Page 6 of Sanctuary

Ms. Jackson wrinkled her nose. “Maybe after I see Max? Would that be okay? I’m eager to see how he’s doing.”

“Sure,” Lori said and continued along the path to the kennel building.

Ms. Jackson took a couple of long strides to come alongside her. “Toni said you’ve been rescuing and rehoming ex-service animals for six years.”

“That’s right.” She didn’t offer any more information, and technically, Ms. Jackson hadn’t asked a question. But she didn’t have to be an asshole to maintain her professional distance either. “She said you’d been in the Army for twenty, and you’ve come out to start a new life.” Nope, maybe that was too much. It implied she and Toni had talked about Ms. Jackson’s personal life, and that wasn’t professional at all. Lori racked her brain to think of how she could backtrack and came up empty, so she stayed silent and hoped Ms. Jackson wouldn’t pick that thread.

“Yeah? What else did Toni tell you?”

Lori didn’t miss the raspy playfulness in Gabe—dammit—Ms. Jackson’s voice. More importantly, what had Toni told her about Lori? “That’s about all,” she said, affecting a breezy nonchalance she didn’t feel. “She did say that you were both injured in the same attack. Is that why you left the Army?” Oh, Mary, mother of Joseph. Avoiding the personal didn’t include outright questioning about trauma and possible PTSD. What was she thinking? It had been a long time since she’d had to disguise any kind of attraction to a woman, and she was sorely out of practice. She should’ve just let Beth take this visit; she was the most heterosexual person Lori had ever come across, so she’d be immune to Ms. Jackson’s charms. Lord only knew what Toni had revealed about Lori’s relationship situation in a misguided attempt to interfere. She could only hope that Toni hadn’t taken it upon herself to play Cupid.

“No, that wasn’t the reason,” Ms. Jackson said. “It was time for me to follow my new dream.”

Lori bit back a number of questions begging to be answered. Answers led to more questions, and when they were answered, they inevitably led to more questions, and before she knew it, they’d be getting to know each other better. None of that mattered. Ms. Jackson was here to visit Max and then she’d be leaving to follow her new dream, like she’d just said. “Dreams are important.” Duct tape. That’s what she needed. A roll of duct tape for her mouth, which apparently had no intention of listening to the logical side of her brain.

“Was this place your dream?”

“Beth!” Lori waved and gestured for her to join them, praying she didn’t appear as manic as she felt.

Beth wandered down the path toward them, clearly in no hurry. Lori hadn’t noticed she had one of their other charges straining at the leash in the opposite direction. That would make her planned request awkward and obvious.

“Boss?” Beth asked, stopping ten yards in front of them.

Honeycomb sniffed the air but didn’t growl, which was a first since they’d taken him in; he didn’t take kindly to any new visitors. His unofficial canine seal of approval was another check in Ms. Jackson’s boxes—not that Lori was keeping score.

She backtracked on her original reason for calling Beth over. She’d pony up and be an adult instead of a teenager crushing on the hot new student. “How was Max when you fed him?”

Beth’s frown was infinitesimal and disappeared as rapidly as it had appeared… Once she’d taken the time to appraise their visitor, Beth smiled widely. Why was everyone Lori knew invested in the ongoing drama of her personal life?

“He was quite engaged actually,” Beth said. “I think he’s back on track.”

“Back on track?” Ms. Jackson glanced between Beth and Lori, concern instantly etched in her expression. “Has he had problems?”

“The Fourth of July fireworks messed with his rehabilitation,” Beth said. “He’d been progressing pretty well up to that point. You know, as well as can be expected given the state he came to us in.”

Ms. Jackson’s concern clearly deepened. “The state he came in? Did he have a bad flight? Did something happen?”

Lori shook her head and placed her hand on Ms. Jackson’s arm before quickly retracting the over-familiar gesture. “It was nothing bad, and nothing we weren’t expecting. The journey from Syria to Chicago took nearly seventy-two hours, and Max was alone for a lot of that time. It exacerbated his condition a little, but that’s something we anticipate for all the dogs that come in from overseas.” She smiled, hoping to calm Ms. Jackson’s fears. “Beth isn’t one to sugarcoat things.”

Beth raised her eyebrow, and Lori knew she’d have to endure a full-on interrogation once Ms. Jackson was gone. Which couldn’t come soon enough. Sort of.

Honeycomb’s attention drifted from the boring assembly of humans, and he pulled in the direction of the stables.

“If there’s nothing else, Honeycomb wants to go visit Cash,” Beth said, holding him with apparent ease.

She was powerful for her diminutive frame, something she’d demonstrated on the day of her interview by transferring twenty haybales from Lori’s truck to the stables ten times faster than Lori had ever managed. They were about the same size, but Beth put her to shame in terms of physicality. She imagined it could be quite intimidating to any man lacking in self-confidence.

Lori shook her head. “No. I just wanted to see how Max had been before I took Ms. Jackson to see him.”

Gabe took a half-step forward and held out her hand. “Just Gabe. Ms. Jackson sounds weird.”

And now Lori couldn’t continue to use her formal name or she would seem weird too. Gabe did sound nice when she said it in her head though, and calling her Ms. Jackson was weird. Using Ms. just didn’t suit her at all.

Beth shook Gabe’s hand. “I’m sure Max will be very happy to see you.”

Then she headed off to the stables, but not before she’d winked at Lori and wiggled her eyebrows, which was just overkill. Lori got it: Gabe was hot, and everyone knew she was exactly Lori’s type. She’d made a problem for herself by being so open about her private life, but everyone who worked here was like family, so the teasing was to be expected. Still, she would avoid Beth’s inevitable interrogation by heading to the vet for their weekly medicine supplies after Gabe left.

Lori turned back to Gabe to find her looking amused. Or smug. Of course someone who looked like Gabe would know she was catnip to a woman like her…and to anyone, really.

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