In Service of Love
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Laurel Greer
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15
Chapter One
Is that dog reading?
Asher Matsuda did a double take before polishing the lenses of his glasses. Ignoring the mess of returned books in the library’s intake bin, he mentally scribbled “literate canine” on his overflowing never-thought-I’d-see-that list.
A Great Dane, its short coat almost cadet blue in color, stared intently at the shelf of books in front of him. The dog had to outweigh his handler by half. The petite blonde woman wore scrubs. One of her pale hands rested on the service vest between the dog’s shoulder blades. She dragged a finger of the other along the spines of the true crime section.
Huh. Her no-nonsense, curly bob and the serious tilt to her rosy mouth gave off the impression of a memoir reader, probably of political science or history-focused books.
But if anyone knew not to put people in boxes, it was a bisexual, male librarian with a penchant for reading romance novels and blowing out electric guitar amps. And if Asher had a dollar for every time he’d been told he’d look more at home on a football field than behind a circulation desk, he’d have enough money to fund his ten-year-old daughter’s dream of being a Supreme Court Justice. When Asher and his late husband had named her after one of their modern-day heroes, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, they hadn’t anticipated Ruth would follow her namesake’s example so damn literally.
He sneaked another peek at the towering, lanky dog and its handler, who had moved one row over into the nonfiction section. The Great Dane was now perusing the selection of WWII books as the woman played eeny meeny miney moe on the shelf above. Right around the Dewey decimal range for nineteenth-century Europe. Ha! His earlier prediction hadn’t been totally off base.
She glanced his way, catching his gaze and fixing him with a look.
Something along the lines of: stop staring, weirdo.
He sent her an apologetic smile and ducked behind the desk to pull out the wheeled book return bin. The last thing he could afford was to be known as the creepy new guy. He and Ruth had moved to town a little under a month ago, not long enough for people to have gotten to know them yet. Sutter Creek seemed inviting, and his older brother, who’d moved here himself a year ago, would never have suggested Asher follow suit had he not believed it to be safe. But Asher had been out long enough that he knew the moment people realized he was bi, not gay, it often meant an even harder road to acceptance.
He busied himself dealing with the minutiae of library work: checking books back in, processing patron requests, processing new arrivals. Shifting from a larger branch in Brooklyn to Sutter Creek, Montana’s tiny outpost, with its two-person staff, was no minor change, and he was still getting accustomed to the slower speed of small-town life. But his new position was an opportunity to essentially run a branch, a promotion that would have taken him another decade to move into in New York. He’d needed the challenge, and the raise, after being widowed.
The front doors opened and his daughter bounced in, wiping her feet on the mat. A gust of early October wind ruffled the posters pinned to the tackboard lining the wall across from the circulation desk. He’d had plenty of time to read the advertisements for community trivia night and Wing Wednesday at one of the local pubs, but hadn’t managed to explore any social options yet. Maybe now that Ruth was a month into the school year, he could look for a group of people interested in a regular jam session or a book club. He and Ruth had been welcomed warmly at the synagogue they’d started attending in Bozeman, but services were only held every second Saturday, and it was a bit of a drive. Better to make friends locally as quickly as he could, and ensure Ruth did the same.
She waved, rushing forward. “Dad, guess what!”
A canine yelp sounded from the other side of the library, between the shelves. Asher jerked his gaze from his approaching daughter to the dog, who was cowering at his person’s side. The corners of the woman’s mouth turned down and her shoulders slumped momentarily, before she straightened and motioned to the dog with an upturned hand.
“Library voice, love,” he reminded Ruth. They had a good routine going. The elementary school was only a few blocks from the library, so she came to the branch after the last bell and did homework or read until closing time. Saved a hell of a lot on after-school care costs and let him keep an eye on her, too.
She dropped her backpack on the floor and draped herself across the waist-high counter. Her feet swung, and the toes of her sneakers thunked dully on the front of the desk.
The dog whined again, and Asher winced. But he couldn’t bring himself to go full taskmaster-librarian on her. When was the last time Ruth had bounded toward him like she had just now? Before Alex’s terminal diagnosis almost two years ago? He smiled encouragingly. “Remember, quiet body, too.”
