Read Online A Little Learning by Margot Early - Free Book Online Page A

they weren’t sharing their memories of Janine, Seamus found he liked being with his children.
    And Rory Gorenzi, too.
    He wanted to sort that out. Did he like her because of the children? Did he like his children’s company only because of her? Was he using her as a friendly intermediary between himself and the kids?
    It would be a mistake to become involved with any woman simply because she was good with his kids.
    But it had been crazy for him to date women who didn’t like to be with his children.
    In any case, he wasn’t going to have anything to do with Rory in that way. She was Kurt’s daughter.
    But he’d begun to count on her warmth, the easy caring she showed around his family. And he’d begun to see her clouds of hair, her wide smile and brown eyes, even when she wasn’t with him.
    He put away his phone as he neared the house.
    Rory’s car pulled up to the curb outside, and something lurched in his chest as she helped Belle out of one side of the backseat while Caleb scrambled out of the other. The front door of the house opened, and Seuss scrambled out. He slipped on some ice and rolled down the steps, and Rory, watching, erupted in laughter.
    Beau came after the puppy, who was rushing toward the street. He ran, trying to catch him and chasing him into the road.
    Rory, watching all this, set Belle on the sidewalk and ran toward the house, calling, “Seuss can’t catch me, Seuss can’t catch me.”
    Seamus reached them all as Rory, who had persuaded the puppy to chase her, caught the dog’s collar and explained to Beau that you couldn’t catch a puppy by running toward it. If the puppy ran into the street, they must run away and get the puppy to chase them back to the house.
    Beau picked up Seuss. He was carrying the dog’s leash. “I thought he would stay with me.”
    “He’ll learn to,” Rory said, “but he’s still a baby.”
    Caleb ran to his father. “I’m the best skier in the class. I’m better than the instructor.”
    “I believe that,” Seamus answered with a smile. Caleb had been skiing since he was three.
    Rory said, “We’ll be inside in a minute. I want to talk to your dad.”
    “I’m going to walk Seuss,” Beau said and snapped the leash on the puppy’s collar. He headed up the street toward the alley that separated their house from Rory’s.
    “Yes?” Seamus asked.
    Rory noted a certain wariness in the question. What did he suspect she wanted to discuss with him?
    “Look,” she began, “this isn’t my business, and I meant to tell you last night...”
    He waited.
    “I just want to say...” She drew a breath. “Seuss is going to be a large, powerful dog. You’ve really got to be with him, when he’s around kids.”
    “The breeder said they’re good with kids.”
    Rory wanted to kill the breeder. “They can be. But the children have to be considerate. And if there’s a lot of running around, squealing, that kind of thing, the dog can get excited. People talk about it arousing their prey drive, but I don’t think that’s accurate. I mean, a German shepherd is going to realize that your kids aren’t prey. But he might still bite. He might think of your kids as puppies and play with them the same way he would with other puppies. I just mean, he needs obedience, and your kids need to be taught what’s okay and what’s not okay to do around him. And when other kids come over to play, you have to be there to make sure he behaves.” She felt her face turn red. This
really wasn’t her business. “I just want things to go right for all of you and Seuss.”
    Seamus looked at Rory thoughtfully. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to teach him obedience.”
    “It would be better,” she said, “for him to go to classes—with you and your kids. He needs to be around other people and other dogs. You’ve got to make sure he has that experience now, when he’s young, so that he’s comfortable with these things. I’m sorry for butting in,