Page 106 of The Ampersand Effect

“August,” she said quietly. “At the latest.”

Tobin ran her hands through her loose hair and sighed. She could ask Eddie for a loan—or a donation. Eddie would certainly provide some funding, but it would only buy them a few months and wouldn’t solve the rescue’s ongoing financial challenges. Besides, she hated turning to Eddie for things like this. Her best friend was overly generous with her assets, but Tobin never wanted money to come between them.

Everyone came to Eddie for money. And while Tobin knew that Eddie would readily give her whatever she asked for, she hated howdirtythat made her feel. She strived to protect the sanctity of their friendship, knowing Eddie was privately sensitive about why people were in her life. Eddie never truly believed her relationships were genuine—that people were invested in her as much as they wanted her to literally invest in them.

Tobin sighed. She’d have to think it through. Maybe Harrow would have some ideas—from a legal angle.

“I’ll help however I can. Let me see if I can think of some quick options, and I’ll talk to some people—discreetly—to see if they have any ideas. My friend Eddie has a lot of contacts. So does my sister. Someone has to know something you haven’t thought of yet.”

Tobin watched as Anchor absorbed her words, a tentative flicker of hope settling in the ocean-blue shimmer of her eyes.

Anchor wiped the last of her tears away and replaced them with a determined smile. “Thank you, Tobin.”

Tobin nodded just as a group of kids ran up, dragging hesitant parents behind them. They knelt beside the playpen, wiggling their fingers through the grates as the puppies trampled over one another for attention.

“I don’t know what I’ll do if I have to close the rescue,” Anchor said, her voice quieting again. “This place is my home. It’s all I have.” “That’s hardly true, Anchor. You have Devon, and me. And all

the volunteers.” Tobin gave her a warm smile. “Fetch a Friend is more than a pet rescue—it’s rescued a few humans along the way, too. It’s your found family. And family sticks around, even if the home crumbles. We’ll figure something out.”

They didn’t have time to say much more after that. Hordes of families came and went through the farmer’s market, everyone in good spirits as they perused vendor stalls, sipped their drinks, and nibbled on an assortment of snacks.

Tobin was finishing the adoption paperwork for one of the three- month-old puppies when she was struck by the familiar, soothing scent of patchouli and musk. Her head lifted from the clipboard. Grier stood at the booth across from theirs, leaning casually against a whiskey barrel table. She was watching with an adoring grin—one that reached her eyes and sparkled, even from twenty feet away.

Grier mouthed a silenthiand widened her smile, the single dimple on the left side of her mouth appearing like punctuation to the moment. Tobin’s heart doubled its pace, her own smile spreading before she could stop it.

Someone approached from behind, standing just a little too close—close enough for Tobin to know it wasn’t Anchor. Devon had arrived.

“Someone is making puppy-dog eyes at you,” Devon murmured, “and it isn’t one of our dogs.”

Tobin tried to mask the warmth rushing through her at the rather crass comment, though a part of her secretly relished being the object of Grier’s apparently obvious admiration. She decided not to take the bait; Devon had few boundaries, and the ones she did have were thinly veiled.

“Hi, Devon. Glad you made it.”

“What, not even going to acknowledge that bodacious hottie who’s been making heart-eyes since she moseyed up to that barrel a solid four minutes ago?” Devon looked at her with an unabashedly mischievous gleam in her eyes.

Tobin refused to look at Grier, despite the magnetic pull of those so-called heart eyes. She was still trying to extricate herself from Devon’s perceptive interrogation without dragging Grier into it.

Instead, she dramatically placed the pads of all five fingers on the clipboard and slid the papers toward Devon. “This,” she said, “is for Cake.”

She nodded toward the newly named pup sitting alone in the corner of the pen, now wearing the confetti collar his new family had picked out. “They’ll be back in about thirty minutes to pick him up. He’s all yours until then.”

Devon stared at her as she began gathering her things. Tobin didn’t miss the way Devon’s gaze swung between her and Grier, tracking their energy with laser precision. Devon was nothing if not meddlesome—and there was no way she was letting this go.

Tobin waved to Anchor as she found her phone and jacket by the table. “I’m heading out. I’ll let you know if I come up with any ideas, okay?”

Anchor waved goodbye from inside the puppy pen while refilling water bowls. “Thanks again, Tobin. Enjoy the rest of your day!”

Tobin walked past Devon, who was still seated at the table. She raised her aviators to perch them atop her head—and couldn’t help but wink at Devon as she did.

Then she crossed through the crowd and right up to Grier, who greeted her with a full-body hug and a heated kiss that landed just this side of decent.

“I know it’s only been, like, forty-eight hours since I saw you,” Tobin said with a smirk, “but would you believe that I missed you?” She had no intention of releasing Grier from her arms. The shorter woman just seemed to fit there—curve for curve, their bodies joining like nesting dolls.

And she wasn’t lying about missing her.

Every time they parted, Tobin felt like she was in a state of constant searching—like a word perched on the tip of her tongue. The weight of that truth settled in the back of her mind—close enough to feel, but not quite close enough to name. This was new for her—this wanting. And it was good.

Visions of ampersands floated through her mind.Fantasy and tomorrow,she’d said to Nadia.