“Sorry, Dad.”
He shuffled his armful of paperbacks onto the counter and tugged on his daughter’s windblown, dark brown ponytail. People got confused as to how Ruth had Asher’s Japanese grandfather’s stick-straight hair and Alex’s bright smile. One of the easier questions he got about his family. Science, and the generosity of Alex’s cousin, who’d been their egg donor and surrogate.
He couldn’t be more thankful that Ruth had ended up with that particular dimpled grin. And it was dialed up to full wattage this afternoon.
“That looks like the face of a girl who’s happy with the topic of her science inquiry project.”
Her grin widened, future expensive orthodontic bills written all over her adorably crooked front teeth. “I am! It’s going to be epic.”
Oh man. She was solidly in tween mode, and her moments of sounding older than she was never failed to amuse him. “Black holes?”
She shook her head. “Skiing.”
He blinked at her in puzzlement and adjusted the cuffs of his dress shirt. “Say what, now? Wouldn’t that be for gym class?”
“No, Dad. The physics of it. Racing. Did you know Olympians ski between 75 and 95 miles an hour?”
He did. He also knew that avalanches moved at about the same speed, and ever since his older brother, Caleb, had been caught in one, racing down a slope had lost its shine. But then, without that avalanche, Caleb would still be in Denver, lonely and hurting. The charming Montana ski town—and the wonderful woman Caleb had fallen in love with—had provided a safe space to heal. Asher was hoping Sutter Creek would be the same for Ruth and him. The uncertainty of moving was a thousand times better than watching Ruth stare at the wall of her bedroom in the basement in his parents’ Brooklyn brownstone with tears on her apple-round cheeks.
“I get bonus marks if I can test my hypothesis,” she said.
“Hypothesis, huh? You sound like Papa.” Alex had been a high school science teacher. Damn good one, too. Ruth had been spouting four-syllable words since preschool.
Her smile wobbled. “Can I take ski lessons? Harper and Fallon said there’s a team. With competitions and everything.”
“Bit early in the season for that, honey.” He mentally added the cost of equipment rentals, passes and lessons to the ongoing tally of future orthodontia and college. Ouch. Even with his raise, going from two incomes down to one meant a strained budget. “The mountain doesn’t open for a couple of months.”
Her toes collided with the desk again, and an animal whine sounded from over near the magazines. Weren’t assistance dogs supposed to be silent unless they were alerting to something? The cute blonde owner seemed to have her hands full.
As did he, with almost five feet of precocious ten-year-old.
“I know,” Ruth insisted. “But my teacher says I can hand in that part later.”
Maybe his brother’s fiancée, who patrolled for the mountain, would be able to apply her employee discount to Ruth’s costs. Learning to ski might be affordable, but joining a racing team would be astronomical. “We’ll see, okay?”
Ruth narrowed her hazel eyes. “That means no.”
No, that meant moving across the country had dug way too far into what remained of Alex’s life insurance after paying funeral home and hospital co-pay bills. But Asher wasn’t going to lay that on his daughter’s shoulders. He knew how to stretch his salary. He also needed to make sure he wasn’t quashing her attempts to make friends, and she’d dropped the names Harper and Fallon a few times this week.
“Skiing is a big commitment, Ruthie. Why don’t we go to the community center this weekend, see if there’s an activity a little less involved? Dance, or floor hockey.”
She slid off the counter and crossed her arms over her teal fleece jacket. “You don’t feel like you’re flying when you do ballet, Dad.”
“You might. Grand jetés are pretty impressive.”
She rolled her eyes. “A ballerina would go max—” she stared into space for a second, lips moving silently “—4 miles an hour. That’s at least 70 miles slower. Not fast enough.”
He shook his head. The kid had never met a fact she didn’t love, and her inner calculator was mind-boggling at times. But the speed demon desire was new. “We’ll see.”
“Whatever.” She snatched her backpack off the ground and stomped around the desk toward the staff office behind him. “I have homework.”
