Love Is the Best Medicine Read Online Free

warning, urging him to drive on.
    “Nothing,” said Ben. “Let’s go up a bit farther.”
    Two hundred yards farther down the road Ben caught sight of something moving in his high beams. He slowed down, believing it to be a wild animal, but the proverbial deer in his headlights was actually a woman bundled into a heavy winter coat and woolen ski hat, attached to a pair of snorting pugs on retractable leashes. Hecouldn’t tell whether the woman was more embarrassed to be caught picking up “Tootsie Rolls” and secreting them inside her doggy poop bag or the fact that one of the dynamic duo had crapped on a neighbor’s front lawn.
    The SUV pulled up alongside her and Ben powered down the front passenger window only to find Eileen doing the same thing in the back.
    “Excuse me,” said Eileen. “I’m sorry to bother you so late at night but I was wondering if you know this dog.”
    Eileen didn’t have to encourage the spaniel to show herself in the window space because as soon as the gap appeared she was standing on her back legs, sticking her head out into the night like a hungry kid ordering fast food at a drive-through. And then, for the first time in their presence, the spaniel barked. Whether it was prompted by recognition or a need to be territorial and defensive, aimed at the woman or aimed at the dogs, it was hard to say, but her quick double yap once more fired up her stubby tail and the rest of her enthusiastic derriere.
    Both pugs stared back, the more demure of the two returning the greeting while his companion concentrated on scratching parallel grooves into the frost with his back feet.
    The woman came up to the spaniel’s window, instinctively petting the dog with her free hand.
    “Where did you find her?” said the woman.
    “Down at Mario’s,” said Ben. “She was wandering around their parking lot.” All the while he was thinking, “You said
her
. Just a guess?”
    “We thought she might have strayed, gone looking for food,” said Eileen. “There’s not too many other neighborhoods nearby. We thought someone might know who she belongs to.”
    The woman dipped down a little more, stepped in closer. She seemed to be taking her time and Ben felt as though she was checking him out—thick black hair, neatly trimmed beard, woolen jacket.She probably had him pegged as a high school teacher rather than a respected local artist. Then the woman turned to Eileen—pretty, strawberry blond—and Ben knew she’d be struck by those big blue eyes that glowed with genuine concern for the little black dog happy to be on her lap.
    Suddenly the Pug Lady seemed distracted by something else in the backseat and Ben followed her gaze to, of all things, the dog blanket. It was covered in Didi’s black hairs, and based on their length it was obvious those hairs couldn’t belong to the little black dog sniffing around her face.
    Sucking hard on her teeth the Pug Lady said, “Nope,” with an unequivocal finality. “Never seen that dog before.” And then, as if it might be important, added, “Nobody round here owns a spaniel.”
    She gave the dog a quick pat on the head, smiled as she said “Sorry,” and dragged her pugs into the darkness behind the truck.
    N ITHER of them spoke, and in less than a minute they were back at the main highway having to decide which way to go next. Privately neither Eileen nor Ben believed the woman with the pugs, convinced they both heard the same message in her denial—that even if Helen did have a home, she might deserve a better one. For Ben there was nothing left to think about, while Eileen had just being going through the motions anyway.
    He indicated left and accelerated, Eileen leaning forward in her seat to squeeze Ben’s shoulder, knowing he was heading back, past the restaurant and toward home.
    “You know, I’m still going to try and find out who she belongs to,” she said.
    Ben adjusted his position so their eyes could meet in the mirror, so she could read