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“Oh?” Erin tilted her head.

“I was sad that he was gone.”

“Oh,” she said, sympathy pulling down the corners of her mouth. “I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t expect to have that kind of reaction.” I’d worked here for a year, and sure, I’d been sad when animals I had grown attached to left, but it was more a bittersweet sadness. This was different. This was just plain sadness.

“You were close with Bean. It’s a perfectly reasonable reaction.”

“I think I was hoping some miracle would happen andI’dget to adopt him.” When Erin looked surprised by that statement, I added, “I know, I know, I didn’t fill out any hold paperwork or put down a deposit. It was karma.”

Erin laughed at my reference to the customer I’d pissed off at the beginning of summer. “I thought your dad was allergic to furred creatures.”

“He is. It was never going to happen, but I guess in the back of my mind I still hoped.”

“I understand. I’ve gotten pretty attached to some residents here myself.”

“How do you get past it?”

“I take comfort knowing they’re with their forever family and pour my love into another animal that needs it. There is no shortage of those. Like those kittens that were dropped off. They’re doing well, but some kitten snuggles could help both you andthem.”

I was sure I could snuggle some kittens. I was sure Iwoulddo that. “It’s just I didn’t get any closure. I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

“That’s hard.”

I bit my lip and tapped on the doorframe. “Do you think…I mean, if I could just get the address of the family that adopted Bean so I could…”

Erin was shaking her head before I even finished. “I can’t give you that, Wren. You know that. If you used an address for personal reasons, the whole shelter could suffer if the client chose to report us for that.”

My throat tightened. “You think they’d report the shelter?”

“I have no idea, people are unpredictable and I can’t risk that. I feel for you, I really do, but I can’t give out personal client information.”

I swallowed. “If he gets brought back for any reason…”

“You will be the first person I call.”

I nodded for longer than I should’ve because it was the only thing keeping me from crying.

Erin straightened a stack of papers on her desk. “I’m not scheduling you with Asher anymore. Is that what you want?”

“Yes,” I squeaked out. I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “Can I work a little today? Clean out Bean’s kennel?” I had noticed on my way in that it hadn’t been cleaned yet. I could do that. Maybe it would give me a small amount of closure.

“You don’t need to, Wren.”

“I want to,” I said, and then went to find a hose.

“Chad!” I called, jogging across the parking lot to catch up with him. The knees of my jeans were wet from where I’d been scrubbing the floor of Bean’s kennel and my hands were red from being damp and cold for the last hour.

He turned and stopped to wait for me. “Hey.”

“Are you sick?”

“Sick?”

“Didn’t you call in yesterday?” I asked.

“No.”