignore,” she said, chuckling. “You know something? We’ve never really looked at each other as partner material because we’ve spent a lot of time helping each other getting over other breakups.”

“I know,” he said. “I was thinking about that too.”

“Still, it’s all good,” She stretched out and said, “It’s hard to believe just how tired I am.”

“A good night’s sleep,” he said, “will get us through the stress of tomorrow, and then we’ll get back on track.”

“It is midnight already,” she said. “We don’t have too many hours left for sleep.”

“I know. Showers in the morning, the wedding and all that good stuff,” he said, “but maybe by noon—twelve hours from now—it could be over.”

She snorted. “Don’t you wish?” That was the last thing on her mind, as she crashed.

Caleb waited until Laysha was asleep, and then he slipped out of bed and headed out to the backyard, where he studied the layout of the land. Graynor was at his side, always watchful, always wary. “You hear it too, don’t you, buddy?”

The dog wagged his tail. “Yeah, somebody’s out there. Somebody’s watching. Somebody’s always, always watching. The question is, why and how does this relate to anything.”

Was it tied to the house where they’d been at with the dead body? Was it the War Dog? Or was it something that Laysha had done on her own that had pissed off somebody? She did work for lawyers, and, as much as she said that wasn’t a dangerous job, if anybody wanted to get back at somebody, it wasn’t too hard to follow them from work directly to home. And lawyers were often the ones who were targeted. Would Laysha, as a paralegal in the office, be enough for a disgruntled client? Who knew? People were ten bucks short of a load sometimes when it came to clear thinking. The bottom line was, he didn’t trust that she was safe, and he was out here to make sure that she was.

Caleb, Graynor by his side, wandered the property, looking from all angles to see if he’d overlooked anything. It was a wonderful place, with a creek at the far back corner. A place to