Page 21 of Sanctuary

“Well, Gabe might have inadvertently helped you by giving me a kick in the pants. I’ve got a large brick building on the far east side of the property, and nothing much has ever been made of its potential. Right now, I’m not using it for anything other than storage.” She was storing more than just physical things; there were memories too. “And Gabe has offered to help with that particular problem. It’s time I did something with it, and that something could be that you move in and make it your new place of business.”

Ellery shifted to face Lori. “Are you talking about the large two-story brick building half a mile down the main road up to your house?”

“I am,” she said, getting more excited with the idea as it continued to form in her mind. “It’s around 3,000 square feet.” The exact measurement eluded her for now. She’d put it out of her mind after all the arguments that building had caused. “I’m sure it’s at least the same size as your current clinic. All the plumbing and utilities are already in place. You’d probably want to make different sized rooms, but that’s just some drywalling work.”

It was clear from Ellery’s expression that she could see the potential too. “I pay my landlord $90,000 a year for 3,000 square feet, but I was only paying $78k before COVID hit. Would you be willing to split the difference and lease the building for $84,000?”

“How much would you say the Sanctuary paid you in fees and treatments last financial year?” Lori asked, though she was running through her own numbers in her head.

Ellery laughed. “I filed my taxes over four months ago, Lori. You can’t honestly expect me to remember that.”

“Fair enough, but I think it was easily fifty thousand.”

Ellery cocked her head and wrinkled her nose. “That sounds feasible, but I honestly couldn’t say.”

“What if you took care of all the utilities and fees, paid $2,000 a month to lease the building, and treated our animals free of charge? And you could probably class your time as a charitable donation, which would be tax deductible. We could see how it balanced out at the end of the year and reassess if we need to shift anything either way.”

“Wow,” Ellery said. “How long have you been sitting on this?”

“I haven’t. It’s only just occurred to me.” Lori held up her hands. “Gabe and I were walking the grounds with Max on Sunday, and she got very excited about the rusty old car in there.” She swallowed, trying to push away all the building’s underlying nonsense and focus on what good she could do in the here and now. She could parse out the bad stuff in the privacy of her house at night. And much later. “If I let Gabe undertake that project, then she’ll pick up the car, and the building will be empty because she can take all the tools too.”

Ellery shook her head slowly. “This is a lot to think about. And it’s an incredibly generous and selfless offer?—”

“Not totally selfless; my dogs and horses get a great deal too.”

“Still,” Ellery said, “it’s hard to process. You could make a lot more money for the Sanctuary if you put the property on the commercial market. Why wouldn’t you? I’m just your vet.”

Lori took Ellery’s hand. “You’re not just my vet; you’re my friend. And you’ve gone above and beyond for our animals for years, giving us extra time and cutting bills whenever you could. And I’ll never forget that you gave me eight months grace on Cash’s treatment when he first got here, and you built that amazing body sling and pool contraption so he could exercise without bearing weight or getting body sores.”

Ellery’s cheeks pinked, and she glanced away. “I don’t think Beth would’ve let me back on the property if I hadn’t done something drastic to help him.”

“Exactly. You care deeply, as much as we do, and that matters more than a few extra dollars.” Lori hoped her mom would agree when she talked to her about the plan later. “Look, I’ll run it past my mom—she’s the financial whizz—and you talk to your lawyer. Okay?”

The diesel engine of their horse trailer rumbled closer, and Lori stood. She went over to the storage box at the rear of the stable and pulled out some travel boots for Cash. “Beth won’t be impressed that we’ve been chatting instead of getting him ready to go.” She put the boots on the floor beside Cash and began strapping one on.

“I’ll call Mark and tell him to get ready to receive him,” Ellery said.

Lori had only gotten halfway through the process when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“I can do this,” Beth said.

Lori looked up and saw the distress in her eyes. “Okay, thank you,” she said and rejoined Ellery on the hay bale.

Ellery hung up on her call and pocketed her phone. “He’s getting prepared.”

As caring as Ellery was, she was always careful not to give an early prognosis or indication of the outcome unless she was one hundred percent sure. Lori had read a recent article in The Horse about the survival rates and complications which could arise if the horse wasn’t successfully treated. Right now, she didn’t want to think about the worst-case scenario for Cash, so she kept the burning question off her lips and simmering in the background.

“Do you have to go?” Lori asked when Ellery checked the time.

“Not yet. I was just seeing if I had enough time for you to tell me about Gabe’s project.” Ellery tapped her watch. “I do.”

Ellery, like most of Lori’s close circle, knew about the lawyer and their acrimonious split, but Rosie was the only one with whom she’d shared details of their marriage during and after. The trouble with Gabe’s project was that it involved a lot of personal stuff Lori wasn’t ready to share with anyone else. She didn’t like gossip, and she definitely didn’t like being the subject of it. She figured that the less people she told about the whole mess, the quicker the overall story might fade from people’s memories.

“An old rust bucket of a car came with the property, and I’ve never had the time or inclination to do anything about it,” she said, deciding to stick with elements of the truth. “Gabe has settled in Chicago, and she’s starting an auto repair and restoration garage with some Army friends. Like I said, she got very excited when she saw it, and she had the idea of restoring it and then auctioning it to raise funds for the Sanctuary.”

“That does sound exciting,” Ellery said. “I follow a grisly old trucker who goes around the country finding abandoned vehicles like that. How long will it take you to raise funds for all the parts and paint? And I bet it’ll take them hundreds of hours to complete the restoration.”

Hundreds of hours? Gabe’s offer had blown Lori away even before she knew the actual time commitment. What had seemed generous was now almost unbelievably altruistic. She accepted charitable donations daily, but time was the most precious donation of all. “Really? It takes that long?” She’d had a feeling Gabe was good people, but this proved it beyond any doubt. And Lori would get to be lucky enough to call her a friend. She decided to text her new friend to discuss the car project when she got back to the house.

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