Early the next morning, Merrill got into his old blazer and began his road trip to Breeze Bay. He had left out a letter for Duncan instructing him on how to prune the fruit trees and to keep his eye on the loose hinge for the chicken coop. He also instructed Duncan to tell Aaron to go to hell if he ever called the house or showed up. He figured Duncan might get a kick out of the last part and would be dumb enough to actually do it.

It was dark when he got on the road but he made sure to fill his thermos to the very top with coffee. As he drove he watched the mountains change into hills, then open flat land for several miles and then back into mountains again. He didn't mind the quiet as he drove since it helped him reflect on old memories and new ones. His late wife, Louise, would've loved a road trip to Breeze Bay and he would've loved to see her playing in the ocean waves. The beach always held a special place in his heart, since it was where they fell in love.

If only Louise had been able to meet Lucinda. His wife would be proud of him for taking the young woman under his wing and giving her a sense of family which she so desperately craved. Louise had always been the one to step up and help members of the community. Whether it was quilting blankets, knitting hats and scarfs or fixing meals, Louise always offered help. Sometimes she even behaved as a mother figure to children with single parents. If she were alive now, she probably would've moved Lucinda into their home!

Merrill chuckled to himself, imagining his wife fussing over Lucinda by cooking her meals and cleaning her home. He could picture Louise giving sound advice to her while tucking a piece of hair behind Lucinda's ear and then kissing her on the forehead. Feeling his eyes beginning to water, Merrill turned the knob on the radio dial and cranked the volume up. Road trips were meant to be fun, not a weepy mess. After driving a large stretch of road, the coffee had him begging for a sign that signaled there was a restroom up ahead. Thankfully, the next exit went right into a small town, with a small shopping center where Merrill could finally take a bathroom break.

He parked the car slightly crooked, his stomach gurgling and hopped out of the truck quicker than a flea. He walked briskly to the public restroom, sat down and felt immediate relief as he released his bowels. Merrill shook his head thinking to himself about how much he regretted eating two servings of chili for dinner the night before. Definitely a bad choice before a road trip!

Once he was outside again, Merrill returned to his old blazer to find a dog on a leash tied to his side mirror. The silly looking dog looked at him with its head cocked and tongue sticking out from the particularly warm day. He looked around to see if he could find the person who abandoned this dog, but he didn't even know where to begin. So he began asking passerbys.

"Excuse me Miss, you wouldn't happen to see who tied this dog to my truck?"

"No Sir, but try asking inside that spa," said a young woman with ruby painted lips and a fresh coat of polish on her nails that matched. "Maybe they saw something."

Merrill decide to take her advice so he went into the spa that was in front of his blazer. The door chimed as he walked through it and a red headed woman looked up from putting nail polish on a customers toes.

"Welcome to Audrey's Beauty Spa, how may I help you today, Sir?"

"Oh, I'm not here for an appointment. I was wondering about that Pit Bull tied to my truck," he said pointing behind him. "Did you see who left her there?"

"I'm sorry, but I reserve all answers for customers only." The redhead smiled.

"Well I'm sorry ma'am, but I'm on a strict schedule, I plan to make it to Breeze Bay by tonight."

"Breeze Bay? My sister lives there... What's waiting for you that you're in such a hurry?" she asked while escorting a tiny elderly customer to a seat by the nail dryer.

"Visiting a friend."

"Well it looks like you'll be bringing company with you cause I don't think anyone will be claiming that old dog." She sighed as she turned on the nail dryer. "Our animal shelter is packed to the gills and people around here don't seem to understand the importance of neutering their pets. Which means a whole lot of puppies and not enough people to adopt them. So unfortunately we have a bad dumping epidemic around here."

"A dumping epidemic?"

"Yep." She nodded. "People will just abandon their dogs in the woods or on the side of the road, but this is the first I've heard of someone tying their dog to someone's car."

The tiny elderly customer spoke up, her voice wobbly from old age, "Linda had someone leave a box full of puppies at her doorstep."

The redheaded woman gasped. "No kidding!"

"Nope," the tiny old lady replied. "So she put out an ad for free puppies and by some miracle she found them all homes."

"Well." The woman turned back to Merrill. "Sounds like you've got two options: either keep the dog, or find her a good home."

Merrill sighed and thought about how there was no way he had the time to take care of a dog. "Don't think I can keep her, but maybe my friend can help me find her a good home in Breeze Bay."

"Well, dogs love beaches!" The woman smiled.

"If you say so... well, goodbye."

"Tuh tah." She waved her hand.

Merrill left the spa and stared at the dog as she used her hind leg to scratch behind her ear. There was a blissful look on her face and her tail even thumped the ground as it wagged. He went over to the Pit Bull and approached her as friendly as possible. He stuck out his hand and then slowly moved in to pet her, but his hand was met by her tongue as she licked his fingers. With a laugh Merrill concluded, judging by her slobbery salutation, that she was harmless, so he untied her and helped her into his blazer. She jumped in eagerly.

