Page 13 of His to Keep

“Hey, stranger, haven’t seen you here in a while. Everything okay?” Tully greets me when I’m less than halfway down the hall. The door is open, and she’s surrounded by stacks of piles.

“Hey, Tully, think you might have a fire hazard on your hands.” I hit the doorway, and since there’s one chair without paperwork, I take the seat.

“We’re going paperless. This is the result of years of paper files. Sad to say, this is the tail end, and unfortunately, it gets messier as the days go by.” Tully pauses, grabs her drink, and takes a healthy sip.

“All’s good. I believe you have a Border Collie Sienna brought in?” I ask.

“Bucket? Yep, he’s here. Eating like a champ, loves to play fetch, and all of the ladies and gentlemen love him.”

“His vet bill, I’m paying it. Sienna doesn’t know I’m here. I’d appreciate if you kept that secret between you and me.” Tallulah isn’t expensive, but she isn’t cheap either. Shit is going to be steep no matter how you look at it. I’m not sure what Sienna is doing in the way of work besides helping on the farm, and with her not being open about it, the last thing I can do is bring up the subject of me following her. I’m not ruining my chances of sleeping in her bed. Fuck that. I just got her back.

“Funnily enough, I had a similar conversation with Sienna myself. Though, I told her if she didn’t pick up the bill, Dean would have. Then Momma Catherine and he would fight over the cutie. I did not see this coming at all. Though, it seems my husband hasn’t been very forthcoming. When did this happen?” My sister-in-law won’t let this go, which means she’ll have another secret to keep, and that’s a tall fucking order.

“Depends how deep you wanna get into it. Amos obviously doesn’t know, but it goes back, all the way back to the summer she graduated.”

“Wait a damn minute. Are you saying you’ve kept this quiet and nobody has ever known this entire time?” Tallulah picks up a pen, twirls it with her fingers, and continues, “You and Dean are a lot alike, huh? I shouldn’t be surprised. Yet I am.”

“JW is the only one who so much as has an inkling. Amos isn’t here this week, and I’ve fucked up in the past.” I shrug. “I wanted better for her than a broken-down cowboy who still needed to get his shit together.” Back then, chasing the next high and jackpot at the rodeo consumed me. Sienna never had a problem with me riding bulls for competition. In fact, she’d be front row and center watching me. Still, she deserved to live her life, and even with our age difference, she needed someone a hell of a lot more stable than I was.

“I’m sure Amos will appreciate that at some point. In the meantime, I’ll be praying for you.” Tully jokes, but she’s not the only one. I’m a selfish bastard and am doing the same for myself. I don’t want a rift between Amos and Sienna. Still, I already know our friendship will go down the pisser as soon as he figures shit out.

“Gonna need them. About the dog?” I don’t want to keep her from eating or doing whatever it is she does when the building is empty.

“I’ll send you the bill and stay silent. Unless she comes out and asks, then I won’t lie for you,” Tallulah says. I nod. That’s all I can ask of her.

“Sounds like a deal to me. You want me to grab you something from the diner?” I ask, standing up.

“Nope. Dean cooked enough food last night for an army. I’m eating leftovers. I’m on call tonight, so who knows what time I’ll manage to make it home. The new vets help a lot, but I feel like with the way Arrowleaf is growing, we’re going to need about four more and a bigger office.”

“Pretty sure it’s not growth, sweetheart. I imagine it has something to do with Arrowleaf having a vet that’s worth a damn. You put your name on the new hires, and they know you won’t let anything happen to their animals.” I state the truth. There hasn't been a huge growth spurt in our area for years. New people will come, buy an old timer’s farm who has passed away, and think they can make a living off it. They don’t realize the time and work it needs. Nine times out of ten, they sell, and it’s to a local rancher, then they head back to suburbia.

“You might be right. Thanks for the offer for food. If you happen to stop by Whisked Away, I wouldn’t turn down a sweet treat.”

“I can do that. Sienna asked for something herself earlier this morning. I imagine Mae has something huckleberry, right?” I ask.

“If she doesn’t, it won’t take her long to whip something up, though if you want to keep your secret safe for a little while longer, you may want to keep Sienna’s name out of it.” I arch my eyebrow. “Yeah, JW has totally told her already. Damn, that girl can keep a secret. I’m impressed.” Tallulah and I have a laugh, then I bid my goodbye, offer to lock the door to the office, and head on out.

FOURTEEN

SIENNA

“Someone is clearly in the early stages of a relationship,” Genny greets me as I’m walking through the warehouse steps. I texted her frantically after looking at the time when the water ran cold in my bath. The way she comes in clutch in the best and worst of times. God, she’s freaking amazing. I did promise to stop by Maeve’s place to grab real coffee that isn’t black with cream and sugar, meaning I went to Whisked Away, chatted with Maeve for a few minutes, and noticed JW looking at me like he knew I slept with his brother. We shared a look, and he let out a low chuckle. Clearly, Trey’s ally is his brother JW, whereas mine is Genevieve.

“Sorry, sorry. I promised I’d be here at opening, but then, well, orgasms happened. All. Night. Long.” I pause between each word. Today, she asked for a lavender latte. I went for a maple bourbon iced coffee, and of course, I brought two cheese Danishes.

“Girl, I do not mind at all. Someone should be getting O’s. Obviously, it isn’t me because I’m still looking for a cowboy of my own.” She puts her hand up. She’s still clean, so no paint is flinging at me. Yet. I give her another hour before she’ll be messier than me, not that it means much. I’ll be working on the batch I made a few days ago. It’s time to put them in the kiln and then put the ones Genevieve painted yesterday in the other kiln. And since I’m done making coffee mugs, bowls, and trinket dishes, I’m going to do some painting of my own.

“Well, I gave you options. It’s not my fault you turned your nose up at them.” I sit down at the table, pull my phone out, and see that Tully sent a picture of “Bucket.”

Tully: A certain puppy wanted to say hello. He’s doing great, keeping food and water down, playing fetch. His bloodwork came back normal, which is a relief in itself considering how emaciated and dehydrated he was. Along with the fleas and ticks we found on him. Some people are a disgrace to humanity. Anyways, the owners officially relinquished him. I still have to do a hold by state law, but by this weekend, he should be good to go home with you.

The picture attached is of him sitting pretty, a ball in his mouth, and his coat is shiny, no longer matted and dirty. He does have a long way to go, but he’s far better already.

Me: Oh my gosh, there’s a night and day difference. And really? He’s healthy and he’ll be mine? I guess I better stock up on pet supplies and figure out a new name for him.

“Look at him!” I turn the phone around to show Genny. Her face lights up. I’m sure I have a similar look on my face.

“He’s a cutie. Did you figure out a name yet?”

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