The Lure of Love Read Online Free Page B

labour, and
it’s getting expensive.”
    Goldie raised
her head when they appeared on the verandah and her tail thumped against the
floor.
    “Okay, you
can come.” Jamie shot a quick glance at Craig. “You don’t mind, do you? You’re
not allergic, or anything?”
    The dog had
inserted herself between Jamie and Craig and he touched the top of the dog’s
head. “No, I like dogs. This one seems devoted to you.”
    They
sauntered toward the water’s edge. “She just appeared here one day, about a
year and a half ago. She was in bad shape; skin and bones mostly. She either
got lost, or some campers put her out to fend for herself.” She looked
affectionately at the dog. “We were going to call her Lucky, but that seemed
too corny. So thanks to her breed she became Goldie and she’s been here ever
since.”
    “Do people
actually do that?” He looked shocked. “Leave their dogs?”
    “It happens
more often than you’d think. Especially with cats.” They arrived at a grouping
of pink and green chairs. “Don’t get me started.”
    Craig brushed
a few leaves from the seat of one of the chairs and made sure she was settled
before he sat down. Andre arrived a few moments later, carrying a tray with
coffee and some biscotti.
    Craig’s chair
was angled away from the Beaver but he turned now and took a long look at it.
“I’d like to go up with you but I’m still not sure. This may not sound very
manly, but I’m terrified of flying in small aircraft.”
    “You must
have flown out here from Toronto, so I’m assuming it’s just small aircraft that
bother you?”
    He pushed the
hair away from his forehead. A scar about four inches long started just beside
his temple and disappeared into his hair. “I got this in a crash two years
ago.” He sat silently for a moment, then lifted his coffee cup and looked at
her over the rim. “My wife and son were killed and the pilot was seriously
injured.” His hand trembled a bit as he set his cup down. “We spun into some
trees. I was sitting up front beside the pilot and somehow I was thrown out.
Crushed a few ribs but that was nothing compared to the others.”
    There was
nothing she could say that would help; she knew that from personal experience.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured.
    He gave her a
smile that was full of pain. “Vicky and I were making one last effort for our
son. Jody loved anything to do with boats, with fishing. We were taking him on
the ultimate camping trip in northern Ontario.” He bit off a chunk of biscotti
then looked at it as though wondering where it came from. “It was the ultimate
trip, all right.”
    Jamie had
never considered that he might be married. But then, she’d never thought she’d
be attracted to him, either. “What do you mean ‘making one last effort’? Was
your son sick?”
    “Huh? No,
nothing like that. Vicky had told me a month or so previously that she wanted a
divorce. It was all over but the paper work, but we wanted to make some
memories for Jody.” His eyes glittered with unshed tears. “It was the biggest
mistake of my life.”
    Jamie dunked
a biscotti and waited while it melted in her mouth. “So, the drinking,” she
said finally.
    He looked at
her, dry-eyed now, and nodded. “So, the drinking.”
    “Is it as bad
as they say? Survivor’s guilt?”
    He nodded.
“Worse. After I sobered up, I threw myself into work, thinking it would help me
to forget. I had two films to be edited plus a book that was overdue at the
publisher’s. This past year I even went out on a couple of dates. Vicky’s
family was shocked, of course. They didn’t know we’d been planning to divorce.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “What a mess.”
    They sat
quietly for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts.
    A loon
warbled in the distance and he raised his head. “That’s a lovely sound, isn’t
it? Too bad everyone who makes a film even remotely connected with nature
thinks it’s necessary to put a loon’s call on