Read Online An Unexpected Grace by Kristin von Kreisler - Free Book Online

his back bristled like a stripe of nails,” she said.
    â€œThat doesn’t sound so bad,” Adam said.
    â€œIt was when he bit me.”
    â€œWas it a serious bite?”
    â€œFive stitches . In the emergency room.”
    â€œCould have been a lot worse.”
    â€œIt was horrible. Blood everywhere. I was just a girl.”
    When no hint of sympathy appeared on Adam’s face, he made clear whose side he was on. But, then, she already knew he cared more about dogs than people.
    â€œIt wasn’t the dog’s fault. He was telling you to leave him alone. You woke him up and startled him. If someone did that to you, you’d get just as upset,” Adam said. He set his cellophane bag on the counter as if his verdict about the loathsome mutt was final and the subject was closed.
    Lila refused to relent. “The dog was out of control. It was terrifying.” He’d been as violent and unpredictable as Yuri Makov, but she didn’t feel like explaining that to Adam.
    â€œIt’s not fair to damn a whole species because of a single incident,” Adam said.
    â€œWhy not? Dogs can be dangerous.”
    â€œNot if you treat them right.”
    So they were back to him as judge and Lila as wayward underling. She was wasting her breath defending herself.
    Â 
    From his back pocket Adam got a piece of yellow legal-size paper, unfolded it and moved close to Lila so she could read it with him. As the clean smell of his shampoo drifted toward her, she saw “Dog-Sitting Duties” printed with a felt pen across the top. Below, he’d outlined with numbers and letters what the duties were.
    No doubt he was an engineer, born with a calculator in his hand and an obsession about efficiency and organization. He would keep his Irish wolfhounds on a strict bathroom schedule and name them alphabetically—Alice, Bruno, Cooper, Daisy. He’d go to work with a row of mechanical pencils clipped to his shirt pocket.
    Adam opened Cristina’s walk-in pantry door and pointed out Grace’s plastic kibble bin and cans of Nature’s Best chicken in gravy. He explained that Lila should feed her two cups of kibble and three heaping spoonsful of chicken in the morning and evening. He partly filled a measuring cup with water and held it out to Lila. “Pour exactly three-fourths of a cup over her food and break up the chicken in the kibble. Too much water and she won’t like it. It’ll be too much like soup.”
    In a drawer by the sink, Adam found a rectangular brush with steel bristles, which he swept along Grace’s chest, leaving tiny trails in her fur. She leaned against his legs with her eyes half-closed again, as if she’d reached the Mount Everest of pleasure. “You don’t want somebody coming over here to meet her and finding her unkempt,” Adam said, and then he moved on to Grace’s exercise program to strengthen her hurt leg. “A walk three or four times a week ought to do it.”
    â€œYou said you’d find her a home in a few days,” Lila said.
    â€œI’ll do it as fast as I can.”
    She exhaled the weary breath of someone who’d been mopping floors since dawn. “I can’t handle that dog on walks. I’ve got an injured arm.” She held up her cast as if it were a courtroom exhibit.
    Adam shrugged, like the cast wouldn’t hinder her from Olympic backstroke competition. “Grace won’t give you any trouble.”
    â€œHow can you presume it would be so easy for me?”
    â€œAll I’m presuming is she’s a sweet dog. She’ll do anything to please.”
    Maybe for you, not me.
    Adam glanced at his list. “The most important thing is to keep Grace away from Marshall. He’s the sicko she lived with over the hill about three miles from here. Grace belonged to his son. Marshall’s wife left him and took the boy to Santa Barbara.”
    â€œSo why would Marshall care if