Kate enjoyed hanging out with Sam and Sandy when the guys were off doing their thing, too. Though they’d technically known each other for years, they’d never really been friends. As it turned out, they had something in common. While other girls had been out partying and dating and having fun, they’d spent most of their time working, as Kate had. That was probably one of the reasons they got along so well.
Another reason: they understood and respected personal boundaries. They didn’t ask why Kate was there or details about what had happened, and she appreciated that.
The closest either one of them had come was one morning after breakfast when they were lingering over coffee and Sandy said, “If you ever want to talk, we’re here.”
Kate had thanked them for that and probably would confide in them eventually but not yet. She was still trying to make sense of things herself, and she had hopes that her family would come around.
Bonus: she got to spend time taking care of and playing with the dogs, too. Over the course of the last few weeks, Duke had become Smoke’s shadow, and Mama Dog had taken a particular shine to Cage. Kate didn’t mind. They still had plenty of love for her and weren’t stingy about sharing it when she was around.
And the pups! They were almost fully weaned, and she’d have to take them for shots soon. Doc talked to her again about keeping the dogs at Sanctuary permanently, and at that point, she couldn’t see a downside. Not only had they become a staple of the place, but Sanctuary was also willing to pay for their vet bills and any training costs to make them official service dogs. There was one organization in particular Doc had found that taught vets how to train the dogs that would ultimately become their service animals, and he was very excited about the possibilities.
The quiet guy she’d met earlier—Justin—seemed perfect for that sort of thing. While he didn’t relate to people all that well, the same couldn’t be said about animals. In fact, they’d started calling him the Dog Whisperer. He still didn’t say much, but he did smile occasionally, which Doc thought was a sign of progress.
The nights were her favorite, hands down. After dinner, she and Chris would go back to his trailer. They’d spend a lot of time talking, watching movies, and getting to know each other better. He told her more about his childhood in the Midwest and that he’d joined the Navy because it was a tradition. His father had been a Navy man along with his grandfather before him.
For her part, Kate told him about growing up in Sumneyville as a tomboy and how she and Karyn used to sneak off to camp out in the woods to escape their mom’s dreaded Avon, Longaberger, and Pampered Chef parties.
The rest of the time, she and Chris dedicated to more intimate explorations. Learning each other’s bodies. What they liked. What they didn’t like. What drove each other to the breaking point. They did that a lot.
The more time she spent with him, the more in love she fell. He was everything she could ask for and nothing she’d thought she’d ever find.
Life was good.
Mostly.
As wonderful as her time at Sanctuary was, there was a persistent shadow lurking at the back of her thoughts, one that grew darker as each day went by without a call or a text from her family. Sometimes, she wondered if they even realized she’d left.
Perhaps that was why, when Sandy told her that she and Heff were driving into town to visit Franco’s, Kate asked Chris if they could tag along. She used the excuse of wanting to pick up a few things for the kitchen, which wasn’t exactly a lie but not the whole truth either.
They took Matt’s SUV, since it seated four more comfortably than Chris’s truck. “Where to first?” Chris asked, proving that he hadn’t been fooled.
“Can we drive by the house? I should check the mail.”
She rarely got any paper mail, but sometimes, some junk mail still managed to find its way into her mailbox.
“Sure.”
The house looked exactly as she’d left it. As she checked the mailbox, she couldn’t help looking across the street. The lights were on, and the store was open. Before she knew what she was doing, her feet were carrying her over there.
Her father was sitting on a stool behind the front counter, talking with Ernest Mueller, the guy who ran the local bait-and-tackle shop. His eyes lifted at the sound of the bell. They widened slightly when he saw her there, but otherwise, he didn’t immediately acknowledge her presence.
She roamed around the shop, taking some satisfaction in the fact that the shelves weren’t as tidy as they would have been if she’d been there and that there were even some bare spots where items hadn’t been properly restocked.
When Ernest left a few minutes later, she made her way back to the counter.
“Hey, Dad. How are you?”
“As well as can be expected.” His tone didn’t hold its normal warmth, nor did his eyes. He was still angry.
“Are you here by yourself?”
“Until the new kid shows up.”
“You hired someone?”
He exhaled. “You didn’t leave me much of a choice, Katy-belle.”
She perked up at the nickname and then wilted again when he shook his head, the disappointment in his eyes cutting through her chest like a dull blade.
“I thought Kylie and Luther had it covered,” she commented, unable to completely keep the sourness out of her tone.
His jaw clenched. “Sarcasm doesn’t suit you, Kate. Clearly, the people you’ve been choosing to spend time with are a bad influence.”
For a moment, she was too stunned to speak.
“They’re not bad people! They’ve been nothing but nice to me.”
“Grow up, Kate, and stop being so naive.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that not everyone who is nice to you is your friend. Sometimes, they’re just using you as a means to an end.”
She threw her uncasted hand up. “You mean like the way Luther kisses up to you and Mom while he’s siphoning away your retirement fund?”
He shook his head. “You don’t understand.”
“Then, explain it to me, Dad. Explain to me how you can defend what he’s doing.”
“That’s what family does. They support each other, especially in hard times.”
“Luther is not my family, and he’s not yours either. I am. Why aren’t you supporting my choices? Or Karyn’s, for that matter?”
His expression darkened. “Luther has this family’s best interests at heart.”
“Are you saying I don’t?”
“I’m saying, life isn’t easy despite what you might think. You can’t always get what you want. Sometimes, you have to suck it up and make the hard choices. That’s just the way it is.”
She felt the tears building, even as her chest began to ache. “They’re not the ones asking me to make a choice, Dad.”
“I don’t expect you to understand. You’ve had everything handed to you.”
Each word was like salt in an open wound, burning until all she could feel was the pain. And she’d heard enough.
She pulled the key to her house out of her pocket and slid it across the counter.
“What’s this?”
“The key to the house. You’re right, Dad. Sometimes, we do have to make the hard choices.”