Page 23 of Nora
“What’s the problem?” Craig asked her as he stepped into the portable.
“There isn’t any, but I wanted to get you away from Lucian,” Nora answered as she walked to the window with a view of the training grounds.
“I hardly need you to protect me, Doc. But I’m not going to begrudge a chance to get out of the cold.”
“Or coffee?” she asked, gesturing to the carafe on the counter beside her.
“Or coffee,” he confirmed, walking over to pour himself a cup. “Want any?”
She shook her head and watched Lucian direct Anne to start the exercise. Less than a minute later, Craig was beside her as Anne’s dog, Kroger, put his nose down and followed the scent.
“That’s what Miles should have done,” Craig said. “He’s actually a pretty good scenter. I don’t know what happened.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Nora asked.
Craig hesitated. “I do. Two sisters and a brother.”
“Are you all similar? Or not alike at all?” She kept her gaze on the training ground as she waited for his answer.
“Different. My sisters are twins, and not too dissimilar from each other. But my brother is an egghead. A great guy but lives and breathes his computer. Doesn’t socialize much.”
“And are you close to your parents?”
“What’s with the questions? I get the feeling you’re leading me somewhere.”
She smiled. “I am. Are you close to your parents?”
He sighed. “I am. No trauma or broken home. We have our moments, but we’re close.”
“And do your parents love you all the same?”
“Of course,” he answered without hesitation.
She let the moment hang between them. Then finally she spoke. “Miles isn’t Annie,” she said.
“I know,” he snapped back. Again, she let the silence hang between them. Craig was a smart man; he’d figure out what she was saying.
“You think I’m too hard on him because he isn’t her?”
“I think you don’tsee himbecause he isn’t her,” she corrected.
Craig snorted. “You saw that last exercise. I think I see him just fine.”
“Do you?”
He sighed again. “You obviously don’t think I do. What do you see?”
“Walk me through what happened,” she said. “From the time you picked a shirt to the time you walked in here. Talk me through it.”
And he did. Only the moment he got to the part when Miles hesitated at the woods, Craig hesitated, too. Then he fell silent.
After a moment, he turned to her. “Holy fuck, he was air scenting, wasn’t he? He was air scenting, and I didn’t even notice because he wasn’t doing what I expected him to. He was doing what Iaskedhim to, but not in the way I expected him to. The way Annie would have done it.”
Nora faced him, leaning her hip against the window. “He’s a great dog, Craig. He isn’t Annie, though. He will do things in his own way, and you have to listen to him the same way he listens to you. Handlers and K9s have a relationship, you know that. But that relationship is a two-way street.”
He stared at her for a moment longer, then dropped his eyes in shame. “I’ve let him down, haven’t I?”
Nora tipped her head. “Miles is a pretty forgiving guy. He’s also pretty special, and if you let go of some of your guilt about Annie’s death, you’ll see that. He has a love of life that is unique and quite wonderful. Enhance it, Craig. Don’t kill it.”
