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Dinner with the Booths had gone so hile Walt’s son, Tom, was on leave, Muriel was invited back the next week She had secret hopes it would be a regular event It was lovely Muriel pulled her truck up to her little bunkhouse after the next such dinner She’d left a light on for the dogs and could hear the before she even had her truck door closed This is the faht Buff, only a few months old, had to be kept in the kennel when she ay from the house; he was still full of all that destructive puppy stuff and for Labs it was almost an art form Luce was safe on her o at alainst the kennel, watching over Buff

She released the puppy froot down on the floor to scratch and cuddle and play

She had the izing So full of life and laughter, despite the fact that each one of theh times Obviously Walt treasured his family, that ithout question They were fantastic fun But did he kno remarkable they were? she wondered

They wanted to kno she got into movies "It was a ridiculous accident," she had told them "I was about fourteen when I was chosen from my freshent appeared and talkedme try out for a part in a movie For a fourteen-year-old with virtually no experience or training, I lucked out and did well Then there was a slightly larger part, then slightly larger, and I grew By seventeen I was rushing through my senior year to finish all my classes ahead of time so I could be in another movie"

"Didn’t your parents freak out?" Vanessa asked

"I didn’t have those kind of parents They were a film-industry waves--Hollywood focus has always been on the new entrant, the incredibly young wannabe But--at twenty-one I ent, as thirty-six That alh country rancher; he caer years With co coot theuy arrested"

"Were you ?"

"Five years," Muriel said "He’s still ent of record And friend"

"But why didn’t you stay ed "He didn’t really love me like I wanted to be loved I wanted a hoivecoet the Oscar?"

"I was noot the fae that would have the kind of commitment and devotion that, even in the absence of children and Oscars, could have sustained her After getting to know Walt’s faht that even if she’d had the chance for a fa, independent, well-adjusted adults Not in her line of work

So she ruffled the ears and necks of her two Labs, cooing to the theine The vehicle stopped, the door slammed and booted feet landed on the porch All these sounds were familiar There was a knock Wasn’t this unexpected… "Come on in, Walt"

He stood in the door frame in his suede jacket, jeans, hat He looked at her on the floor with her pups and s in and out of his long legs, Buff juot out of control, she thought

"Any chance you broughtup

"I’ for coffee?" she asked

"It would keepout a hand to pull her to her feet "Coainst hi her jaw "Where do the dogs sleep?"

"On the bed withher head up to hi he was And how solid; a man you could hold on to confidently He didn’t waver, not literally, not figuratively She liked that in a ht?"

"Youthat move, Walt?" He kissed her in a way that should have sufficiently answered the question

"Muriel, I’"

"Aren’t you afraid of us beco an item?"

"Girl, I’ve been dressed down by a president You can’t scare ossip What worries hed at him "You’re just a few years older than I am And you’re almost irresistibly handsome"

One black brow shot up "You find me handsome?"

She nodded "And sexy"

"Well, now That so? Muriel, I want to touch every part of you And then I want us to watch the sunrise together" The dogs hirling around their legs, wagging, butting, trying to get so about these animals"

"They’ll settle down in a minute," she promised "But don’t you"

Five