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T iffany stared at the massive interior that appeared to be just one big open room except for the big wooden staircase off to the side. “How on earth is that roof being suspended with such an open room?”

He pointed up to the huge log rafters. “That’s how.”

She shook her head. “Outside it looks like absolutely nothing, but, when you step inside,” she admitted in amazement, “it’s a completely different story.”

“It still looks like nothing,” he countered, with half a laugh, “but that will change very quickly, once I get started on the inside. But I won’t do any work inside as long as the roof needs work.”

“Patching or reroofing?”

“I’m reroofing this half, where the sun created the most damage. The other side is not too bad,” he said, with a casual glance in that direction. “So, the actual house itself will be at the end of my list of repairs. I’m just trying to make it livable enough that the damage doesn’t continue.”

She nodded as she surveyed the well-worn hardwood floors and the interior walls that were half logs, half drywall. “I’m surprised drywall is in here.”

“I think somebody got it in their head at some point that this would be a really good location for a home,” Timber guessed, “but either they ran out of money or ran out of support, or who knows? Maybe they couldn’t stand the loneliness.”

“It’s not very far from town though,” she replied, looking at him. “It didn’t take very long to get here. That surprised me.”

“Maybe,” he conceded, “though this week, I’ve been thinking maybe I should have gone farther out.”

She smiled. “If you’re looking to have a rescue, you need to be close enough to get supplies and help, but far enough out that you’re not dealing with too many pissed-off neighbors.”

He winced at that. “Isn’t that the truth,” he muttered. “I was hoping I was out far enough to avoid hunters too, but that hasn’t worked out too well.”

“Yeah, I was hoping that would be the case too,” she muttered, with a sad smile.

She walked back to the doorway and took another look outside, but the doe was happily eating, staying close to her fawn.

Often they would take off and leave them hidden and come back for them later, but, in this case, the doe wasn’t allowing very much space between her and her baby.

She walked over to the single stretch of kitchen counter, saw that he also had a big table set up as an island, serving also as a makeshift dining room table, office, and apparently tool storage.

He looked at the table and sighed. “Yeah, obviously a bachelor’s abode,” he said, with a groan, “and clearly I’m still in work mode.”

“But that’s what you’re here for,” she stated. “Don’t worry about how I feel about it. I’ll always be rooting for anybody who’s putting time and effort into doing something for animals.”

He just smiled at that and nodded. “So, what about the doe?” he asked her. “Do you think she’s okay?”

“She’s looking fine,” she replied, as she glanced back outside again, “and that’s really good news. I’m very happy to see her up and moving as much as she is.”

“Good,” he muttered.

After he put on the coffee to brew, they shared more small talk, until he poured them both a cup.

She watched as the squirrel he’d befriended, one he’d named Dodger, sat on the deck outside looking in the kitchen window.

He scooped up a few peanuts from a container he kept nearby and placed them on the window ledge through the open glass. She chuckled. “Did Kat send you?”

She frowned at him and then laughed again. “Nope, she sure didn’t. Although, if I’d told her that I was coming, I might have been given the third degree, particularly if you haven’t been very good at letting them know how you’re doing.”

He winced. “Yeah, well,… that’s probably true,” he admitted. “I did promise her that I would keep her posted. I text her every once in a while, but I guess the communication has been a little slim.”

“Did you really think she would send somebody out to check on you?”

“In a heartbeat,” he declared.

Tiffany burst out laughing. “I’m glad to hear you know her so well. At the same time, it does mean that she cares.”

“I know she cares,” he agreed, with a smile. “Her heart is as big as New Mexico.”

“Ah, that’s a nice thing to say. Kat and Badger both have been a godsend to a lot of people.”

“And I’m one of them,” Timber admitted, “and don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten that.”

She sighed. “I’m really not trying to get off on the wrong foot here, and I’m not here because of them.

I’m not here at their request or anything like that,” she shared, with a gentle smile.

“I was just concerned about the doe and her baby, plus interested to see how you managed to get close enough to work on her.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said, “and I’m glad that you came on your own and not after a push or a shove from them.”

She burst out laughing. “I don’t push and shove that easily. I’m too small to get into a battle physically, and honestly, enough really good people are out there that, if they want to have battles, they can have them without me.”

He smiled and nodded at that. “You do appear to have a big heart.”

“I do,” she agreed, “and trust me. It’s got me into trouble more than once.”

“In what way?” he asked.

She looked over at him and smiled. “I bought a dying rural veterinary clinic for one thing. I can keep those animals I already had treated safe and sound, but, in the meantime, some of those pets have passed, due to age, and a lot of those people never got new pets,” she shared.

“So I’m not sure that buying the clinic was the best move.

” Then she shrugged. “But we don’t always make business decisions for the right reasons. ”

“Sounds as if it was the right reason to me.”

“If the business grows, it will be fine, but there are always challenges.” She didn’t want to get into all the details about the accountant telling her to raise prices and to stop doing work for free and all the other issues he kept going on about.

“If you’re talking about accountants and pencil-pushers,” Timber noted, “I’ve got a few of those naysayers myself.”

She looked at him, startled, then nodded. “That’s exactly what I was thinking of.” She gave him a smile. “I’ve had more than a few arguments where they’ve told me to sell.”

“It’s that bad?” he asked.

“Not right now, no,” she noted, “but it’s hard when you can’t pay staff, so you have to get lines of credit to cover payroll, when business is down or whatever.

” She shrugged. “Still, I would rather deal with the debt and keep everybody employed, so I don’t have to lay anybody off.

When you need staff, you need them,” she stated, “and I’m happy to report that the last six months have been better. ”

“That’s good to hear. I would hate to think of your closing down.”

“Me too,” she said, “and I don’t know what I would do after that anyway. I could always work at another clinic, but, after having my own, working for someone else is not quite the same.”

