"There's some water in the saddlebag. Get it, will you? Thirsty? I bet you're thirsty. Plenty hungry. Been on the road awhile, right? Been traveling."

As he talked to the dog, stroked it, Naomi poked through the saddlebag of the bike, came out with a bottle of water.

"Let's see what we can do here." Xander took the bottle, gestured Naomi down. "Cup your hands."

"I-"

"Come on, come on. It won't kill you."

She did as he asked, cupping them in front of the dog's muzzle. He lapped at the water Xander poured, panted, lapped, then laid his head down again.

"We need to get him off the road. I'll put him in the back of your car."

"Where should I take him?"

"You should take him home."

"I can't take him home." She sprang up as Xander slid his arms under the dog, lifted him.

She saw that the dog was definitely male-unneutered male. "He belongs to somebody."

With the bone-thin, tired, filthy dog in his arms, Xander stood, boots planted, and gave her a long look out of deep blue eyes. "Does this dog look like it belongs to anybody? Open the back."

"He could've gotten lost. Somebody might be looking for him."

"We'll ask around, but I haven't heard about anybody losing a dog. He's full-grown. Mutt. Maybe some husky or Australian shepherd in there with those eyes. Alice will know-the vet. If somebody lost a dog, she'll know. Meanwhile she's closed on Sunday."

"There must be an emergency number."

"The only emergency I see is a dog who needs a decent meal, a good bath, and somewhere to rest."

"You take him home."

"On that?" He jerked his head toward his bike.

"I'll wait."

"You found him."

"You'd have found him two minutes later."

"There you go. Look, take him home, and I'll go pick up some supplies for him. You get him to the vet tomorrow, I'll split the bill with you. You're not taking that dog to the shelter. If they don't find the owners-and I'm betting they're long gone-they'll probably put him down."

"Oh, don't say that." Turning a frustrated circle, she gripped fists in her hair. "Don't say that so I feel guilty and obligated. Wait, wait-he's filthy, and he smells amazing."

Naomi grabbed the old blanket she carried in the back, spread it out.

"There you go. You'll be all right. I'll run back, get what you need. I'll meet you back at your place."

Trapped, as Xander strode back to his bike, swung on, kick-started it to a roar, and zoomed away, she looked back at the dog. "You just better not get carsick."

She drove slowly, eyes flicking to the rearview, but didn't hear any sounds of sick dog.

When she pulled up in front of her house, she wondered if the most excellent work she'd done that afternoon had been worth dealing with a stray, starving dog for a night.

She got out, walked around to open the back. "Yes, that's an amazing smell that will potentially take weeks to dissipate. Not entirely your fault, of course, but you smell disgusting. I don't guess you could just jump out on your own."

He bellied over a little, tried to reach her hand with his tongue.

"Never mind. You're skinny enough I could pick you up and probably carry you a half a mile without breaking a sweat. But you're just too dirty and smelly. We'll wait for Xander. Stay there. Just stay."

She dashed into the house, filled a plastic cup with water, grabbed some flatbread crackers. Best she could do.

When she dashed out again, the dog was whining, sniffing at the edge of the back. "No, no, just wait. A little refreshment, that's all. Here, here's a cracker."

He all but inhaled it, and six others, then slurped and lapped the water from the cup.

"That's a little better, isn't it? He's not going to be long. He really better not be long because every minute you're in there is another week it's going to take to air out the smell."

This time when she broke down to pet him, the dog turned his head, nuzzled her hand. "Yeah, I guess that's a little better."

She went back into the car for the orange Fanta, then followed impulse and pulled out her camera.

"We can make flyers for the vet, for the shelter, for whatever."

She took several photos while he stared at her with those strange blue eyes, so strongly colored against the dirty brown-and felt ridiculous relief when she heard the sound of an engine.

Xander, now in his truck, pulled up behind her.

The dog's tail thumped.

"Fancy crackers?"

"I didn't have kibble handy."

"We got some. Better feed him out here in case he sicks it up again."

"Good thinking."

Xander, obviously not delicate about the dirt or smell, lifted the dog out. The dog stood this time, looked a little wobbly, while Xander hauled an already-open fifty-pound bag of dog food out of the truck.

"Think you got enough food?"

Xander only grunted and poured some into a big plastic blue bowl.

"Hey."

She caught the red bowl he tossed.

"For water."

Naomi went around the side, where she had a hose to water the so-far-imaginary garden.

