Chapter 4
Four
S loane opened the door to the Silver Springs Animal Rescue, expecting to hear the calm sound of music that always greeted her, along with a bark or two from one of her feistier furry friends. Instead, a red-faced Ellie, manager of the animal shelter, ran by her in a panic.
“Oh, thank god you’re here! I wasn’t sure if you were coming in tonight or not, but it’s all hands on deck right now.”
“What happened?” Ellie looked absolutely frazzled, which wasn’t unusual for the softhearted woman. There was always a new animal in need. Some precious stray that stole Ellie’s heart and put a hurting on her capacity. She’d heard Ellie recruited her son, Elias, to build more kennels on the small property just so she could help more.
“Darius decided to go after a skunk who got into the puppy park.”
Sloane’s eyes widened as she watched Ellie scoop bottles of shampoo off the storage shelf.
“Let me guess, it wasn’t just Darius who got sprayed?”
“No. And I need to call Dr. LeMott to come get the skunk. Elias was able to trap it, but we’ve gotta make sure there isn’t a rabies concern.” She dumped the bottles of shampoo into Sloane’s hands. “You might as well throw that apron on and get back to the bathing station. Courtney’s back there right now. I’ll call Andrew and get him over here to get the skunk.”
Sloane chuckled as she balanced the apron and shampoo bottles in her arms. It was the type of thing she loved. A project to dive into with anticipated treatment plans and a hopeful outcome.
Her smile was truly genuine as she opened the door to the bathing area.
“What do we have going on in here?”
A completely soaked from head to toe Courtney looked over her shoulder right as Darius shook, spraying the room with cool droplets of water and suds.
“Darius!” Courtney whined. “Why are you like this?!”
“Here,” Sloane set the bottles of shampoo down, reaching for a towel that had only gotten slightly damp from the shake shower, and tossed it over to her friend. “Why don’t you work on Betty?”
The small all-black Pomeranian, who was the second half of the shelter’s odd couple, shook in the corner.
“She smells terrible.” Sloane shook her head as she pressed her hands down Darius’s back, encouraging him to sit. “Don’t even try to tell me it was her fault, big guy. I think this one is all on you.”
His big brown eyes sparkled with mischief and Sloane could have sworn his chest puffed out a bit. She slowly began massaging more shampoo into his long fur. “You better hope we don’t have to shave you. That skunk was not worth all this trouble.”
“That’s what I tried to tell him.” Courtney rolled her eyes and laughed. “You should have seen it, Sloane. It was like something right out of a cartoon!”
“Ellie looked like she’d been electrocuted when I walked in here. I figured it had to be something truly wild this time to get her so worked up.”
“God, I’m just glad that skunk didn’t get me. Elias is back, could you imagine how embarrassing that would have been?”
“I don’t know, Court. Maybe he would have volunteered to give you a bath.” Sloane felt the air moving around her right before the towel hit her in the back of her head.
“Would you shhhh with that! I mean, I know it’s obvious I’ve got a crush on the man, but that doesn’t mean he feels the same way. And Ellie doesn’t need to know her one full-time employee is drooling over her baby boy.”
“Court, anyone with working vision can see that man drools over you. Including Ellie.”
“Yeah, well, drooling is no good if he won’t act on his feelings. I’m solidly in the friend-zone and I have no idea how to get out.”
Sloane turned on the water, running her fingers under the spout to make sure the temperature wasn’t too hot for her furry buddy before switching the stream over to the handheld shower head.
“You could make the first move. Invite him to something. Oh! You’re coming to the 5K run with us, right? Maybe you could invite Elias to that.”
Courtney pulled in her bottom lip and let it rake between her teeth. “I’m definitely going. Can’t imagine not turning up to something Lily organized. But I’m not sure I have enough courage to ask. I barely put together a cohesive sentence to ask him how his work trip went.”
“Where was he again?”
“New York. Something about a new algorithm he created for the logging industry that’s helping save more trees? I smiled and tried to act like I knew what he was talking about.”
“That’s right. I forgot Ellie told me about that. You know, the race is going through the forest. You could drop back and ask him some forestry questions. Get lost in the flora and fauna all around you.”
“You are terrible, Sloane.”
She pressed her wet hand against her chest and pretended to be hurt. “I’m just trying to help a friend out.”
“Yeah, well who’s teaching you about all the flora and fauna Texas has to offer? I noticed you’ve been volunteering at a different time this week than you usually do. Is that so you can avoid seeing a certain SEAL?”
