“How?”
“I pushed. Tried to get Addie to come live with me. But it was too soon. She doesn’t trust me, and she has a reason not to.”
“Why’s that?” I couldn’t imagine Everly betraying her cousin in any way.
“I left her.”
The sorrow and grief in Everly’s words clawed at my chest. “You didn’t have a choice.” I didn’t know what had gone down with the Kemper family after Howard went to prison, but I knew it wasn’t good. And I also knew that Ev wouldn’t have left her cousin just for the hell of it.
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. I might not know the details, but I know that you wouldn’t leave without reason. And maybe one day you’ll trust me with what that reason was.”
21
Everly
“Are you sure you’re okay staying overnight?” Miles asked as he placed his stethoscope in his medical bag.
“More than.” It wasn’t like I had anyone to go home to. Not like Miles, who had his wife and daughters. “And Koda and I are good friends. I’d like to stay with him.”
“He does seem to be partial to you. I think he’ll feel at ease having you close by.”
I glanced over at the German shepherd, curled up in his kennel. He was snoring away, his new cast in place. We’d lucked out that the break hadn’t needed surgery, but Miles still wanted to keep him overnight as a precaution. I’d need to change his IV and give him another dose of pain meds during the night and first thing in the morning. Hopefully, with a good night’s sleep and some heavy-duty drugs, he’d be feeling better in the morning.
“No one wants to be alone when they’re feeling poorly. I’ve got my alarm set for his next two doses, so I think we’re set.”
Miles patted my shoulder. “I’ll have my cell phone nearby if you run into any issues. Don’t hesitate to call. My wife sleeps with earplugs now, so you won’t wake her.”
“She’s learned the hard way, huh?”
“She was not a fan of having her sleep interrupted, and after my first year of owning my own practice, she got smart and got earplugs. We’re both happier now. I hope you can get some sleep, too.”
“I will.” I waved him off, and Miles headed out the back door.
Surveying the room around me, I sighed. Koda was our only overnight guest but sleeping in unfamiliar places wasn’t the easiest thing for me. At least, the office had a little cot in the corner, and Miles had given me a fresh set of linens and a pillow. It would be good enough. And I’d done without sleep before. I could do it again.
A knock sounded at the back door, and I moved to pull it open. “Did you forget—?”
A man who was definitely not Miles cut off my question. Hayes stood in the doorway with a bag slung over one shoulder, holding two pizza boxes. His hair was dark, still damp from a shower. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
“I thought you might be spending the night. Pizza?”
My mouth opened, closed, then opened again. “What kind?”
Hayes raised a brow. “Does it matter?”
“Always.”
“I went straight ahead. One cheese. One pepperoni.”
“You give me the cheese, and I’ll let you in.”
He chuckled and handed me a box. “It’s all yours.”
My stomach rumbled as I inhaled the cheesy goodness. “I thought I would have to settle for one of Tim’s Cup Noodles.”
“I’d never leave you to that fate. Especially after taking such good care of Koda.” Hayes went to peek in the kennel. When he saw that his dog was fast asleep, he turned back to me. “Where do you want to eat?”
I inclined my head to the left. “Break room. We’ll leave the door open so we can hear Koda if he wakes up.”
I walked into the room that felt even smaller than usual. Memories of the last time we’d been in this space flooded my mind. Apparently, I had a penchant for losing it around Hayes, but I had to admit that he handled it well. I wouldn’t have thought the man who’d been so callous at our first meeting could be so kind and caring.
I slid the box onto the table. “Want a soda or a water? We might have iced tea, too.”
“I’ll take a Coke if you’ve got one.” Hayes moved to the cabinets, pulling out plates and napkins.
“That we have.” I pulled two from the fridge and settled back at the table, sliding one across to Hayes.
We were quiet for a moment as we pulled slices out of our respective boxes. He glanced at mine. “So, you don’t like pepperoni?”
“I don’t eat meat.”
“At all?”
I barked out a laugh. “You sound like I just told you that Santa isn’t real.”
Hayes gave a mock gasp, his hand flying to his chest. “He’s not?”
“I’m just breaking hearts all over the place.”
“It really is cruel. I don’t know how you live without cheeseburgers.”
I shrugged. “I don’t begrudge anyone their cheeseburgers, but the longer I worked with animals, the harder it was to eat them.” Hayes’ expression soured. “Sorry.”
“No, I get it. I think growing up on a cattle ranch gave me a different outlook. Mom and Dad have always been sticklers for ethical ranching. No crazy hormones to beef up the stock. Ending life as humanely as possible.”
“That’s good. Most large-scale operations aren’t that way. I just…my heart can’t handle it, I guess.”
The gentle smile that Hayes gave me, hit somewhere in the vicinity of my chest. I dropped my gaze, but he didn’t look away. “You guard that sensitive heart pretty well.”
Heat rose to my cheeks. “Some people take it as a weakness.”
“I don’t. I think letting things affect you deeply means you’re stronger than the rest of the world.”
I broke off a piece of crust and tore it into little pieces. I needed a subject change, something that wouldn’t feel as if Hayes was peering inside my mind and soul and seeing all the things I hid away. “How’d you end up with Koda?”
“He was a K-9 dropout, and I fell in love.”
“Really?”
He took a sip of his Coke and nodded. “He flunked out for being too friendly.”
“My kind of dropout.”
“Mine, too. The program was going to put him up for adoption, but I’d already grown attached, so I took him home.”
“It looks like you guys were meant for each other.”
Hayes took a bite of pizza and then swallowed. “I think so. And my family loves him. They spoil him rotten. Which is why it nearly killed me to carry him the five miles back to my SUV today.”
I dropped the piece of crust I was toying with back to my plate. “You carried him five miles? He weighs over eighty pounds.”
“Believe me, I know. I told him he’d be going on a diet as soon as he’s better. My sisters and parents give him too many treats.”
“They love him.”
“That they do. I swear he’d abandon me for Shiloh if he could.”