Charlotte Carter - Tail of Two Hearts

“We’ll have to see who’s available, but they should be well behaved.”

“And housebroken,” Vivian added. “I think Allison would appreciate that the most.”

The corners of his eyes crinkled when he laughed. “I imagine so.” He turned onto Bronson Street for the short drive to the shelter, which was less than a mile north of town.

Once past the center of town, houses on one-or two-acre lots replaced commercial buildings. Some families had a horse or two. Others had chicken coops and a kitchen garden, or a couple of cows grazing behind sturdy fences.

“Look at those sunflowers growing alongside the road,” she said. “Aren’t they beautiful?” Apparently seeds had been blown or tossed onto the right-of-way between the road and the wheat field beyond. Several hundred feet of the shoulder was ablaze with bright orange sunflowers, the Kansas state flower. Their heads on four-foot-tall stalks were all aligned, aimed directly at the sun as though they were sending cheery wishes into outer space.

“Looks like somebody decided to beautify the roadside around here.”

In the distance, the silver tower of a grain elevator rose above the flat landscape, a crucial part of life for wheat farmers like Vivian’s father.

“You might want to think about a bigger dog, like a golden retriever,” Chase said, returning to the topic of dogs for Doggie Daze. “They’re usually good with kids. And match him with something smaller, maybe a border collie mix.”

“We could use a border collie to round up people off the streets to come to Doggie Daze.”

He shot her an amused look. “That’s one way to gain an audience. Or you could ask Police Chief Sheridan to arrest jaywalkers and hold them at the bookshop during the event.”

“Or Mayor Langston could issue an edict that every resident of Bygones had to attend Doggie Daze plus adopt a dog at Fluff & Stuff.”

They bantered back and forth, each of them coming up with more ridiculous ideas to get people to attend the event. When they pulled up in front of Happy Havens, they were both laughing so hard they could barely get out of the car.

Vivian wiped the tears from her eyes and drew a deep breath. “It’s just as well we’re here. I was running out of ideas.”

Chase patted her hand. “I’m sure you’d be able to come up with more ideas if you had to. You’re one smart lady.”

She grinned at him even as the touch of his hand shot a current of warmth up her arm. “Likewise, Mr. Rollins. You’re pretty smart yourself.”

The shelter offices were in an old two-story farmhouse that had been revamped and repainted a bright yellow with white trim. The adjacent red barn held most of the animals, with cats kept well separated inside the main house. Except for a small parking lot, open land and a wire fence surrounded the property. Originally funded by the Bronson family, the shelter had since been repaired and restored mostly by volunteers. Now it was entirely operated by many of those same devoted people.

In front of the house, a large sign carved in a plank of redwood read Happy Havens Animal Shelter.

Chase held open the gate, and they walked up the three steps to the porch. A note on the door invited guests to come in.

Annabelle Goodrich, wearing a navy blue windbreaker over her official shelter volunteer T-shirt, was sitting at a desk behind the counter.

“Hey, Chase, good to see you.” She looked quizzically at Vivian over the top of her half-glasses. “You, too, Viv. What brings you here?”

“Viv and Allison at the bookstore are planning an event called Doggie Daze this Saturday,” Chase said. “The idea is to sell books about dogs and how to train them, and hopefully get people interested in adopting dogs.”

“Chase is helping us,” Vivian added. “He suggested we might be able to borrow a couple of dogs from you for show-and-tell.”

“And I’ll need a couple for Saturday’s adoption day, too,” Chase added.

Lean and athletic for a woman in her fifties, Annabelle popped to her feet. “Sounds terrific. We need all the publicity we can get so our animal buddies can find new homes. Follow me.” She strode toward the back of the house and on to the barn at a fast clip.

Vivian hurried to catch up with her. As she passed what must have once been the dining room, she caught a quick glimpse of a dozen or more cages containing cats. For an instant, she wanted to step inside to pick out a homeless cat and give her a new home. But she was pretty sure Essie wouldn’t appreciate Vivian’s generosity of spirit. Essie’s nose was already out of sorts with the addition of Roger in their household.

In the barn they were greeted with a cacophony of barks and yips, and dogs jumping against their enclosure gates. Vivian could almost hear them shouting Pick me! Pick me! Poor fellows sure didn’t like being locked up.

“Settle down, guys,” Annabelle yelled over the racket. “Be nice. You need to impress these people with how well you behave.” She walked down the aisle of kennels, reaching in to pet this dog and that, calling them by name and cooing over them.

Vivian caught Chase’s eye. “They’re her babies, aren’t they?” she said quietly.

“I’d say so. Before she’ll let any of them go to a new home, she checks out the family and makes it clear that if she hears about any abuse, she’ll have the chief of police at their door in minutes.”

“Sort of like the way they check out families when someone applies to adopt a baby,” Vivian mused aloud. She had certainly filled out a lot of forms and been interviewed at length.

He shot her a troubled look. “I suppose it’s the same.”

Wondering why Chase would react negatively to the mention of adoption, Vivian frowned then shrugged off her concern.

Annabelle finished her tour of the kenneled dogs and returned to them. “So what kind of dogs do you want for your event?”

“Chase suggested something like a golden retriever because they’re good with children,” Vivian said.

Closing her eyes, Annabelle nodded. “I think I’ve got just the dog for you. Lady is the sweetest thing.” She began walking down the aisle again. “Good family pet. Loves children. She’s actually a mix of retriever and shepherd so she has a little longer nose than a pure retriever, but she’s got that lovely golden fur and disposition.”

She stopped at a kennel and opened the gate. “Hey, Lady. I’ve got someone you need to meet.” She gestured for Vivian to step inside.

Vivian walked into the kennel. Immediately, Lady sat and looked up at her with intelligent brown eyes and cocked her head to the side as if waiting for Vivian to explain her presence. Vivian’s heart melted.

“Aren’t you the prettiest girl?” Unable to resist, she let Lady sniff her hand. Kneeling Vivian held the dog’s head and gave her a good scratch behind her ears. “You are a sweetheart. You really are.”

Behind her, Chase said, “I told you to be careful or you’d fall in love.”

She looked up at him over her shoulder. A shimmer of awareness slid through her as she looked into his soft brown eyes filled with such a gentle spirit.

“You were...right.” Her voice quavered. “I need to be very careful.” And go slowly. He was talking about falling for a dog. Not him.

He helped her to her feet. “What do you think?”

Think? She didn’t dare think. Not about Chase in that way. Not with his hand warming her arm.

“About the dog,” he clarified.

“Oh, yes. Lady will be perfect for Doggie Daze.” She forced a smile that felt a little crooked and turned to Annabelle. “Can we match Lady with a smaller dog she’ll get along with?”

“We’ve got oodles of those. Let’s go see Tikey. She’s a sweetie.” She led them to another kennel that held two small dogs. “Tikey is a Welsh corgi. Her buddy there, Arnie, is a poodle mix.”