She slammed the door.
The Dane howled, a mournful peal.
“Easy, Jacks.” The woman emerged from behind a shelf with the dog on a short lead, tail between his legs. Her eyes sparked with irritation.
“I’m sorry about the noise,” Asher mumbled. “I—”
But before he could finish his apology, the woman froze in her tracks. The dog nudged her ankle with his nose, and a click sounded. She took one step forward, then cried out and crumpled to the floor.
Maggie Reid lay on the floor for a few seconds, mimicking the periodic collapses of a person with Parkinson’s. The Dane was nearing the end of his training, but for his itty-bitty issue with sudden noises. Good gravy. If being at a library startled the gentle giant, she had no hope of acclimatizing him to street noise.
She sighed and rose on her elbows. At least in standing still at her side, waiting for her to use his harness to help her get off the floor, Jackson was following protocol—
“Can I help you?” A rich baritone, rent with concern, interrupted her attempt to train her charge. “I don’t want to interfere if you have everything under control, but you went down pretty hard, and—”
“I’m pretending,” she cut in.
The librarian came to a halt a few feet away from her. His almost-black brows drew together, making his glasses slide down a bit. He shoved up the thick-rimmed, navy-colored frames and rubbed his fingers along his bearded cheek. From her semiprone position, he towered over her like a freaking pine tree. Wowza. Her friend Garnet had not lied when she’d described her brother-in-law-to-be as an academic mountain man.
“Pretending?” he repeated, a faint New York accent bending the syllables. He crouched beside her. His dark jeans stretched across muscular thighs, cuffed once, showing off some really pretty brown Chelsea boots. A hint of sage drifted to her nose.
She held in an appreciative sigh. “I’m training Jackson here to be a service dog.”
The wrinkles of concern relaxed around his brown eyes. “Ah. I didn’t realize.”
She winced. “Of course, you didn’t. I’ve been training dogs for years, and most everyone in town is used to me affecting various physical needs during sessions. I should have warned you. I’m sorry.”
She grabbed the dog’s harness and mimicked the deliberate motions of a person with neurodegenerative symptoms. Once on her feet, she used the clicker to let the dog know he’d correctly completed his task, then lavished him with whispers of “good boy” and ear scratches. After nuzzling the sweet beast once more for good measure, she stuck out her hand to the librarian, who had stood while she praised the dog. “Maggie Reid.”
“Asher Matsuda,” he said, holding the books she’d dropped when she’d hit the ground. “But knowing Sutter Creek, that’s probably old information.” He took her hand in his large, warm grip. She shivered. A woman could find uses for hands like those.
“I did know your name, but because of Garnet, not town gossip,” she said. Well, because of Asher’s almost-sister-in-law and town gossip, to be specific.
“You know Garnet?”
“Yep. I’m on the search and rescue crew with her.”
“Dogs, veterinary medicine, search and rescue and—” he glanced at the instruction manuals in his hand “—cabinetry and flooring. You’re a woman of many talents.”
And a busy one. The hour she’d cleared out of her appointment schedule to work with Jackson on running errands was almost up. She glanced at the clock over the circulation desk where, a few minutes ago, she’d been trying not to stare at Asher as he’d joked around with his daughter. Up until the slamming door, that was. But that was preteens for you. “My brother’s building a dog training facility onto the back of my clinic, and we’re trying to do some of the interior finishing ourselves.”
His slow-spreading smile sent tingles skittering through her limbs. “If you have any questions, ask. I used to work construction back when I was young and naive and playing guitar didn’t pay the bills.”
Maggie bit her lip. Strap a tool belt around his waist and dirty up those jeans a bit, and yeah, she could see him wielding a hammer. She could picture him with an electric guitar slung around his broad shoulders, too. His stacked leather-and-metal bracelets would clink against the body of the instrument, cradled below his flat abs... Mmm. No. That full, groomed beard and wavy hair had to belong to an acoustic player. Ballads in a coffee shop for this guy.
Mouth suddenly dry, she swallowed. “The glamor of library science won out?”