For the rest of the drive she proved to be a good companion. Merrill talked with her as if she were a person and the dog stared back wagging her tail as if she understood him. This helped the drive go by faster too. Together they made another pit stop so Merrill could find proper dog food and treats to feed her. He felt bad feeding her potato chips and baby carrots, even though she seemed to really enjoy them. Then a couple hours down the road, Merrill stopped again so that they could both pee.

Before he knew it, he was driving into Breeze Bay.

🌊🌊🌊

Lucinda had been waiting for Merrill all evening, so when she finally heard a knock at the door she felt relieved. It was just a little after dinner and Raif had let her off early so she could get things ready for Merrill's arrival, but it was still a few hours before closing time. She rushed to the door in large, eager steps, excited to finally see her friend, but when she opened the door she was surprised to see Hector.

"Hi..." she stepped back.

"Hey, sorry to come over at this hour, but Raif mentioned your shower was leaking? I figured I'd take a look since I was close by."

"Oh... ok, sure." Lucinda replied as she moved aside for Hector and motioned for him to enter. "So were you at the cafe just now?"

"Yeah, Emma and I were just having some coffee." He pointed behind him and she craned her neck, spotting Emma waving at her from the car.

"She can come in, if she wants," Lucinda offered.

"Nah." Hector waved his hand. "This will only take a sec and Emma tends to talk a lot, if you haven't noticed, so if she comes in you'll probably never get her out of here."

"Ok, well it's the one upstairs." She pointed. "I'm adding the finishing touches to dinner, so just holler if you need me."

"Will do," he called over his shoulder and began climbing the stairs.

Lucinda returned to the kitchen and poked the potatoes that were boiling on the stove. She could feel that they were nearly tender, so she put the lid back on to give them more time. At the sound of the doorbell she flashed her eyes to door again. With a smile she set down the fork that was in her hand and made her way to greet Merrill, but to her surprise again, it wasn't him.

"Hey!" Emma exclaimed as she bounced on her toes, with her coat completely buttoned up. "Can I use your restroom?"

"Yeah, sure." Lucinda stepped aside to let her in. "You know, you don't have to ask. My home is your home."

"Yeah, but being that we're your landlords, it would make me feel crummy just walking in here without permission! Anyway, I drank too much coffee and I thought we were going straight home, but then Hector insisted we come over here to fix your shower cause Raif told us that Merrill is coming into town and he doesn't want Merrill to think we're slumlords that don't take care of you, so here we are interrupting your dinner."

Emma finally took a breath after her very long sentence and continued to bounce her way to the downstairs bathroom.

"So how do you like the place? I've never bothered to ask before. Are you settling in ok?" She closed the door behind her, forcing Lucinda to stand outside of it in order to hear her. "By the way, I heard the good news about you and Raif making things official. He's such a great guy and deserves a good partner in life and I'm so happy for the two of you, I really am. Practically every single woman in town wants to jump his bones..." she gasped at herself and then giggled as she flushed the toilet. "I'm sorry I shouldn't talk like that, but don't worry about me, I'm not one of those women. I've got Hector and he's built like a bull, if you know what I'm saying!" Emma began washing her hands and raised her voice over the sound of the running water. "I bet Raif is one heck of a lover too. Men like him usually are, I mean he's got to be with all of that surfing he does and lucky for you, you get to see all of that toned skin in the bedroom and let me tell you, there are some seriously jealous women in town because of it, but you know what I say?" She suddenly swung the door open and grinned wickedly at Lucinda who was standing there speechless. "Rub it in their faces!"

Lucinda let out a laugh. "What? Emma... have you been drinking?"

"No!"

Lucinda raised her brow at her.

"Ok, so I may have added a little rum to my coffee, but so what! Rub your love in those jealous women's faces! You wouldn't know it just by looking at him, but back in the day Hector was the guy women faught over in this town. A firefighter with a Spanish accent, are you kidding me? Women were wild for him and they simply couldn't understand what he could possibly see in me." She pointed to herself. "Women in town thought I was plain and boring ,ugh, can you believe it? Me, plain and boring? And do you know who was at the center of all the trash talking?" Before Lucinda could even offer a guess, Emma answered for her. "Eaddie 'stick up her butt' Harlow! She was already married, but she seems to think she's the most beautiful woman in the world so whenever a man doesn't flirt with her she gets bent out of shape. Talk about a psycho! Thank goodness Raif broke up with Rachel before he made a mistake like marrying her or worse, getting her pregnant! Can you imagine being tied to that family? I don't wish that on anyone!"

