Broken Heart Mended by Jenna Hendricks
Chapter 5
The last thing Nelly wanted, or needed, was company. And certainly not from a single cowboy who made her heart pitter-patter. But she hadn’t made much progress on the house.
Spike growled again, and Nelly looked down. “Sitz,” she commanded, and Spike sat on his haunches. However, he didn’t take his eyes off Sam, and Nelly had to stifle a laugh. A woman had to appreciate a dog who looked out for her. Spike would pair nicely with a female. When the time came to place Spike with a patient, she’d have to look for a woman to work with Spike. He tended to dislike men.
“I see you’ve got a military service dog. How’d that happen?” Sam didn’t smile at the dog, but he didn’t frown, either. Which was unusual for the grumpy guy.
Nelly had noticed he always wore a glove on his left hand, but not on his right. His left arm was also not quite right. But since he wore a long-sleeve shirt every time she saw him, she couldn’t know what the problem was. One thought that came to her was that he’d been in a fire. Or at least his arm had. That could account for why he was always keeping the skin covered—horrible burn scars.
Not that she minded either way. But she knew how cruel people could be. Most wouldn’t say a thing, but the way people stared at anyone who was different was just as bad as saying something rude.
“Actually, I’m a trainer. I have four dogs at the moment, and should be receiving more once I get one of my dogs placed.” There, she’d said it. Nelly knew from past experience that in small towns, word got around faster than a speeding bullet. However, she didn’t want everyone to know who was going to be receiving a dog until the veteran knew.
Sam’s eyes rose, and he took another look at the dog next to her. Then he narrowed his eyes and glared at Nelly. “And just who’s gettin’ your dogs?”
Nelly wasn’t going to let this unruly wannabe cowboy get her goose. She could give back just as good as she got. “That is none of your business.” She almost said something about patient confidentiality, but shut her mouth before she could utter another word. Until Jerod returned, she’d keep the fact that her dogs were all here to work with the wounded vets a secret.
Sam grunted. “Is this why you’re here in Frenchtown?”
“I moved to Frenchtown because I thought I was getting a good deal on a small ranch. One that had the exact space I needed and was located next to a main highway.” Exasperated already by her encounter with Sam, she sighed. “Look, I’m exhausted and really don’t want to argue with you.”
“Yeah, yeah. I get it.” Sam scratched his chin. “So, do you need some help with that train wreck of a house?”
Nelly practically snorted. “Train wreck? I wish it was that good.” She rubbed her hand down her face and looked to Spike, who seemed to have relaxed his posture just a bit. “It’s bad. I don’t know if it would be better to just tear it down and start over.”
“Did rats get into all the walls?” A faraway look entered Sam’s eyes, and Nelly wondered if he’d had a similar experience before.
“Not all. But the rats wouldn’t be so bad if it were just them. Something pretty big must have crawled into a wall somewhere and died. I just can’t find it. And I do need to get an exterminator out.” She shook her head and wished she’d come out to see the house first. If she had, she would have passed on this one. But it was in the right location. Had she not taken this one, she would have been over an hour away from the Crooked Arrow Ranch. Which wouldn’t have been ideal.
“We can help,” was all Sam said.
Nelly waited for more details, but when he stayed quiet she asked a few more questions. The biggest one was about costs. “Look, I don’t have much money yet. I’m waiting for a few more grants to come through, so I don’t know how much I can afford.”
Sam nodded. “Well, how about I take a look and then we can talk? Jerod is usually pretty soft on payment terms.” He looked down at the dog. “Maybe he can even work out some sort of swap.”
Nelly looked down at Spike. “Ah, I don’t know about that. But, I do think having a carpenter at the very least take a look would be a good idea.”
“You say you’re sleeping out in the barn? How’s that working out?” A tiny smile edged up one side of his face, almost as though he’d had a stroke and couldn’t fully smile anymore.
“Pretty good, but I could use a stove and a couple of other items. I was planning on heading over to the general store today to see what I could find.” What she really wanted was a secondhand store, but there weren’t any in town.
“Why don’t you hold off on any purchases until we take a look?” Sam nodded and then headed toward the door.
“Wait, where are you going?” Nelly turned, confusion covering her face. They hadn’t set up a time for him to come see the house yet.
“Why, I’m heading to your ranch. You comin’?” Sam looked back over his shoulder expectantly.
“Hold your horses, I need coffee and a cinnamon roll.” Nelly shook her head and got back in line.
“Hi, Nelly. Good to see you again. The usual?” Lottie, the proprietress of the best coffee shop in town—well, the only coffee shop in town—greeted Nelly with a smile and a hot cinnamon roll.
“Thanks, you’re a life-saver.” Nelly paid for her breakfast and took the offered coffee and warm roll.
Sam was waiting outside for Nelly. “Why don’t I follow you to the ranch?”
“Sure.” Nelly took a large bite out of her cinnamon roll and jumped in her truck after putting Spike in the back.
As she drove up the dirt lane leading to the house, Nelly shivered and wished she didn’t have to go back inside the house. Two days ago she’d given Lank, the Realtor, what for. But he’d just smiled and said she should have come to see the property for herself. Then he went on to say he had no idea the house was in such bad condition. Then a bunch of platitudes, nothing that would actually help her. Since then, she’d been inside trying to find what had died and left that horrendous stench.
She stopped her truck just outside the house and waited for Sam.
