Her Valentine Sheriff. Deb Kastner
to pick up. You’ll have a good time working with Bullet. Before you know it, it’ll feel like it’s all fun and games for you—probably the best time you’ve ever had on the police force. K-9 is at least as exciting as guns and knives.”
Eli scoffed and shook his head, and Mary raised her eyebrows. Frustration burned deep lines of aggravation in her chest.
Why was the man being so contrary today? He was acting like a toddler who didn’t want to eat his vegetables. It didn’t add up for a man as normally well tempered as Eli Bishop to be so unreasonably grouchy—not without a good reason.
But what reason could he have? Something was certainly stuck up his craw. Was he that uncomfortable working with her?
She sighed inwardly. She wouldn’t blame him if he was. She wasn’t feeling entirely composed herself. But the two of them would have to find a way to overcome the awkwardness between them, or they’d never be able to see this project through to completion—and that had to happen. It had to happen.
Could she bring up the source of the uneasiness between them? Force the issue? Address the elephant in the room—the one by the name of Natalie?
She cringed. While it would probably be better to bring their issues out into the open, the truth was, she was a bona fide, full-fledged chicken—just hear her cluck! She could no more mention Eli’s relationship with Natalie than she could make the Earth orbit backward around the sun.
“We’ll start with some basic commands, and then we’ll play a few games,” she instructed, consciously shoving her own emotions to the side and hoping Eli would do the same. She would have plenty of time to mull over their issues later, when he wasn’t around to pick up on it. “Use volg to bring him to heel on your left side.”
“V-log.” Eli stumbled over the word. Bullet cocked his head, clearly interested in the strange man, but he didn’t respond to Eli’s voice as he had with Mary’s. That was to be expected. Eli had to learn to give the commands with authority, and Bullet had to learn to trust Eli. It would just take time.
Mary took two large steps backward, away from Eli, giving Bullet a subtle hint to focus on the man before him. “It’s volg. Try it again.”
“Volg,” Eli commanded in a low, firm voice, fisting his hands as he spoke. Bullet circled around him and sat perfectly at his left heel. Eli glanced up, his surprised gaze meeting Mary’s. A smile crossed his lips. “Now, that’s better.”
Her stomach fluttered and pride welled in her chest, though she wasn’t certain whether it was from Eli’s reaction or Bullet’s successful training. “Sure. See? It’s not so bad. You just have to practice the new words until they become second nature to you. Probably a lot like your job—working through the ranks, learning as you go.”
“Yeah,” he agreed soberly. “Working through the ranks.”
After applying the heel command successfully several more times, Mary taught Eli the words for stay, come, sit and down. Bullet, of course, already knew the commands. Eli fumbled through the Dutch, but he was a quick learner, and clearly determined to make it work between him and his new partner, which was exhilarating for Mary to watch.
Yet even in their best moments, there was some silent but unsettling subtext within the interchange between the dog and the man. It wasn’t anything so blatant that she could immediately pinpoint the problem and correct it, but the exchange wasn’t as flowing and straightforward as it should have been. Mary couldn’t quite put her finger on what was off about it, but something was wrong.
She took her cues from Bullet rather than Eli. The dog occasionally shied sideways, which was unlike the well-trained K-9. Bullet’s skittishness suggested his handler was agitated, and Mary watched Eli closely, looking for signs of anxiety. His expression was sober and his jaw set in determination, but she didn’t necessarily think that was cause for concern. Eli had always been a bit of a perfectionist. Clearly he wanted to be successful in his new endeavor. There was nothing wrong with focus and resolve. But sometimes when Eli would mix up his commands, the dog didn’t know how to respond and returned to Mary’s side, which only served to set Eli’s face into a deeper scowl and widen the distance between him and his new K-9 partner.
How was she going to get him to relax? He’d been so laid-back in high school. She remembered him as the guy who always had a smile on his face, and his nature had been easygoing and friendly. But that was only her teenage love-struck observation. Maybe that wasn’t his true personality at all...at least, not anymore.
People grew up. Things changed. And she couldn’t say it was the first time he hadn’t met her expectations. When he’d become engaged to Natalie, Mary had assumed he’d join in their family life and culture, but that had never happened. Serendipity was a small town with country ways, and family was a big deal here. Yet it hadn’t appeared to matter to Eli.
Maybe he wasn’t the way she had imagined at all.
Maybe he was still bitter and frustrated from being jilted only one week before the wedding.
Maybe he didn’t like this situation.
Maybe he didn’t like her.
Whatever was behind his shady mood, if he wanted this program to work, he’d have to get over it and put forth a little more proactive effort.
He’d—they’d—get a lot further if he would relax. Bullet wasn’t going to respond to inconsistent or turbulent emotions. The dog needed regular praise and enthusiastic feedback or all of the training in the world meant nothing. Bullet wouldn’t work unless he thought it was a game.
How to express that to Eli was another thing entirely. She’d trained plenty of dogs, but this was her first cop. She didn’t know how best to proceed, but she was fairly certain Eli wouldn’t respond to criticism, even if it was constructive.
She paused, examining her own thoughts and actions. Dumping all the training commands on him at once might not have been such a great idea. Just because she’d easily picked up Dutch didn’t mean Eli was going to. He’d been a jock in high school and had been good at math. She couldn’t recall his performance in English or in the Spanish class he’d taken.
What if learning a new language had proven difficult for him in the past? That would certainly explain a lot, perhaps even why he was resisting her every effort on his behalf. Her heart softened toward him. Maybe if she backed off instead of pushing him so hard, his relationship with Bullet would progress naturally. It was certainly worth a try.
“Let’s take a break from all this hard work. Why don’t you and Bullet play for a while,” she suggested.
“Play?” He turned to her and crossed his arms, another defensive gesture that set Mary’s teeth on edge. “What does that even mean? You make it sound like we’re fifth graders on a swing set.”
“Something like that.” Mary pinched back a sharp retort, refusing to be thrown by his cranky attitude and determined to work through it. She’d have to show him how much fun it could be to work with Bullet. She leaned down and scooped up a simple white bath towel that had been rolled the long way and strung together with rubber bands.
Eli arched a brow. “A towel? Really?”
Dog training wasn’t about expensive equipment and fancy gimmicks. Mary ignored him and waved the towel toward Bullet.
“Come on, boy,” she encouraged in the high voice she instinctively used with animals and children. “Come and get it.”
Eli observed her silently, his lips pressed, and his posture stiff, while she played tug-of-war with Bullet and then threw the towel across the lawn for the dog to retrieve.
“You want to give it a go?” Mary offered the towel to Eli but he didn’t grab for it. Instead, he took a step backward and jammed his hands into the front pockets of his pants. His lips curled downward. He wasn’t nearly so handsome when he frowned.
He shook his head. “If you’re only going to play with