He laughed. “That, and parenting.”
Oof, those glasses were sexy. As was a man who embraced his responsibility.
Had her dad ever talked about being a father in such an affectionate manner?
Don’t even go there, Maggie. Dating anyone, let alone a single parent, was a big no-no in her books—why start something up that would inevitably end and scar a poor kid in the process? But had she been looking for something serious, Asher Matsuda would have been an interesting candidate.
Provided he was interested in women, too. Garnet had mentioned he’d lost his husband last year.
“I should, uh, run those books through the self-checkout,” she said. “Jacks and I have to get back to work.”
He put a hand to the placket of his button-down. Her brain so wanted to read that as a hey, Maggie, look at my pecs signal. She flicked her gaze upward before she could properly evaluate the state of his chest. Wasn’t fair to check someone out who didn’t necessarily welcome the attention.
“You’ll put me out of a job,” he teased, turning on a boot heel and taking her books behind the circulation desk. He raised a brow as Jackson ambled up beside her, nose reaching the top of the counter. “Your buddy there could probably even bowl me over.”
She shook her head. “He’s well trained.”
“Minus the yelping?”
With a humph, she narrowed her eyes. “He’s just easily startled.”
Doubt crossed his face. “I—”
She slapped her library card down on the counter. The dog whimpered.
Jitters spread in Maggie’s stomach. Yeah, two-thirds of dogs failed their service training. But of the six dogs she had trained to date for an organization in Missoula, she had a perfect record. There wasn’t any official licensing process, but between Maggie and Lachlan, they had a spotless reputation, Lachlan with search and rescue dogs, Maggie with service animals. And once her brother’s expansion was up and running, he’d hire more staff and have a larger capacity.
“Seems you have your hands full with that guy,” Asher finished quietly, passing over the checked-out instruction manuals. Their hands brushed, sending a shimmer of warmth up her arm. Her breath caught and she glanced at his face to make sure he hadn’t picked up on the reaction.
His brown eyes were a little wide behind those sexy nerd glasses. Agh, he had noticed, and was no doubt trying to figure out how to let her down gently. He probably had to fend off admirers on an hourly basis. He had no way of knowing she would never count herself among them.
“Uh, Dad?” A small voice with an East Coast inflection equal to Asher’s came from over his shoulder. “I need help with—Ooh, that dog is so pretty. He’s blue.”
The girl had the awkward look of a kid who’d grown a whole lot in a short period of time. She was almost as tall as Maggie, not that five feet one was a height to aspire to. The girl rushed to her dad’s side. When her gaze fell on Jackson’s vest, her smile faded. “Oh. He’s working.”
Maggie nodded. “Thanks for noticing. It’s important not to pet him.”
“I know. One of my friends at my old Hebrew school had a dog to help him with his autism.” She bit her lip before adding hopefully, “But sometimes, I would visit his apartment and the dog got to take off his vest so I could pet him...”
“Ruthie,” Asher warned quietly.
“It’s okay,” Maggie said, unable to resist the hope in his daughter’s expression. “Maybe after Jackson finishes his training.”
If Jackson finishes his training.
The faint chime of the Episcopalian church bell marking the hour filtered through the closed front door. She grimaced. “Crud, I’m late. See you around.”
“I look forward to it.” A hint of pleasure tilted one corner of Asher’s mouth up. Good, she hadn’t crossed any lines too badly... It spread to a full-on curious smile as he continued with, “Books are due in two weeks.”
So was Jackson—in two weeks, Maggie’s brother would formally assess the Dane for suitability as a service dog.
Could she get this done in time while managing her clinic and following through on her promises to help her brother with his construction work? Anxious pressure built in her chest. Muttering her thanks and returning Asher’s casual wave, she led the dog out of the library, groaning as he cowered at the thud, thud, thud of approaching skateboard wheels on the wooden, raised sidewalk.
She raised her palm to bring him to attention. Come on, big guy. You gotta figure this out.
For his own sake, and hers.
The only thing Maggie disliked more than relationships was failure.
