The First Gardener by Denise Hildreth Jones Page A

up, inhaling its sweet puppy breath. Puppy breath was the aroma that made even smart people lose their scruples.
    “They’re shih tzus. My girlfriend thinks they’re the cutest dogs she’s ever seen. Sweet, too. They love everybody.”
    Maddie spoke up. “But me mostest.”
    “Oh yes, absolutely. You mostest.”
    Mackenzie laughed when the one she was holding all but stuck its tongue up her nose. And within a few minutes, she and Maddie and their new shih tzu Sophie were on their way home. Gray was going to kill her, but she didn’t care. And once he got a whiff of that puppy breath, he wouldn’t care either.

    Gray did care. He cared more than she had thought.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me, Mack. As if either of us has time for a puppy. Maddie can’t even pick up her clothes off the floor, much less take care of a dog. And you paid three hundred dollars for that thing?” he said as they walked toward their bedroom after tucking Maddie in bed.
    Mackenzie nuzzled her nose against Sophie’s soft fur. The puppy turned like a contortionist so it could lick her face. “Gray, you’re being ridiculous.” She laughed. “Here, let her kiss you.” She held Sophie out toward him. “You’ll fall in love with her, I promise.”
    He held up his hand. “I am not letting a dog lick me in the face. And we should have talked about this.”
    She pulled Sophie back against her. “Okay. Okay. We should have talked about this. But I couldn’t resist. She’s so cute. And she loves Maddie.”
    “I’m being serious, Mack. You should have talked to me. Puppies are a huge responsibility.”
    “Good grief. It’s just a dog, Gray. And I know a thing or two about responsibility.”
    He shook his head. “It’s just one more thing right now, Mack. One more thing on top of an out-of-control budget and all these issues with my dad and us trying to have another baby. It’s not right for you to just bring a dog home without talking to me.”
    She stalked past him and marched toward the bathroom, where she set Sophie down on the floor.
    “Did you even hear me, Mack?”
    She crossed over to the closet and pulled a pair of pajamas from one of her drawers. There would be no sexy nightgown tonight. “No. Honestly, I didn’t hear a word you just said because I have no desire to talk to you when you’re being perfectly unreasonable.”
    He stepped to the other side of the massive bank of drawers that separated their sides of the closet and leaned over it so his face would be close to hers. “I said, it’s one more thing. I’m buried in problems right now, Mack, and I don’t need a dog on top of it all.”
    She looked up into blue eyes that were more tired than angry. And this time she heard him. Really heard him. She laid the pajama pants on top of the cabinet and walked around it toward him. “This isn’t about a puppy, Gray. What happened today?”
    He shook his head. Her arms circled his waist. He let out a heavy sigh and his shoulders dropped. She knew the weight he had to carry outside these four walls, but she was grateful every time he could let down his guard and be just Gray inside her arms.
    “They called from the nursing home again.”
    “Again?”
    “It’s just getting so much worse. He doesn’t know me anymore, Mack. My own father doesn’t even know my name.”
    There it was. She saw the hurt in his eyes and, for a moment, the humanity of this man whom even she sometimes thought superhuman. He could seemingly handle the world and then ask if anyone needed anything else. But he had his limits.
    She wrapped her arms tighter around him. “Think we could get my mom to forget our address?”
    He popped her on her arm, but a brief smile escaped. “Mack, I’m serious.”
    “I know. I’m sorry. But really, Gray, let me help you with him. I’ll meet with your dad’s doctors. I can take some of this off you if you’d let me.”
    “Thanks, babe. But I keep thinking I’ll go in there and it just might be the