“I should warn you, it’s pretty awful. You might want a bandana to cover your nose or something.” Nelly took her own advice and put a cloth over her nose and mouth once she had Spike ready to go. Since her first steps inside the house, she hadn’t entered again without at least one dog at her side.
The moment Sam entered the house, his eyes began to water and he coughed. Once he was adjusted to the environment, he looked around the living room. “Whoa, I’ve never seen anything like this. It looks as though whoever used to live here was a packrat, or hoarder. What made you buy this place?”
She snorted. “Well, lesson learned. Never buy a house without inspecting it for yourself. I trusted that the pictures the Realtor sent me were accurate and up to date. They must have been twenty years old.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t suggest doing that again.” Sam rubbed the back of his neck and shivered. “Well, I’d say the first thing that needs to be done is bring in a forty-yard dumpster to clear out the place. Until it’s cleared, I really can’t tell you what all needs to be done.”
“I was afraid of that.” While she had him there, she might as well ask a few questions. “What do you think died in here? I’ve looked around a bit but can’t find it.”
Sam walked around and sniffed a few times, trying to locate the source of the stench. He pointed to the broken window, then walked toward the stairs. “Have you been upstairs yet?”
She shook her head. “No way. I wasn’t about to get stuck upstairs with whatever, or whoever, caused this disaster.”
Sam chuckled. It was a deep, sexy sound that caught Nelly’s attention. She had barely seen the man smile; she didn’t think he’d ever laugh. Well, it wasn’t actually a laugh, but close enough to make her want to hear a real laugh from him.
“You afraid of what you might find up there?” He nodded up the stairs.
“You betcha. I’m afraid I might find a dead body.” Nelly waved her hands in front of her. “No thank you.”
When Sam looked at her, his eyes seemed as though he wanted to ask her a question, but he didn’t. Instead he climbed over the rubble blocking the staircase.
From what Nelly could see, there were stacks of newspapers lined up around two of the walls that went from floor to ceiling. Clothes littered the floor, but not the sort that could be cleaned and used again. No, most of the items were in tatters and covered in filth. She had seen those reality shows about hoarders and knew that this house had to be the worst one ever. A dead human upstairs wouldn’t surprise her.
When Sam was halfway up, he looked down. “You comin’?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m fine right here.”
This time, Sam did laugh. “Come on, I’ll protect you. And if I can’t, that mean dog by your side will.”
Spike growled and showed his teeth as though he knew exactly what Sam had said and didn’t like it. Nope, not one bit.
It was Nelly’s turn to laugh. “I don’t think Spike likes you.”
“Spike, ha? The name suits him.” Sam turned and headed upstairs.
Nelly took a deep breath, coughed it back out, and headed upstairs. She turned to see Spike sitting where she’d left him and rolled her eyes heavenward. She patted her thigh, then commanded, “Hier.”
Spike grudgingly followed with his tail between his legs. The dog was trained to do as commanded, but that didn’t mean he was going to like it.
When Nelly and Spike where halfway up the stairs, they heard Sam yelling, “Oh, that’s just wrong.”
Nelly’s eyebrows shot up past her bangs and she looked to Spike just as the dog twisted his head to look at his handler. They both stopped. “Is everything alright up there?” Nelly called out. She wasn’t about to keep going if Sam was going to bolt back downstairs.
“Watch where you step. Large animals have been up here.” The irritation in Sam’s voice conveyed all she needed to know.
When a tinkle of a laugh escaped, she clamped a hand over her mouth.
“You laugh now, but just wait until you step in it,” Sam growled.
Spike barked when he got to the top of the stairs, and the humor in Nelly’s face evaporated. Upstairs looked more like a war zone than a house.
“Are those holes from gunshots?” Nelly put a hand up to one hole, then pulled it back. She didn’t need to be touching anything.
A loud crash and an expletive came from a room down the hall.
“Sam, are you alright?” When she didn’t hear a reply, she looked to Spike and pointed to where she thought the sound came from. “Such,” she said, the command for track. The German pronunciation was nothing like how it was spelled. While it was spelled such, it was actually pronounced zook.
Spike began his search, sniffing and looking into the doors, but not entering a room. He knew Sam’s scent, and he also instinctively knew to look for the man, even though Spike didn’t like him. Nelly had trained her dogs well, and they were quite obedient.
When Spike found his mark, he entered quietly and searched for only a second before he barked. Nelly made her way through the debris to find Spike sniffing Sam, who was laying on a pile of trash.
“Go ahead, laugh. But just remember, this is your dump to clean.” Sam started to move, but Spike was still hovering over him, sniffing.
“Spike, Platz.” The command for down was easily obeyed, and the dog moved away from Sam, giving him enough room to stand up.
“What happened? Why’d you fall?” Nelly looked around but couldn’t see anything that could cause him to trip and fall. Then she noticed what he was staring at and she almost fell backward herself when she tried to move away.
Spike sniffed, but didn’t bark or react. He knew what it was, and that it wasn’t a threat.
“Is it dead?” Nelly leaned forward, then jerked her head back as the stench wafted closer to her nose.
“Yeah, and it looks like it’s been here for a while. I’m betting that’s what caused the smell, or at least most of it.” Sam waved around the room. “I’m sure there’s plenty more carcasses around, but the dead bear is most likely the main cause.”
Slumped in the corner of the room were the remains of a black bear.