Chapter Seven #2
“You feel blindsided,” Noah says. “I understand.”
“I told you I was leaving before Christmas.”
“You did.” He smiles. “But if you thought we were going to let you go easily, you were sorely mistaken.”
“I get that. I know it’s one reason you asked Isla to come.”
“Ah.” He winces. “Yeah.”
“What’s this?” Brock asks.
“I’m guessing Noah’s told you that I was a police officer.” There’s no point in trying to sweep any of this under the rug now. “And that my partner died in an IED explosion.” When he nods, I say, “Isla is his sister.”
“Ohhh…” He looks at Noah. “You kept that quiet.”
Noah scratches the back of his neck. “I didn’t seek her out. She went to vet school with Beth. She’s… ah… having some trouble at home.”
“Trouble?” Brock asks.
I grit my teeth. “Her husband hit her a year ago. She tried to get over it, but he gave her son a backhand last week, so she walked out.”
Leon swears. “I didn’t know that.”
“Beth came to me to suggest that Isla work at the Ark for the summer,” Noah says.
“She said it would give Isla the opportunity to get out of the house over Christmas, which seemed like a good idea to me. So I did a background check on her, the way I always do with new staff, and I read that her maiden name was Outlaw, and I remembered Cullen saying his partner was called Jack Outlaw—it was so unusual that it stuck. Sure enough, when I checked, I realized she was his sister. And…” He shrugs.
“You thought you’d interfere,” Brock says.
“I thought I’d try to help,” Noah corrects.
“You’re such a matchmaker,” Leon states, amused.
“That wasn’t actually on my mind,” Noah says wryly. He meets my gaze, his brows drawing together. “But I did think that meeting a member of Jack’s family might help.”
“You were lucky she didn’t hate my guts,” I say heatedly.
He lifts a brow. “Did she?”
“No…”
“Did she know who Cullen was when she came here?” Leon wants to know. He looks a little exasperated. As head of HR, I’m guessing he’s had to deal with his brother interfering on more than one occasion.
Noah nods. “I told her on the phone before she arrived.”
“Well, that’s something.”
Noah gives him the finger. Leon just gives a short laugh.
“Anyway… back to PAWS…” Brock turns his amused gaze back to me.
“We mean well. It’s clear to us that you’d be perfect to help Archer run the center.
I understand that you’d planned for your time up here to be temporary, and that you’ve talked about moving on.
But we’d like to ask you to stay for Christmas and give yourself time to think about it. ”
I don’t want to. I sit there for a moment, seething silently.
I’m angry that they’ve painted me into a corner.
I’d already started planning where I was going to go, heading south, maybe spending some time on the east coast around the Coromandel.
If I keep moving, I told myself, I can stay ahead of the wave.
But now they want me to stay? I’m not stupid; I know that if I’m here over Christmas, it’ll give them time to work on me.
The sale of the Hemsworth place will no doubt go through speedily considering there’s unlikely to be any competition, and Archer will be starting work on renovation in the New Year.
He’ll be saying, Just stay and help me get it up and running.
Just stay for the first month to get everyone settled in.
And the first month will turn into six months, and at some point the wave will hit me slap bang in the back of the head, and I’ll have to deal with the emotional backwash and admit that if I’m staying, it means I’m not an evil person, and I’m wanted and I’m valued, and if I do that I think I’ll just crumble.
“You don’t need to make your mind up now,” Archer says, obviously spotting my emotion.
“Well, I think we’ve certainly made inroads,” Noah states. “Why don’t we call it a day there? We’ve got a busy few days ahead with the staff Christmas party and then of course we’ll be winding down for Christmas. But we’re all around if you want to talk at all. Just let us know how we can help.”
We’re being dismissed; I think Noah wants to talk to Brock and Leon alone. Archer and I stand and shake their hands, I call Ghost to me, and then we head out of the house and start walking slowly back to the Ark.
It’s a beautiful day—this summer is turning out to be a cracker.
“Should have brought my hat,” Archer says, echoing my thoughts.
“We’re not going bald yet,” I tell him wryly.
“With all this worry, we might be on the way.”
I blow out a long breath. “Yeah.”
“I am sorry for doing that to you.” He slides his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “I assumed you knew it was coming.”
“I really didn’t.”
We walk a little further in silence, both thinking our private thoughts.
“I’d like you to stay,” he says. “I’ll say it now, but I won’t keep on. If you’re convinced you want to keep on moving, I’ll understand. But I think the Ark is a good place for people who need healing.”
“Rescue, recover, rehome?”
He smiles. “Yeah.”
“Noah said the Ark isn’t just for animals, but we have to be open to healing. I know he was saying that I’m not.”
“Do you think he was right?”
I nod. “I feel I don’t deserve it.”
“Because of what happened to Jack? You feel you’re to blame?”
“Yeah. Isla said I have survivor’s guilt.”
“I think that’s absolutely the case. And PTSD. It might help you to talk to a therapist.”
“I thought I was.”
He gives me a wry look. “Therapists are ethically bound not to take on clients who are friends or family members. But I encourage you to talk to someone, if not me, then another friend. It sounds corny, but it helps to get it off your chest.”
“Isla said it’s like opening an attic and letting in the light.”
“She sounds like a very wise woman.”
“Yeah.”
He glances at me. “Do you like her?”
“She’s very pleasant.”
“No, I mean like like her.”
“I was thinking about sending her a note in chemistry class.”
He rolls his eyes. “I was only asking.”
I chuckle. Then I remind him, “She’s married.”
“From what I hear, it won’t be for much longer. Beth said Isla’s mentioned seeing a lawyer soon.”
“Yeah, she said she’d told her husband that she wants a divorce. But that could just be talk. It’s one thing to say it, but another to actually do it.”
“True.” We’ve reached the Ark, and we pause in the Quad. “I’m heading back to my surgery in town,” he says. “Thanks for coming today. Think it about it, okay?”
“Yeah, will do. Have a good afternoon.”
He walks off down the drive.
I wait for a moment, enjoying the warm breeze blowing across my face.
Isla might be planning to start divorce proceedings, but she might change her mind and decide to make a go of it with her husband.
I hope she doesn’t for her sake, and Max’s.
But even if she does apply for a divorce, it’ll take two years for it to come through.
That’s a long time for a woman to be tied to another man.
Thoughtfully, I open the door for Ghost and follow him into the cool interior. I’ll be seeing Isla soon. Maybe it was foolish to ask her to dinner. I’m getting tangled in the Ark’s relationships, and that’s making it so much harder to make a decision about when to leave.
What am I going to do?