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you, but I can’t let you buy these for me. You have my word of honor; I will come back another time and buy them myself.”
    Instead of taking the rope, he snapped the collar onto the end of it, leaving it dangling from her hand, and then turned and began searching the colorful bags with pictures of dogs on them.
    Fiona eyed the display of leashes and collars, calculating her chances of hanging hers on the hook and running out of the store before he could catch her.
    But then what? She couldn’t just abandon Gabriella.
    “Come on,” Johnnie said, hefting a large bag onto his shoulder and heading back up the aisle. “Jason and I will give you and your friend a ride home.”
    “But I thought you had to go get your father,” she said, rushing after him like an obedient child. But she was not getting into his vehicle. “We can walk home; it’s just a short distance.”
    He tossed the bag onto the counter, took the leash and collar out of her hand and tossed them down, then pulled the money out of his pocket that Gabriella had given him. “There’s no way you can carry a forty-pound bag of dog food all the way to Huntsman’s house,” he said, pulling one of the fifty-dollar bills free and handing it to the woman behind the counter. “We’ll drop you ladies off on the way, and then I’ll return tonight and bring you Misnutch’s papers,” he said, this time at least trying to pronounce the name correctly.
    “How’s your daddy doing, Johnnie?” the woman behind the counter asked as she ran first the collar and then the leash in front of a machine that gave a soft beep each time. She took a small device and pointed it at the bottom of the bag, causing the machine to beep again. “I heard he fell off the roof.”
    “He busted his leg in three places, but Jason and I are bringing him home this afternoon.” He smiled crookedly. “I guess that’ll teach me to do stuff when Mom asks. I told her I’d stop in and clean that chimney first chance I got, but could my old man wait? Oh, nooo, he had to climb up there and do it himself, thinking he’s still thirty goddamn years old.”
    The woman scrunched up her nose. “When I went home last Saturday, I caught my father standing on a ladder washing the second-story windows.” She snorted. “Not that he’d know they were dirty, since his cataracts are so thick his eyes look white.” The woman smiled at Fiona. “Who’s your friend, Johnnie?”
    “This is Fiona Gregor. She’s new in town.”
    The woman’s eyes widened. “You related to Kenzie Gregor?”
    “He’s my brother,” Fiona told her.
    Instead of handing Johnnie his change, the woman used the money to fan her face as she sighed. “They sure as hell don’t make men like that anymore,” she said. Her eyes took on a sparkle. “But if they did, I guarantee I’d be the first one in line.”
    Johnnie plucked the money out of her hand. “I believe your husband might have something to say to that,” he muttered. He shoved the money into his pocket, handed Fiona the leash and collar, hefted the dog food over his shoulder again, and, after a nod at the woman, headed for the door. “It’s a good thing I’m driving my mother’s car,” he said, stepping through the automatic door. “We’d have been a bit crowded in my pickup. There’s Jason and your friend. Come on.”
    Again like an obedient child—or even worse, an adoring puppy —Fiona rushed after him, silently vowing that if she and Gabriella somehow managed to get home in one piece, she would never again put her friend in such danger.

Chapter Four

     
    T race pulled into the Shop ’n Save parking lot and realized his horrible day was about to get even worse when he spotted Fiona Gregor and Gabriella Killkenny—two obviously very lost souls—standing next to Johnnie and Jason Dempster. Jason was holding a large bag of dog food and talking to Gabriella, who was looking up at him with what could only be described as rapt attention. Johnnie