Page 27 of Lee

Alys disappeared into the back while Rori rang up the sale. Once she’d paid, Mrs. Robinson left the clinic.

“Are you happy with the photos?” Lee asked as Rori slid her camera bag under the desk.

“I think so. It’s more important that Rachel is happy with them.”

“How will you get the pictures to her?”

“She’s going to send me a link to give me access to a file in the cloud to upload them. That way, she’ll have access to them when she wants to post them.”

“If we get more animals in, are you planning to take pictures of them right away?”

“I think Rachel is planning to focus on the dogs or cats that have already been here for a certain amount of time.”

They didn’t keep animals indefinitely. As long as they had the room, they would keep them. But once the shelter neared max capacity, they sent the animals that had been there the longest to no-kill shelters. So it made sense that Rachel would want to feature those first.

“Thanks for helping with this project,” Lee said, drawing out the conversation when he should really be letting Rori get back to work.

“I really enjoyed doing it,” Rori said with a small smile. “And it has expanded my photography experience.”

“What do you usually take pictures of?”

“My photography has always just been a hobby, so I’ve stuck with nature.”

“Maybe you could start doing pet photography,” Lee suggested.

Rori shrugged. “I’ll see how it goes taking pictures for the shelter.”

Lee couldn’t help but want to encourage her more, but he held his tongue. He got the feeling that she didn’t rush into things. Except, she’d clearly made the decision to uproot her life and move to Serenity without taking a whole lot of time to think about it.

The front door of the clinic set off the chime again, and Lee turned to see Charli and the girls.

“Hi, Uncle Lee,” Layla said with a smile. “We thought we’d come visit you.”

Lee looked at Charli, who had Shiloh’s car seat on her arm. “Needed to get out of the house?”

Charli sighed, then nodded. “I thought maybe the girls could pet the animals in the shelter for a bit.”

“Sure. Rachel’s here, so she’ll hang out with them.” Lee waved for the girls to head into the shelter.

“Hey there,” Charli said, directing her smile at Rori. “I’m Charli. Lee’s favorite sister.”

“One of them, anyway,” Lee tacked on. “Charli, this is Rori. She’s taken over for Cheryl.”

“Nice to meet you,” Rori said as she stood behind the desk, her hands clasped together.

“How are you enjoying working here?” Charli asked. “Has Lee driven you nuts yet?”

Rori glanced at Lee. “Uh… Nope. Everyone has been really nice to work with.”

Shiloh let out a squawk, so Lee took the seat from Charli and set it on the reception desk. “Can I take her out?”

“Sure,” Charli said.

“Let me just go wash up real quick.”

Lee left the two women and walked to the closest sink, where he washed his hands a couple of times before drying them off. When he returned to the reception area, Charli was telling Rori about her job at the school.

“I really enjoy teaching third grade, so I’m glad they’ve given me that grade again this upcoming school year.”

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