How to Lose a Groom in 10 Days Read Online Free PDF Page B

pet.”
    “Sure it’s different these days,” she pressed, not even sure why she was bothering. It wasn’t like they would be traveling with a pet together as husband and wife. “There are pet friendly hotels everywhere. Check the website bringdfido.com.” She cast him a sideways look. “But then that’s probably not okay since the team may not be staying there. Like with camping.”
    He lowered his phone. “You’re leaving me because my job isn’t conducive to camping or having a dog?”
    Shaking her head, she sagged back against a tree wearily. “Those are symptoms of a bigger issue. We live differing lifestyles. Our values differ.”
    That last part clearly pissed him off. She could see by the narrowing of his eyes. Would he stalk away and call for a limo to pick him up? She would have made her point and … tears stung. She cradled the wrapped up puppy closer as their tent wobbled in the wind.
    Grady’s set jaw relaxed. “Do you want to stand here and argue or do you want to go to the vet?” He held up a phone again. “I have an address and GPS directions.”
    Of course he had directions. Without him, she would have been stuck asking the guy behind the campsite counter to draw a map on the back of a fast food bag. “Let’s get this puppy checked over.” She reached into the pocket of her sweater, fished out the keys and pitched them to him. “You drive. I’ll hold Polly.”
    He shrugged, surrendering as he snagged the keys out of midair. “Polly, you’re a lucky puppy to have met Melanie.”
    *
    That night, driving through a rain shower on their way to the campground after the visit to the veterinary clinic, Grady watched Melanie cradle the puppy with a tenderness that got to him. He’d seen that side of her once before—that first night when they’d met at the Stars’ family event and she’d been in charge of the childcare room for the team members who needed an extra eye on their kids. Now, as she cooed and comforted Polly, Grady remembered yet another reason he wanted her in his life.
    She’d be ten times the parent he ever would. His own parents had fought so hard about how to raise him that they never had enough time to just “be.” His father always lobbied for more sports, more tournaments, more training. His mother wanted family time. Grady about came apart at the seams trying to make them both happy. But Melanie would never be like that.
    Still, maybe it wasn’t enough that he had faith in her parenting. They’d never talked about having kids—he just assumed. And if he were already reading her all wrong now, how would it be five years from now? It killed him to think he’d run headlong into a marriage that could end up as unhappy as his parents’. They had waited until his younger brother turned eighteen and filed for divorce the next day.
    “Is she warming up?” he asked, the silence broken only by Melanie’s soft words to the shivering dog on her lap and the rhythmic scrape of the Honda’s worn wiper blades as the rain picked up force.
    “I think so.” She readjusted the towel she’d resurrected from a bag in her backseat as they drove toward the campground. “Her fur is dry now.”
    The pup had a quick bath to rinse off the dirt for the vet’s assessment. It turned out Polly had a microchip that led to a local shelter. There were records that the animal had current vaccinations, but the owners, sadly, weren’t interested in retrieving their puppy. They said she was more work than they’d anticipated. They were tired of chasing her when she dug out of the backyard. Grady had bought some basic puppy supplies from the vet clinic’s store, including food, a bowl and a cardboard carrier in the backseat, and packed up the little fur ball to bring with them.
    His hands clenched around the steering wheel as he thought of that puppy out alone, how easily he could have been stolen or hit by a car. “They shouldn’t have left her in the backyard all the time. She