Page 5 of Falling for Brody

He heard a soft whimper of sound and moved to Roya's side. The dog had been injured but seemed to be resting quietly for the most part. Crouching down beside the dog, he pulled off his latex glove and gave her a gentle scratch between her ears where he'd seen Misty do the same.

Roya lifted her brown spotted head a little and turned her baleful gaze in his direction.

"I know, girl. I know... Don't worry, I'm not planning to cause any trouble."

And he meant it.

He wasn't a homewrecker, and he certainly wasn't going to cause problems for a little boy.

As Rhea and her son stepped onto the grass on the other side of the road, he saw Rhea squeeze her son's hand and gave it a little shake as she whispered something to him.

The boy looked up with a book clutched to his chest and his backpack dragging down off of his shoulders. He looked at Brody with a very serious expression. "Hi." They stopped a couple of feet away. "I'm Chip. Chip Russell. Nice to meet you."

The boy had obviously practiced the greeting and a moment after he finished, he looked up at his mother, seeking her approval.

Something inside of Brody tugged, like a string around his heart. He remembered looking at his mom and dad like that when he was younger. He might have been the youngest boy in the combined Armstrong family, but he was the oldest in his branch of the family tree and he'd wanted to be a good example for Rachel and not look like a twit in front of his cousins.

Giving the boy a nod when he turned back in Brody's direction, Brody greeted him in turn. "Hey there, Chip. I'm Brody Armstrong. Looks like I'm going to be working with your mom."

The boy's eyes widened a bit and then he nodded. "My mom is really good at her job. She'll help you a lot."

"I'm sure she will," he looked at Rhea and saw a peachy blush high in her cheeks.

Damn, she was gorgeous.

"Is that puppy hurt?"

Brody followed Chip's gaze and saw the concern in the child's eyes was for the dog at his side. "Yeah. Her name is Roya and she's a working dog."

Rhea looked over at Avalon. "Medical?"

Avalon started to shake her head and stopped. Brody answered instead. "She works with Misty."

Rhea's expression filled with understanding. She must have heard that Misty had been taken. "Oh."

"Roya's a cadaver dog. She does searches for-"

"Brody-"

He heard Avalon's soft voice and remembered that Chip was there, listening with eyes and ears wide open.

A car approached them from the direction of town and Brody stepped toward the road to put himself between Avalon, Rhea, and Chip. It didn't take more than a moment to recognize that the oncoming car was his dad's. The late model Subaru Outback in a sky-blue color was a car that everyone recognized in Fallport.

"Wow..."

Brody heard a soft voice near his shoulder, and he turned slowly to look at Chip.

"That's my dad. He's a vet."

Chip's eyes widened. "He works with puppies!!!" Chip's free hand fisted and his feet did a little happy dance. "That's so cool! My mom just works with people."

His dad got out and immediately reached into the backseat of his Outback. That meant that his mom had come, too. Otherwise, his dad's med bag would have been on the passenger's seat.

His mom rounded the ambulance first and Brody stood up to move back from Roya. His parents would need some room to work. "Hey, mom. Car accident."

"Hello, honey. We heard over the radio. Accident, hardly," she scoffed and then as she pulled on her gloves she moved to Roya's side and saw Chip for what was likely the first time. "Well, hello there, young man. Who are you?"

Brody saw the way Chip shuffled back away from his mom, and he knew that his mom saw it too, but she didn't react. At least not so far as he could tell.

---