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“Yet you came all this way,” he added, “so the least I can do is get you a cup of tea or something. However, the delivery truck and the supplies have just arrived, and I need to get out there to help unload.”

“No problem. It’s not as if I gave you any warning.”

He laughed. “No, and I didn’t issue an invitation either.” She flushed at that, and he winced. “And I didn’t mean it that way. I just didn’t realize you would be coming.”

“No, I get it,” she said and stepped back. “Do you mind if I go check on the doe?”

“Go ahead,” he replied. “I don’t know if she’s around or not, since we’ve been making a fair amount of noise.”

“I’ll check.” And, with that, she quickly exited and made her escape from him.

Of course he hadn’t invited her, but then it’s not as if he knew that she was looking for an invite.

In fact, she just felt foolish right now, and that wasn’t doing her any good, but what was she supposed to say?

She quickly looked around for the doe and the fawn but couldn’t find either one of them.

When she headed back to her small truck, she saw the loads of supplies being delivered.

She stopped for a moment to watch, then realized that she was probably in the way here too.

So she quickly got into her vehicle, backed out of the way, and headed back home again.

When she got home, she set about catching up on a bunch of her paperwork and then the laundry, all the while feeling foolish for having gone out there.

It was stupid because she normally wouldn’t do that.

Yet it wasn’t something she would normally not do either.

She was a friendly soul, and sometimes it got her in trouble, like right now.

She hated feeling embarrassed about overstepping some unwritten rule that she hadn’t picked up on.

By the time early evening arrived, she was groaning, regretting having gone to the Haven. When the phone rang, she answered it without thinking it could be him.

“Hey,” he greeted her. “Sorry about having to rush you today.”

“Not an issue. I was just feeling foolish for having come out there, without even checking with you first.”

“And that’s not an issue,” he said, with a chuckle. “At one point in time, you mentioned a dog or two needing a home.”

“One for sure,” she confirmed. “However, you’re still in such disarray that I didn’t want to bring him today.”

“When I saw you, I thought that’s what you were probably doing.”

“Right,” she muttered. “It would have made more sense, wouldn’t it?”

“Then when you didn’t bring him in, I presumed either he’s not ready to come or you think I’m not ready to have him yet.”

“Kind of both,” she agreed. “I was checking to see how you were coming along, but, if a couple more weeks would make all the difference, then a couple weeks is fine.”

“Where is he staying at the moment?”

“He’s at the clinic now, and I’ll probably just bring him to my place, so he can get out of the cage for a bit over the weekend.”

“Why don’t you bring him this weekend, just so he can get to know what it’s like out here?”

She smiled at that. “He won’t want to get back into the crate afterward. You do know that, right?”

“That might be okay too,” he noted. “I’m serious about bringing more animals in. I just didn’t realize that you were coming today.”

“And I’ve apologized for the umpteenth time,” she stated, “but I can do it again.”

“No need, so please don’t,” he replied. “Honestly, it’s getting kind of crazy around here. The guys are living here, so I don’t really feel as if I can just invite you over for dinner.”

“Oh, gosh. I hadn’t even considered that,” she admitted. “I guess they’re staying in the house, aren’t they?”

“Yes, and, until I can get the house in a little bit better shape, it’s not as if I have any space.”

She burst out laughing. “The good news is, I don’t need space, so it’s fine.… I’ll take a look at how the dog’s doing over the next couple days. You’ve got your supplies, and I don’t know when Badger and his big crew are coming, but maybe I’ll pop in and say hi to him, if he’s around.”

“Check in with Kat,” Timber suggested. “I don’t know whether she and the kids are coming or not.”

“Right, that could maybe be a day trip for her, and I… I’ll think about it,” Tiffany shared. “Anyway, get back to work, and I’ll check on the dogs here in a bit.”

And, with that, he disconnected.

She smiled, grateful that he didn’t seem too bothered by her impromptu trip out there, but he wasn’t exactly running all over to set up another date. Which they hadn’t had a date in the first place, so what was she even talking about?

Realizing she was making herself nuts over all this, she sat down and drew up a list of supplies that he would need for his animal shelter.

It’s not that she had too much in the spare money category, but she did have lines to quite a few people who liked to help out, especially if she told them about a new rescue taking in some of the dogs that needed recovery time—or even to be fostered until they were socialized, or maybe even fostered indefinitely.

She didn’t know how that charity angle would work with Timber, but she knew these organizations would be very interested in helping him establish and run his rescue.

And, with that, she drafted a quick email, explaining the situation, set up a GoFundMe page for his rescue, and then sent him the link.

She didn’t want him thinking she had done something inappropriate and getting upset with her, especially without his knowledge.

So she had that all set up and the link sent to him, ready to go live, if he was okay with it.

She got up and took a couple of the dogs out for a walk.

It was such a bright evening with a lot of light, but she felt an oddness to it, and even the animals didn’t act the same way.

They moved rather quickly and kept glancing behind.

It was the glancing behind part that unnerved her.

Frowning, she looked around and had that weird feeling of being followed.

So, by the time everybody had a chance to lift their leg, she was already half running back home again.

The trouble was, even back home and inside, it didn’t give her any feeling of true safety.

She had the dogs for protection, but that was all she had.

Plus, she lived alone, which anybody could find out very quickly.

Hating it and not knowing what to do about it, she locked up the doors, put on the security system, knowing full well that wouldn’t be enough to stop anybody who was serious about getting past all that.

And she took that thought with her to bed, only to be haunted by nightmares.