“No, it’s not,” he declared. He turned toward the doe. “You also seem to be far more interested in helping animals than dealing with paperwork.”

She laughed. “Isn’t everybody? Paperwork is for a special kind of person,” she declared, with a shrug, “and that is definitely not me.”

He grinned. “That’s why we have pencil-pushers,” he said, “but we also have to remember that they are who they are, and that’s what they do.

They don’t understand the animals, and they don’t understand the need to have another water trough or power in a barn or to dig a second well as a backup.

They don’t think about carrying spare medications just in case you have an outbreak of something, and you’re sure it’ll be worse this next week.

All of that kind of thing costs a lot of money, and, in their eyes, it’s just inventory sitting there, not producing. ”

“And they don’t understand why you can’t just buy it when you need it,” she added with a nod, as she interrupted him.

He smiled. “Yep, on the other hand, they do keep our taxes in line and keep us moving forward in whatever direction it is that we think we’re going.”

“Ah, it’s that think we’re going part that gets me,” she admitted, with a smirk, “because, Lord knows, sometimes I’m not sure.”

“One step forward,” he suggested.

She nodded. “One step forward. That’s the trick, isn’t it?”

“I think so, and, if you look at what’s right in front of you, and don’t worry about all the details all around you,” he offered, “it makes it easier. Once you’re committed, confirm you’re committed.”

“Oh, I’m committed,” she declared, “and I certainly won’t be backing out anytime soon. It’s just dealing with,… you know, accountants.”

“And when there’s a shortage of clients, what do you do?” he asked.

She looked at him and sighed. “If I don’t need to be in the office because of the schedule, on my days off I volunteer.”

He nodded. “Volunteer where?”

“The Birds of Prey Sanctuary.”

“Right, of course you do.” He laughed. “And they don’t pay you either.”

“No, they… can’t afford to pay, and, as long as everything else in my world is covered, I don’t ask them too. That’s what volunteers are all about, right?”

“But it sounds as if you need to get paid.”

“No, I don’t. Business is just fine and has been doing much better these last few months,” she clarified.

“So, with any luck, I’ve turned the corner and now have established a reputation, and people know I can do the job.

It’s always tough when you take over from somebody who’s been there for a very long time.

Even though you worked with them and have seen these people before, all of a sudden you’re the stranger left in charge of the business, and it’s not the same,” she shared, with half a smile.

“It’s taken quite a while to win people over, and that is something I didn’t expect.

I should have, I guess, small towns and all. ”

He laughed. “No, I think all people are that way,” he chided her comfortably, “and it makes no sense in many ways, but, I guess to them, they just needed you to prove yourself.”

“And yet having to prove myself even after they’ve seen me with their usual vet for two years before I took over doesn’t make any sense and is kind of hurtful.

But I think I’ve turned a corner, and I should be fine from here on out,” she declared cheerfully.

“Regardless… I’ll be fine.” And she refused to elaborate further.

No way she would go more into that. “Now, what about you?” she asked.

“What’s your time frame for bringing in other animals? ”

“I need paddocks, and I need to repair the barn. Of course, if there’s an animal in need,” he pointed out, “that’s a whole different deal. However, as far as what I plan to be doing, I do have an idea roughed out.” Then he gave her the rundown of what his next six weeks looked like.

“That is a lot,” she muttered in amazement. “Can you really get that much accomplished? Especially all by yourself?”

“I’m hoping so, but you’re right. It is a lot. I’ll do what I can do, and, at least for the moment, that is the plan.”

She nodded. “You still need help.”

He shrugged. “I do need help, and, if help is available, then I’ll use it, but, if the help isn’t, I’ll get there in my time.”

“And is it important that you do it in your time?” she asked.

He stared at her. “I’m not so sure that it is,” he admitted. “Getting this place has been a big part of it, but, once I did, it didn’t take very long to understand that I’ve bitten off a lot.”

She smiled. “Yes, I can see that. Bitten off a lot is right. Might it be a bit too big of a bite, especially for just you to work on?”

“No, it’s not too big. It’ll just take a little longer to get where I want to go,” he said. “That’s more of the challenge.”

As they sat here having coffee, he heard a series of shots fired. He bolted to his feet and raced outside, and she followed him, just a hair behind.

Timber was out in the yard, as a vehicle spun off in the distance, with crazy laughter coming from the driver in the vehicle. But it was too far away and going too fast for Timber to catch up to it.

“Do you know who that was?” She gasped at his side.

He looked at her, all in a rage. “No, but I’m afraid I have a good idea.” He turned, looking for the doe.

“What are you looking for?”

“The doe.”

“Why?”

“I’m afraid they’ve shot her.”

She bolted into the yard, running as she looked for her. He was right behind her. They found the fawn, no problem, but the doe was smart enough and had gone into hiding.

Timber muttered, “I hope they didn’t get her.”

“I didn’t hear it hit anything,” she noted, “but then I guess I would feel better if I’d heard the bullet hit somewhere.”

He stared off in the distance. “So, that’s one of the things I’ll need to get now—cameras.”

She turned to him and winced. “That’s probably something you never thought you would have to deal with, is it?”

“No, not something I wanted to deal with at all.”

“You think it’s the same guy?”

“Oh, it’ll be related, I just don’t know how.” He sighed. “I just don’t know to what extent.”

“I thought this was Andy’s land,” she said, turning to look at him.

“It was Andy’s land, and then I bought it from him, and I’m still looking to buy more from him, when he’s ready to sell.”

“Oh, wow,” she murmured. “In that case, you’ll be here for a long time.”

He looked at her and smiled. “This is where I’m putting down roots. And, if anybody thinks that they’ll chase me off this land, they’ve got another think coming.”