Temporary Father (Welcome To Honesty 1) by Anna Adams

She is all right.” Eli quizzed the vet with a parental glance. “She is, isn’t she?”
    “Fine.” The doctor ruffled Eli’s hair. “I’ll ask Chief Berger to send a few patrols by your uncle’s house. Maybe put a little fear into anyone who might be shooting in the woods. Since so many animals started turning up hurt, even using a pellet gun is illegal within city limits.”
    “Thanks.” Beth found Aidan with grateful eyes.“And thank you. For bringing her to us and for coming along.”
    He laughed, stroking Lucy’s fur. “You make me feel like a superhero.” Able to stop terrible tragedy by running a dog up a gravel driveway.
    “Do you mind seeing Mr. Jingles now, Dr. Patrick?” The lady with the cat marched through Lucy’s admiring throng. “He’s suffering an excess of hairballs, and you need to tell me why.”
    She double-timed the doctor back into his examining area. Eli stared after them. “That Mr. Jingles comes by his snotty attitude fair and square.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    “E LI , DO YOU NEED to talk about anything?” That afternoon, Beth filled her pockets with dog treats and bearded her son in his den. She knelt beside the bed he’d made for Lucy in a corner of his room. Lucy had run for the door the second Beth opened it, but she returned, deeply interested in the dog biscuits Beth set down.
    “Mom, you’re driving me crazy. What are you, a cop?”
    “If you thought something was wrong with Lucy, wouldn’t you be like that lady with Mr. Jingles? You’d expect Dr. Patrick to fix things. Right away—not when he got around to it.”
    “I didn’t give birth to Lucy.”
    He’d recovered his adolescent aloofness. She cursed herself for not striking while he was susceptible. “Is it school? Is someone harassing you?”
    “Only in my own bedroom. Go away. I want Lucy to take a nap.”
    Reluctant to leave, she backed toward the door. At least he was his old self. Nothing bad couldhappen for a while. “I’ll be downstairs, but I have to say one thing. You can talk to me.”
    His face said it all. Get out.
    Lucy, crunching the last of her biscuits, gathered her feet beneath her and followed Beth.
    “See?” Eli said. “Now she wants more to eat.”
    “I think that means she feels better.” Beth scratched Lucy’s back and hurried down the stairs. Eli followed.
    Lucy nosed around the kitchen for more biscuits. Eli tried to tempt her with a half-gnawed bone and her squeaky football.
    This was more like it.
    Unable to resist smiling, Beth found she was like her son. She wanted her wounded loved ones around her. With everyone almost in place, she took her papers out of the desk drawer to peruse her finances again.
    “Come on, Lucy.” Eli grabbed a couple of biscuits and she crowded him out the porch door. “Here comes Uncle Van, Mom.”
    He disappeared before Beth could ask where he was going.
    Her brother came in, looking back at Eli. “Where have you all been? Where’s he going in such a hurry? Did he put something on Lucy’s head?”
    “He’s sick of me questioning him.”
    “So give him a break.” He grabbed water from the fridge. Sweat from running ringed his T-shirt and his forehead. “Where’ve you been?”
    “Someone shot Lucy with a pellet gun. She has two bandages on her head.” He hurried back to the door. “You saw she’s all right.” She looked down at her papers. “Aidan found her in the woods and brought her up. We all took her to Dr. Patrick’s office.”
    “You sure she’s all right? What do you mean Aidan went with you?” He turned, the water halfway to his mouth. “What the hell goes on here the second I turn my back?”
    “I guess Aidan likes dogs.”
    “I’ve never heard that about him.”
    Beth flipped a page over. What Aidan liked didn’t matter. She had a son to care for. Full-time.
    “You sure Lucy’s okay?”
    “Check her out yourself.”
    He shrugged, set his bottle on the counter and left. In a few minutes, he came back. “Has Eli