Page 8 of Here Comes Santa Paws

“I will. Get some rest.”

I ended the call and ate the rest of my pizza while watching whatever Hallmark Christmas movie was on. That was my favorite way to unwind and always made me feel better—no matter my stress level.

Tinsel’s wet nose on my cheek woke me a while later. I must’ve dozed off on the couch. I grabbed my phone to glance at the time. Nearly midnight. Oops.

“All right, kids. Time for potty, then let’s go to bed.” All my light decorations were on a timer, so after I let them out, I herded the dogs to the bedroom and wished Krampus a good night’s sleep from her perch as neighborhood watch.

While brushing my teeth, I scrolled through my notifications. My gut sank when I saw several from the water detection alarms I’d bought last year for the animal shelter. The little devices were low to the ground and worked like a charm to let me know if there was water where there shouldn’t be. Like if someone forgot to turn off a hose after cleaning the kennels.

I frowned. I’d checked the hoses before I’d left earlier.What’s going on?I launched the camera app to tune into the live feeds and heard a cacophony of barks over the sound of rushing water.

I bolted toward the front door and grabbed my coat and keys. Good thing I hadn’t changed into my pajamas yet. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be sleeping tonight.

Chapter 4

Elias

I droppedmy head back between my shoulders and closed my eyes as I tested the reclining limits of my rickety office chair. My headache was bad enough that I’d turned off the lit ceramic Christmas tree on my desk. Normally, the blinking soothed me like the steady pulse of the holiday season, but today, I winced with each flash.

The seemingly endless barking from the shelter dogs didn’t help the sharp pain piercing my temples. The day’s stress was getting to me. On top of the lack of sleep, I’d had a morning full of phone calls to the insurance company, hunting down bids from restoration companies, and I’d run about a thousand loads of towels through the laundry while trying to sop up water throughout the night. Not to mention, it was proving impossible to find a contractor to come in and give me an estimate for the repairs.

Nancy knocked lightly on the doorframe to my office and entered. “Coffee and a sandwich? I wasn’t sure if you’d eaten anything today.”

“You’re an angel.” I rubbed my palms against my eyes and sat straight.

“Headache?” She pulled a tube of pain meds from her pocket and set it on my desk next to the lunch delivery.

“A big one. Thank you.” While squinting at her, I managed a smile and hummed gratefully as the bitter coffee hit my tastebuds.

It had been one hell of a long night after rushing to the shelter, turning off the water, and calling the electric company emergency line to shut off the power. Honestly, I’d been so rattled that I probably wouldn’t have thought to do those two critical things without frantically asking Siri what to do after a water leak while en route to the shelter.

My best guess was that a pipe had burst since I’d found several inches of water in places. After addressing the most critical safety needs, I’d spent the rest of the night shuffling animals from waterlogged kennels into dry ones. We were already at capacity, and trying to puzzle out which pets could safely be housed together while my stress thermometer was maxed out had kept my blood pressure high. Once I’d managed the temporary shuffle, I started mopping up water as best I could and creating a list of all the things I needed to take care of so I could hit the ground running with phone calls as soon as business hours hit.

So many calls.

I unwrapped the hot sandwich and salivated at the savory aroma.

“Seriously, thank you. I was about to make a meal out of questionable Fig Newtons from the break room.”

She laughed. “I had to save you from yourself. What can I help with next?”

I smiled my gratitude. “I finally found a water damage restoration company who can come out tomorrow, but I’m striking out with a contractor. Any chance you know one of those?”

She shook her head. “No, but I can put feelers out.”

“Thanks, Nance.” I took a bite of the sandwich and nearly moaned. “I’ve gathered that it will take weeks to fix, at least. The area needs to be dried out, inspected for mold, repairs made to the pipes and wall, and assessed for other pipes about to go. It’s so much.”

One of the dogs expressed their frustration with a howl so loud I glanced around to make sure it wasn’t in the office with us.

Nancy winced. “Poor things. They must be so stressed.”

“We can’t keep them beyond capacity like this.” I needed to vocalize the worry taking up more brain space with each passing hour. “What if this impacts adoptions during the festival? We’ve lost access to nearly half our animal housing and introduction areas. What if more kennels need to go out of commission after someone inspects things and finds more damage?” I dropped my head in my hands and tugged on my hair. All I wanted to do was go home and hide under my warm blankets.

No time for that. I had to rally for the animals. “I need a Christmas miracle.”

Nancy looked thoughtful as she chewed. “What if we launch a fostering campaign and some pop-up adoption events? It’s been a while since we recruited a new batch of foster caregivers.”

“I love that idea, but with the festival starting tomorrow, I worry people will be too busy. We’d be asking them to not only care for the pets but bring them to adoption pop-ups. Maybe I should ask other shelters in the region to take on the animals. I can reach out to breed-specific rescues for the purebreds.”

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