repressed and her expression became businesslike.
‘Are you in a position to offer him a good home?’
‘Am I?’ she asked Gabe. ‘I think I am,’ she said diffidently. ‘But Gabe’s my landlord. I’ll need his permission.’
‘You’re asking me to keep him?’ Gabe’s demand was incredulous.
‘No,’ she said flatly. Some time during this afternoon her world had shifted. She wasn’t exactly sure where it had shifted; she only knew that things were changing and Horse was an important part of that change. ‘I want to keep him myself. Just me.’ Her life was her own, she thought, suddenly resolute. No men need apply.
No man—not even her landlord—was needed to share her dog.
‘I need to do a bit of reorganisation,’ she said, speaking now to Henrietta. ‘At the moment I’m working away …’
‘I can’t look after him,’ Gabe said bluntly. ‘Not when I’m at sea.’
‘I’m not asking you to,’ she flashed back at him. There were things going on with Gabe she didn’t understand. He had her disconcerted, but for now she needed to focus only on Horse. And her future. Gabe had to be put third.
‘I’m reorganising my career,’ she told Henrietta. ‘At the end of this month and maybe next, I’ll need to go away for a few days. After that I won’t need to.’ That was simple enough. She’d hand her international clients over to her colleagues.
Her colleagues would think she was nuts.
Her colleagues as in Jonathan?
Don’t go there.
Could she keep working for him?
‘I might even be rethinking my career altogether,’ she said, a bit more brusquely than she intended. She glanced down at the stones and then glanced away again, astounded where her thoughts were taking her. How absurd to think she could ever do something so … so wonderful.
Was she crazy? This surely could only ever be a hobby.
Concentrate on Horse. The rest was nonsense. Fanciful thinking after an upset night. ‘Whatever I do, I’ve decided I can keep Horse,’ she managed. ‘If I can get some help for the first two months.’
But Gabe was looking at her as if she was something that had just crawled out of the cheese.
‘You’ve decided this all since last night?’ he demanded. ‘Do you know how much of a commitment a dog is? He’s not a handbag, picked up and discarded on a whim. Sixteen years …’
‘We’re not talking Jem here,’ Henrietta said sharply.
‘Jem?’
‘Gabe’s dog,’ Henrietta told her. ‘Gabe found Jem on the beach sixteen years ago. She died three months back.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Nikki said, disconcerted, but her apologies weren’t required or wanted. Gabe’s face was rigid with anger.
‘We’re not talking Jem. We’re talking you. What do you know about dogs?’
‘I’ll learn.’
‘You mean you know nothing.’
‘You’re trying to talk me out of keeping him?’
‘I’m talking sense.’
‘I can keep him for the days you’re away,’ Henrietta interjected, but she was watching Gabe. ‘I run a boarding kennel alongside the shelter, so if you really are going to reorganise …’
‘You’d let her keep him?’ Gabe’s voice was incredulous.
‘It’s that or put him down,’ Henrietta snapped. ‘Nikki’s offering.’
‘And if I say no?’
There was a general intake of breath. If he said no …
What would she do?
Take Horse and live elsewhere? Somewhere that wasn’t here? There were so few rental options.
Go back to Sydney.
No! Here was scary, but Sydney was scarier.
Move on. Who knew where? With dog?
This was dumb. To move towns because of a dog …
But this afternoon she’d felt his heartbeat as he slept. The thought of ending that heartbeat …
Horse was as lost as she was, she thought, and she glanced at Gabe and thought there were three of them. She could see pain behind Gabe’s anger; behind his blank refusal to help.
She couldn’t think of Gabe’s pain now. She’d do this alone.
No. She’d do it with Horse.
‘He’s my dog,’ she said, making her voice firm.
Henrietta turned to Gabe. ‘So. Let’s get this straight. Are you planning on evicting Nikki because she has a dog?’
‘She doesn’t know what she’s letting herself in for.’
‘You work at home, right?’ Henrietta asked her, obviously deciding to abandon Gabe’s arguments as superfluous.
‘Yes.’
‘Fantastic. When do you need to go away again?’
She did a frantic mental reshuffle. ‘I can put it off for a while. Three weeks …’
‘Then you have three weeks to learn all about dogs,’ Henrietta decreed. ‘If at the end of that time you decide you can’t keep him then we’ll rethink things. So Gabe … I have a happy ending in view. What about you? You’ll seriously evict her if she keeps him?’
They were all looking at him. Nikki and Henrietta … Even Horse seemed to understand his future hung on what Gabe said right now.
‘Fine,’ he said explosively.
‘That’s not what I want to hear,’ Henrietta said. ‘How about a bit of enthusiasm?’
‘You expect me to be enthusiastic that there’s a dog about to live here? With a totally untrained owner?’
‘You’re trained,’ Henrietta said. ‘I’d feel happier if you were offering, but I have a feeling this guy will settle for what he can get. If the heart’s in the right place, the rest can follow, eh, Nikki?’
‘I … yes,’ she said weakly, wondering where exactly her heart was.
‘That’s great,’ Henrietta said and patted Horse. who was still looking nervous. ‘What will you call him?’
‘Horse,’
