The Secret Sin by Darlene Gardner

not following you, Joy.”
    “Stop working so much and make time for her,” Joy said. “You’re a doll for coming in today, but you call her right now and tell her you’ll see her tonight.”
    He saluted her. “Aye, aye, captain.”
    She pointed a finger at him. “Just do it. And another thing. It wouldn’t hurt to bring her a little something.”
    “Flowers?”
    “Damn straight. You can never go wrong with flowers.”
    Luck was on Ryan’s side. The patient load at the health center was lighter than usual, enabling him to depart ahead of schedule. He left a message on Annie’s answering machine that he’d come by later, then stopped at a grocery store and picked out a colorful bouquet.
    He resisted the urge to stomp down on the accelerator, keeping his speed just above the limit until he left the interstate for the back roads that led to Indigo Springs.
    He was rounding a bend on one of the hairpin turns common in the mountains when he caught a flash of movement in his peripheral vision.
    It was a dog, loping alongside the shoulder of the road, its tongue lolling. Ryan had barely missed hitting the animal, who might not be so lucky with the next car to come along.
    Ryan brought the car to a stop along the shoulder of a relatively straight stretch of road. He checked his rearview mirror. The dog was still coming.
    He opened the driver’s door and got out. The dog picked up its pace, running toward him, its tail wagging. Ryan could tell it was a puppy from the way it moved and the size of its paws. A mutt, probably part collie, part beagle and part a breed that grew really large.
    “What are you doing out here all alone?” Ryan bent down to pet the dog. It wore no tags. Grass, leaves and bits of sticks were caught in its fur.
    They were miles from a residential neighborhood. Had some bastard abandoned the dog to fend for itself?
    The most sensible course of action would be to drop off the dog at the nearest animal shelter, except the only one he knew of was twenty miles away. It was nearly six o’clock. If the shelter was open on Sunday, it wouldn’t be by the time he got there.
    The alternative was to take the dog back to his sister’s house, relegating the rest of the evening to feeding him, bathing him and getting him settled for the night.
    The dog looked up at him, its big eyes full of trust.
    Ryan sighed because there was only one decision he could make. He opened the back door on the passenger side, glad he was driving his own car instead of his sister’s Lexus.
    He couldn’t follow his nurse friend’s advice tonight. He’d have to call Annie back and tell her he couldn’t make it after all.
    “Get in, Hobo,” he said. “It looks like you just ruined my evening.”
     

    A NNIE would make a terrible mother.
    Good mothers did not propose after-dinner trips into town for ice cream to a teenager who had behaved badly, not to mention barely touched her dinner, yet that’s exactly what Annie had done.
    Annie could have argued the trip to the ice-cream parlor was a ploy to get Lindsey to take in more calories, but that wasn’t the main reason. She was desperate to smooth things over so the girl didn’t leave town early.
    “How’s that raspberry flavor?” Annie asked.
    Lindsey had ordered low-fat frozen custard in a baby cone, which was the smallest portion available.
    “Okay,” she said.
    They’d opted not to eat their frozen treats inside the parlor, or at least that’s what Annie had chosen. She’d envisioned Lindsey sitting sullenly across from her and had suggested they stroll down Main Street.
    The street was fairly busy for a Sunday night in August, with the tourists who made Indigo Springs a popular summer destination ducking in and out of the bars and restaurants that had been renovated with careful attention to historical detail. Only a few tourists availed themselves of the perfect night for a stroll in the town that seemed stuck in a time that had already passed.
    A couple with