Page 110 of High Frequency

The day before yesterday, when the movers arrived, I had them place the big pieces of furniture, but leave the boxes in one of the extra bedrooms for me to tackle bit by bit.

Which is what I’ll get back to later today when I get home.

There is snow on the ground, but the roads are clear and it’s a beautiful day for a drive. Despite the cold outside air, I have the window behind me open a crack so Peanut can stick her large nose outside. She easily gets car sick otherwise. Mostly Great Dane, she is large enough to stick her head over the backseat and I can hear her sniffing at the fresh air.

Nugget is probably already asleep in the large dog bed I have in the back of the SUV. These two are my therapy dogs. They love affection and they love people, which is a bit of a miracle, given where they came from. As unmatched a pair as they are, these two are best friends.

I pull my knit beanie farther down over my ears against the cold chill. Then I turn up the radio and sing along full-blast to Duran Duran’sHungry Like the Wolfas I make my way to Kalispell.I can’t hold a tune to save my life, but luckily my dogs don’t care.

“You must be Ms. Lederman,” the sweater-vest-wearing administrator waiting for me at reception greets me. “David Gentry, we spoke on the phone.”

I shake his offered hand. “Please, it’s Jillian. Nice to meet you.”

“Of course. Jillian, would you follow me? We already have quite a gathering in the community hall. Sadly, our facility isn’t equipped to handle live-in animals, so a lot of our residents had to give up a pet. They miss them.”

“I can only imagine,” I reply. “I don’t know what I would do without my guys.”

Ten minutes later, Nugget charms his way from lap to lap, doing the rounds as he’s bound to do. Peanut is a tad more discerning with her affections and has picked out her favorite person in the room; a frail-looking elderly woman in a wheelchair. Peanut is sitting down beside the chair, her head resting on the lap of the woman, who absent-mindedly scratches Peanut behind the ears.

Both woman and dog have their eyes closed, a look of satisfaction on their faces.

I catch David’s eye, who seems pretty pleased as well. It’s amazing how simple and effortless it really is to bring a little joy to people’s lives.

It brings me joy as well, and provides me with some balance for the rewarding, but often heart-breaking search and recovery work I do.

*****

Wolff

“Did you find everything okay?”

I pile the items I picked up on the counter.

“I think so.” I quickly check the list on my phone. “Yeah, that’s it.”

And thank God for that.

Even just being in the proximity of a shopping mall gives me fucking hives, so after wandering the aisles of the women’s clothing department in Target for the past half hour, I’m sweating like a pig. Good thing I only need to do this once, maybe twice a year.

I wait for the woman to ring me up and pull out my credit card. Then I watch her pack up my purchases, and with a curt nod for her, grab the bags, and walk as fast as I can out to the parking lot.

My phone vibrates in my pocket as I’m getting into my truck.

“Yep.”

“Ama says you’re in Kalispell?” Dan asks.

Ama is both housekeeper and office manager at High Meadow. She’s also the most well-informed person at the ranch; she seems to know everything about everyone. So, I’m not surprised she was able to tell Dan my whereabouts, even though she didn’t get that information from me.

“Yep.”

“Good. I have a favor to ask.”

“What do you need?”

“Any chance you could swing by Home Depot on your way back? I just started a new project and need a few things.”

I chuckle. “A new project? Aren’t you still doing work on your house?”

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