Whispers of the Heart by Ruth Scofield Page B

you name your dog Samson?” Autumn asked.
    â€œâ€™Cause he barked like he was a Samson.”
    â€œOkay, well. Her little nose reminds me of a button and she’s no bigger than one,” Autumn ventured. “How about that for a name. Buttons?”
    â€œYeah, that’s a good name. Buttons.”
    Father and son started for the door. Brent stopped as he opened it.
    â€œOh, and we have another package for you. It’s outside.”
    â€œWhat is it?”
    â€œDog food.” He reached into the tiny hall, out of sight around the door, to bring a bulging bag forth. “Puppy food. And an old playpen to keep her in while you’re going through the training stage.”
    Autumn gave him a glance that clearly said she thought him too clever by half. “You knew I couldn’t say no to taking that precious little thing, didn’t you?”
    â€œI’d hoped,” he answered with an all-knowing grin.
    Long after she’d put the lights out that night, Autumn heard the puppy moving around restlessly in the pen, whimpering. Crying, no doubt, over the first time of being without her siblings and mother. After a long time at play, it had slept through the early part of the evening.
    Why now, Autumn asked herself? She’d been awake since dawn and needed sleep.
    The whimpering escalated into a howl.
    â€œShh, Buttons. You’ll wake my neighbors below.”
    The puppy didn’t understand her shushing at all.
    Autumn rose, switching on one low lamp. “What is it, Buttons? You can’t sleep? Well, come on, I know you must be lonesome.”
    She warmed some milk, grateful now that Brent had returned with it toward supper time. He’d merely dropped it off and left quickly.
    Buttons lapped it down to the bowl, then seemed content to curl against her arm. Autumn did the only sensible thing she could think of doing. She turnedout her light and went back to bed, letting the puppy snuggle down beside her.
    She didn’t know whether to be grateful or angry at Brent, but at the moment she thought she might just be more than a little annoyed. She thoroughly hoped Timmy’s puppy was setting up a howl, too.
    Dare she call him to complain? Buttons wiggled until she lay her head against Autumn’s hand. Autumn petted the tiny head and stroked a delicate ear until she felt the animal relax into sleep. Contentment stole over her. She felt connected and needed. Maybe she wasn’t so annoyed, after all.
    Was that why Brent and Timmy had brought her the puppy?

Chapter Five
    I n the end, Autumn refrained. But she kept a running complaint list in her head all week. The dog took too much of her time, she made messes on the floor, and loud noises scared her.
    Furthermore, Autumn thought Brent had taken her by surprise all too easily. The fact she loved the little mite so much already didn’t ease her fear that Brent’d known too much of her state of mind. He’d known that she’d needed Buttons to be a part of her life as much as Buttons had needed a home.
    By the time Brent appeared at her door on Friday morning, freshly shaved and as wide-awake as the spring morning, she’d talked herself out of going to see the church. She wasn’t too keen on getting deeply involved with a man who had guessed so much about her.
    Yet Brent had already made as many inroads in her life as Buttons had, at least. She couldn’t imagine her days without the hope of a glimpse of him.
    She just wasn’t too sure about this job offer.
    Brent knocked on her door right at seven-fifteen.
    â€œI’m not sure you should bother taking me to see the church,” Autumn murmured two minutes later. “I wouldn’t want to waste your time.”
    Hoping to put him off, she hadn’t dressed for a business meeting; she wore her scruffy old blue jeans, T-shirt, sneakers, and a doubtful expression. It wasn’t lost on him that she wanted to back out of her