"Sweetheart... is that you?" Hector's voice called out and Lucinda let out a breath of relief. Saved by the bell...

"We're over here," Emma shouted back to him and made her way to the living room. "I had to use the bathroom, I don't think I would've made it if I waited till we got home. Did you fix the shower already? I was just telling Lucinda how cute she and Raif are together and about that time Eaddie was all bent out of shape cause you were dating me and how she thinks that every man is supposed to have the hots for her. I swear that woman is a piece of work. Even Isabel says that Eaddie has a lot of negative energy that surrounds her and that's why she's such a grouch, but if you ask me, Eaddie is just an old fashioned bitc--"

"Ok, that's enough," Hector said while hooking his arm around Emma. "Honey, you're doing that thing again where you don't let anyone else talk..."

"Oh!" Emma's face instantly turned beet red. "I'm so sorry. I really have been blabbing and poor you, you've just been politely listening this whole time while I go on and on and on like some drunk buffoon."

Hector cleared his throat. "Um, sweetheart, you're doing it again."

She gasped. "Ok, I'll shut up. Right now."

Lucinda chuckled and shook her head. "It's ok, rum does that to me too."

"Well, good news," Hector replied. "The leak should be easy to fix. Looks like I just need to replace the faucet, so I'll come by tomorrow to replace it, ok?"

"Ok, I might be out and about with Merrill around town, but I don't mind if you come by while I'm gone."

"Sounds good. I'll give you a call either way. Now come on, Em, let's get out of Lucinda's hair and head home," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"See ya. Sorry for talking your ear off." Emma waved as they made their way to the door.

"It's alright, it was... entertaining." She smiled.

Once they were gone, Lucinda bent over with hands on her knees and let out a deep breath. If only Emma knew that Raif did get Rachel pregnant and now he was forever tied to crazy Eaddie Harlow. Suddenly she remembered the potatoes and rushed to the kitchen. Water from the pot was spilling over as steam hissed from the lid and she quickly turned off the burner. Thankfully the potatoes weren't turned to mush and she was able to finish fixing dinner.

By the time there was another knock at the door, it was eleven, and Lucinda desperately hoped it was Merrill this time. When she opened the door she was surprised to see a dog at the door and a suitcase. Not sure whether the dog was a vicious stray, she called out for Merrill. Finally he appeared with another suitcase and a couple of grocery bags in his hands.

"Meet the hitch hiker I picked up on the road," Merrill said. "She's harmless. She's been calm the entire drive. I had to pick up a few things for her." He walked through the door and rested the plastic bags on the counter. Then he opened them to reveal its contents. "Food and water bowl, a better leash, some treats and then this." Merrill unfolded a dog bed which had been rolled up pretty tightly to fit into the bag.

"Wow. She's really getting spoiled. Where did you find her?" Lucinda asked as she now felt more confident to pet the dog.

"Some town I had to pull over in to use the restroom. About six hours from here. I think it was called 'Berryville'?"

"Hmm. Never heard of it." Lucinda shrugged.

"Well, when I walked back to the car, there she was, tied to the side mirror. I asked around about her but no one saw who put her there." Merrill crouched down and rubbed her back. "You think she would get along with Raif's dog, Frank?"

"I don't see why not," Lucinda replied as she set up the dog bed, food and water bowl near the kitchen. "What are you going to call her?"

"Good question!" Merrill gave the dog a good look over. "I bet my grandkids would know a good name. Speaking of which, I need to call Sylvia and let her know I made it."

Lucinda expected Merrill to walk over to the wall where the house phone was hanging, but instead he pulled out a cell phone. This surprised her since Merrill relied very little on techy products. He didn't own a TV, he used a map instead of a GPS, he never bothered with using email or even owning a computer, so to see him with a cell phone was a tad odd. Lucinda then watched Merrill speak on the phone as she heated up dinner for him. She was happy that he was on better terms with his daughter and that she now visited more often. Yet there was part of her that felt jealousy.

There was also part of her that worried that Merrill wouldn't need her anymore...

She quickly pushed the thought aside and began serving a dinner plate for him. Once he was off the phone, she motioned him over to the dining table. "Hungry?"

"Starved!" he answered, and took a seat.

They chatted a bit about Sylvia's visits while he ate, but it was apparent in his sagging eyes that he was tired after the long drive. Nevertheless, his mouth was lifted into a lazy smile as he recounted doting on his grandchildren, especially little Emma who still loved big hugs.

Yawning, Lucinda noticed it was well past midnight and rubbed his arm with her own sleepy smile. "We should call it a night. You've had a long day."

"But at least I had company," he replied as he looked to the stray dog, sprawled on her new bed.

Both feeling spent, Merrill and Lucinda went to their bedrooms to retire for the night. It had been a long day for both of them and Lucinda decided she would tell Merrill about everything that had been going on in the morning.