Page 25

W hen Tiffany woke early the next morning, she felt the exhaustion already pulling at her, exhaustion and scary thoughts that wouldn’t stop, thoughts that were not of the sort she wanted to have at night, or to start her day either.

As she headed into the office, Katie looked up at her and frowned.

“Just a bad night,” Tiffany muttered, with a shrug.

“There are bad nights, and then there are bad nights,” Katie noted, waving a hand at her. “It looks as if you had nightmares all night.”

“Yeah, I kind of did, but whatever. Is everything okay here?”

“Yeah, it sure is,” Katie replied. “I came in twice and checked on the two dogs here. And I’m sure both of them are more than ready to go back out for a run right now.”

“They’re certainly ready to go out for a pee.

” With that, Tiffany chose to take them out herself, rather than having her assistant do it.

As she walked around outside, giving them a chance to rest and relax, she realized that the one dog really was doing much better.

So it would be a good thing for him to be moved.

Either he could come home with her for the next few days or could go to Timber’s place.

As she came back in, Katie smiled at her. “He’s looking so much better.”

“He is, isn’t he?” Tiffany noted, with a smile on her face. “I was thinking about taking him home overnight.”

“You think that’s wise? He’ll think it is his new home.”

“It’s not so much that he’ll think it’s his home,” Tiffany clarified, “but he’ll realize that there is something more called home . And I think that is important too.”

“Right. I would absolutely love to see him go someplace special,” Katie shared. “I would love that for him, but I feel that way about all the animals.”

“Of course you do. That’s why we do what we do,” Tiffany declared, “because we come from heart.”

“I talked to Kelly the other day,” Katie shared. “I was at the grocery store, and she was there too. She was friendly enough but not terribly nice about you.”

“Yeah, it’s funny. I don’t have a clue how, but it went so badly, so quickly. She was cautioning me about Timber for some reason, and I mentioned something about Brian hurting that donkey.”

“She doesn’t believe you even now. She thinks you’re telling lies, and that’s not good for anybody.”

“And yet I didn’t say anything wrong,” Tiffany noted, with a sigh.

“No, but young love and all.”

Tiffany groaned and rolled her eyes. “I get it. Young love and all, yet, if she’s okay with that kind of animal abuse, we don’t need her working here.”

“No, and she’ll go to the retail stores, looking for work.”

“Good for her,” Tiffany noted. “I’m sure she’ll do fine in that. I had high hopes for her here though, and we could still use a couple more people.”

“That’s always the challenge, isn’t it? We are getting busier and busier.”

Tiffany already knew all that, but it was a constant reminder that additional staff was needed, and, if they didn’t get good staff, they were in even more trouble.

“Anyway, I just thought I would let you know that Kelly hasn’t changed her mind since leaving here.”

“Is she likely to badmouth me around town, do you think?” Tiffany asked.

“I don’t see how. I think most people are a whole lot more aware about Brian than Kelly is. I don’t think she necessarily sees him for who he is at the moment. She seems to be quite infatuated with him.”

“Right,… well, I don’t know if he’s even sticking around town though,” Tiffany muttered.

“It wouldn’t be a bad thing if he left, considering the trouble he gets into.”

“I know, but dare I say that? Nope.… I’ll be the one who’s the bad guy then.”

Katie laughed. “Yep, right back to that whole young love thing. And, in Kelly’s eyes, you’re way too old for any of it.” When Tiffany stopped and stared, Katie burst out laughing. “I figured that would get to you.”

“It’s so strange to realize that everybody else sees me as old, considering I’m only thirty-two,” she admitted, with a headshake. “I would never have considered myself old.”

“No,… maybe not, but, because you are thirty-two, you’re older than her age group.”

“ Older than her age group , goodness.” Tiffany shook her head. “I’m only a decade older than her, I swear. I’m not old enough to be her mother or whatever.”

“You might be right about that. I think Kelly’s only about twenty-two.”

At that, Tiffany shook her head. “Was I that clueless at twenty-two? I don’t think so.

I was neck deep into exams and labs at college.

Too busy and too focused to even date around.

” It seemed so impossible to think of anybody at that age being so gullible, and yet that’s what Kelly appeared to be, and there was nothing Tiffany could do about it.

Back in her office, she checked her schedule and got started on her day.

She didn’t really have a chance to even breathe until she turned around and walked into her office, only to find Kat sitting there.

“Oh my gosh,” Tiffany exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“I was about to head down to Timber’s place,” Kat shared, “and I thought maybe you could give me a heads-up on what I was up against.”