When she came back, the dog had wolfed down every morsel and appeared capable of doing it again.

His tail swung back and forth with more energy.

"Water first, big guy." Xander took the bowl, set it down. The dog drank like a camel.

"I don't care if you think I'm heartless, but that dog's not coming in the house unless we can deal with that smell."

"Yeah, yeah, can't blame you. Somewhere along the line he rolled in something dead. They just love doing that. So we give him a bath. Probably a couple of them. Hose around there?"

"Yeah. I've got dish soap inside."

"Don't need it." He went back to the truck and came back with a black dog collar and a bottle of dog shampoo.

"You did get supplies."

"You're going to have to hold him. I'll soak him down, suds him up, rinse him off, but he's not going to like it."

"If he bites me, I'm going to hurt you."

"He's not a biter. There's no mean in those eyes. You hold on to him, Slim."

"I've got him."

The dog was stronger than he looked-but then so was she. When Xander ran the water over him, he balked, strained, barked, pulled.

But he didn't snap, snarl, or bite.

Xander pulled a massive dog biscuit out of his back pocket, and the dog settled down to eye it greedily.

"Yeah, you want this. Hold the hose," he told Naomi, then broke the biscuit in half. "Half now, half when we're done. Got it?"

He gave the dog the half biscuit, and poured green liquid from the bottle in his hands. Obviously the dog enjoyed the rubbing and soaping, and stood quietly while Xander scrubbed at him.

He didn't care for the rinsing off, but the second round of soaping had his eyes half closing in bliss. By the end of it, he sat quietly-maybe, Naomi thought, as delighted as she was that he didn't smell like dead skunk.

"Better stand back when I let him go."

"Let him go? What if he runs?"

"He's not going anywhere. Stand back, or you'll get wetter than you already are."

She released the collar, then danced back and out of range of the energetic shaking and storm of water.

"He isn't as ugly as I thought."

"Get some meat back on his bones, he'll be a good-looking dog. Might have some Lab in him-shape of the head. Probably got a lot in him. Mutts make the best dogs."

"Now that he's clean, doesn't look like he's going to collapse, and you've got the truck, you can take him with you."

"Can't do it."

"You know the vet by name. And-"

"I can't. Look . . ." He turned, went back to his truck for a rag of a towel, and began to rub the wet dog. "I had to put my dog down last month. Had him nearly half my life. I just can't take this one. I'm not ready."

The open bag of kibble, the shampoo, the bowls, the collar. She should've put it together. "Okay. I know how it feels. We had a dog-my brother's dog, really. The uncles gave it to him for Christmas when he was ten. He was so sweet, so considerate, we didn't have to put him down. He just slipped away in his sleep when he was fourteen. The four of us cried like babies."

The dog sniffed at Xander's pocket.

"This one's not stupid." Xander took the second half of the biscuit, offered it. This offering was taken politely.

"He's a good dog. It shows."

"Maybe."

"You get him to Alice tomorrow. I'll split the vet bill with you. I'll get the word out."

"All right."

"I've got a leash and a dog bed-it's a little worn, but he won't care. A couple of rawhide bones. I'll bring it in."

Naomi looked at the dog, at Xander, at the enormous bag of dog food. "Want a beer? I'd say you've earned it."

"Hang on." He pulled out his phone, punched in a number. "Hey. Yeah, yeah, I texted I would be. Now I'm going to be later."

"Oh, if you've got a date, don't-"

Xander shifted his gaze-a deeper, bolder blue than the no-name dog's. "Kevin and Jenny. Sunday dinner. Naomi found this dog, I'm just helping her get it cleaned up. Don't know. At least a couple years old, golden brown now that six inches of filth are washed off. Mixed breed."

"I took pictures. I'll send them a picture, in case they recognize him."

"Your boss here's going to send you a picture of the mutt. No, go ahead. Yeah, later." He put the phone away, hefted the bag of dog food over his shoulder. "I could use that beer."

They started toward the house, the dog between them. "He's still limping."

"He's been on the road awhile, I'd say. The pads of his paws are scraped up and sore."

After unlocking the door, holding it open, she watched the dog limp inside, begin to explore.

"You don't think we're going to find his owners."

"I'd lay money against it. You want this back in the kitchen?"

"Yeah." She'd keep him overnight, even for a few days while they tried to locate his owners or found someone who wanted a dog. She got out a beer, a bottle of wine, handed Xander the beer, poured wine into a plastic cup.