Bingo. She’d absolutely been doing her best to avoid seeing Gage since her self-defense class freak out. Not that it was working. She’d randomly seen him more that week than she would have if she’d just stuck to her normal routine. “No. I’m not avoiding Gage. In fact, I saw him at Dolly’s before I came here. I just had a few clients who needed to change their meeting times, and this new schedule works better for me.”
“So you wouldn’t be mad if Ellie switched my time with his for Tuesday?”
“She didn’t!”
“She did.”
Sloane sighed, wiping her brow with her sleeve. “No, I’m not upset. Gage is my friend, and he’s good with the animals. It’s fine.”
“If you say so.”
“I do. And I say we should get Elias to join us.”
“Get Elias to join you guys for what? If it’s dog washing duty, I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass, ladies. Not because I don’t want to help,” he added as his cheeks flamed red. Sloane noticed Courtney’s giggle as her own cheeks went red as well. “But Mom has me on skunk watch until Doc LeMott gets here.”
“If you’re on skunk duty, what are you doing in here?” Sloane asked.
“Had to grab the phone. Mom’s died and she wants a way to harass… I mean encourage… the oldest vet in the world to hurry over here.”
Both Courtney and Sloane laughed at that. Ellie could be a fierce foe to contend with, and Sloane was sure the slow-as-molasses eighty year old vet was doing his best not to have to deal with her wrath.
“So,” Elias slipped the phone into his pocket as Sloane flipped off the water, draping a towel over Darius’s body before he could start his shake-dry routine all over again. “What were you going to invite me to?”
His eyes never left Courtney’s. Yeah, he clearly wasn’t interested in her friend. Sloane coughed to cover up her snicker.
“Oh, Sloane mentioned the charity 5K that the guys at Montgomery Defense are sponsoring for the new clinic in town. They invited me to run with them. I thought… maybe… I mean if you’re even going to be here… that you could…”
“Yeah. I’d love to go. Will you text me the details?”
“Um, yeah. I can do that.”
“Great. I better get this phone out to my mom. Don’t work too hard in here, ladies.”
Sloane finished patting down Darius’s coat. “Alright, big boy. Let’s get you over to Mr. Blow Dryer. Can’t let you sit all night with your fur wet. You’ll never find your family if we let your coat get all matted.”
Sloane opened the tub’s door… yes, the shelter had a walk-in tub for the larger breeds, and it was a godsend… and laughed as Darius made a mad dash for the drying station. His big, doofy tongue lolled out the side of his mouth as he looked up at the cookie jar.
“Yeah, yeah, you big lunk. I’ll get you a cookie if you’re a good boy.”
“Can I get the same deal?” Gage’s voice had her standing straight.
“Gage! I didn’t know you were volunteering tonight!” Courtney’s overenthusiastic tone made Sloane shrink back. “Isn’t this a nice surprise, Sloane?”
“Sure.”
“Seems like I missed a party back here. What happened?”
“What always happens? Darius and Betty got into trouble together. Again.”
Gage shook his head. “I swear, we’re going to have to find a family that will take both of them. There’s no separating those two.”
“That would be nice, but most likely Betty will find a home soon and Darius will still be here.” Sloane sighed. The big oaf had been at the shelter the longest out of any of the other residents. Her heart ached for him. “If you weren’t scheduled to be here, why are you?”
“I wanted to check on Cookie.”
Sloane nodded, her eyes searching along the row of kennels to the elderly white fluff ball. “I think she’s slept right through the commotion in here.”
“I told Ellie I’m taking her home. It doesn’t feel like she has much time left. And I want her to be with someone when she goes.”
A painful lump formed in Sloane’s throat. Animals were so much easier to be around than people. They never wanted to know about her past. All they cared about were the treats she fed them, the pats she gave them, or the balls that she threw for them. Their love was unconditional. But when one of them crossed the rainbow bridge, all the pain from her life before Silver Springs overwhelmed her.
“Sloane? You okay?” Gage and Courtney both looked at her with concern.
“Yeah. I just hate that part of life. I wish they could outlive us, you know?” Gage nodded while she continued. “It’s really sweet that you’re going to foster her.”
“It’s the least I can do. Figure the guys will like having her in the office and we’ll spoil her rotten for the time she has left.”
“I’ll have to stop in and give her cuddles, too.”
“I’m sure she’d love that. I know I would.”
She turned back to Darius, trying to hide the smile on her face.