“I’ve been there a couple times,” Tiffany noted cautiously. “The road is a little on the rough side, but it’s not bad. We’ve certainly been on worse.”

Kat laughed at that. “Isn’t that the truth,” she murmured. “How are things going with you and Timber?”

“I think okay. We’re not setting the house on fire, that’s for sure.”

“And do you want to?” Kat asked, her tone thoughtful, but that gaze of hers was so intense.

“Well,… I wouldn’t mind checking to see whether it goes a little further than it is,” Tiffany replied, “but I don’t think he has that on his mind at the moment.”

Kat smiled. “He’s male, so I would say yes.”

“Yeah,… well, I’m not interested if that’s the only draw,” Tiffany pointed out, with half a laugh.

“I get it,” Kat said. “Does that mean you want to come with me, or do you want to stay here?”

“I’m not sure I have a choice,” Tiffany muttered. “I’ve still got patients.”

“I’m picking up a big load of groceries to take out there because we’re prepping for a large crew coming in tomorrow, plus some heavy equipment.”

“At his place tomorrow?” Tiffany asked in astonishment. “Does he know about this?”

“Yes.” Kat gave her a wry smile.

“Wow, well,… that would be something to see.”

“I would invite you, if only to see just how much chaos we can create in a short time.”

“I would absolutely love to see the process,” Tiffany said warmly. “I just don’t know that I can take the time. I’ve got my own clients coming here tomorrow.”

“Of course you do.” Kat smiled. “I’ll pick up the groceries and head out now and drop everything off. So why don’t I call you tomorrow and see how your schedule looks?” she added.

“Sure.” Tiffany nodded.

“Even if you come at the end of the day tomorrow,” Kat suggested, “that would be great too.”

“Are you sure?” Tiffany asked. “And I don’t want you matchmaking.”

Kat laughed. “That’s not my thing, although my husband would disagree. He’s always accusing me of matchmaking, but I just don’t see it,” she teased, followed by a chuckle. “I could be wrong.”

“ No matchmaking ,” Tiffany reiterated, shaking her finger at her friend.

“Okay, fine, no matchmaking,” Kat muttered, with an eye roll. “But—”

“No, no but s either…”

Kat glared at her and then laughed. “No buts. If we get there, we get there, and if we don’t?… I guess we don’t.” At Tiffany’s nod, Kat added, “But some people need some prodding to move things along faster.”

“Sure,” Tiffany conceded, “but sometimes things just need to happen as they’re meant to be.”

“In other words, no matchmaking?” Kat asked.

“Exactly. No matchmaking.”

“Oh, fine ,” Kat grumbled. “Still, come out for dinner tomorrow, and we’ll go from there.”

“Okay, I can do that,” Tiffany agreed, “as long as I know it’s okay with him.”

“In that case, I’ve already talked to him about it, and he said it was fine.”

She stared at her friend and then sighed. Kat was a force to be reckoned with. “You wouldn’t steer me wrong, would you?”

“Never.” Then Kat laughed.

“Okay, fine. I’ll see if I can come up for dinner tomorrow then. With these late summer days, it won’t be dark, so I can see the road at least.”

“You want someone to pick you up?”

Tiffany laughed. “ Nah . I’ve already driven that road a few times. Besides, I did get a bunch of supplies in, not that he’s asked for them. And I did want to set up a GoFundMe page for his new shelter coming soon , but he hasn’t responded to my email about it.”

Kat looked at her with interest. “That’s a great idea.”

“I know that he’s doing all this with his own funds, and he won’t ask for help, but, at some point in time, the community would offer some help, particularly for animal shelters coming in,” she explained.

“So I would like to do this, but I sent him a link to my draft, and he didn’t exactly get back to me about it. ”

“Yeah, that would be Timber,” Kat stated, with a snort. “He’s not much for social media. He’s not exactly the most social to begin with in person either.”

“And is there a reason for that?”

“I think just because of the accident, where he lost friends at the same time,” she shared. “The whole recovery process is pretty tough, and I’m sure he’s looking at himself as less than whole.”

Tiffany stared at her in surprise. “But he lived. It’s just a leg.”

Kat nodded at her with approval. “It is just a leg,” she confirmed, “but, for a lot of people, that just a leg comment matters a lot more than you might think because it represents so much more. And honestly, people look at you differently, especially once they see the prosthetic. No doubt about it.”

“That’s part of the problem,” Tiffany muttered, with a headshake. “It shouldn’t matter to anybody. Honest to God, what’s wrong with people?”

Kat smiled at her and repeated, “Meet us for dinner tomorrow.”