Page 45 of Pretty Puppy

His shoulders relaxed as he let out a long breath. He’d need an extra glass of champagne after all this was over with.

“Hey, hon.” Micki approached him from behind the long registration counter. “What’s on the agenda tonight?”

“A zillion things.” He laughed. “Owen should be here soon. We have to set up fifty pens. Can you believe that? We have a couple other volunteers, but it’s still going to take a few hours. We have to go through the new doggy and kitty beds that arrived, separate the toys, and there’s also a bale of hay to split between two ponies.”

Micki arched her eyebrows. “Damn. Is the hedgehog here again this year? That was my fave from last time.”

“He was pretty damn cute, wasn’t he?” Ash grinned. “But he found his forever Master with the guy who adopted him, so he won’t be in the pens. They might show up for the show though, so who knows.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet.” She puffed out a breath, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. “I’m exhausted. We hadsomany people check in today. We’ve been sold out for months, so I had to send some of the participants to other hotels.” She screwed up her nose. “I felt bad.”

“It’s not your fault.” He patted her arm. “The event has grown so much in size, it’ll probably be like that in the future too.” Ash’s eyes widened and he woke up his phone. “Ooh, I should write that down. Maybe Daddy or Shane can make an announcement at the end that anyone planning to attend next year should get their reservations in early.”

Micki nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

He typed in a note to remind himself, then shoved his phone back into his pocket.

“Are you working the weekend?”

Her usual hours were Monday through Friday, but sometimes she helped out and got overtime when they were extra busy.

“Nope. Lee insisted I take the weekend off because I’ve been working so hard.” She waggled her eyebrows. “He even gave me some show tickets and free drink and dinner passes so me and Walt can spend the weekend relaxing and having fun.”

Ash had to smile. His Daddy had a tendency to look out for everyone.

Ash leaned in, bringing his voice lower. “You think Walt is ready to make you an honest woman yet?”

She rolled her eyes. “We’ll see. I think moving in is about all the commitment he can handle right now.”

Her words reminded him of how casually he’d treated his commitment to Lee when they were first together. He sure hoped Walt knew a great thing when he had it and didn’t break Micki’s heart.

Micki laid her hand on top of Ash’s. “I’ve been meaning to ask you. Did your sister ever respond to the messages you left her?”

Ash sighed. “No. And when I called my mom, she was the same as ever, not interested in what I had to say or what I was doing. Her comment about my sister was, ‘I’m sure she has her reasons for not contacting you’.” Ash grunted. “Shehas reasons? Whatever. And I was going to tell her about Lee and I being together again, but she was so obviously anxious to get me off the phone, I didn’t bother.”

Micki squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry, hon. I was hoping they’d change after all this time.”

Ash attempted to ignore the rock that seemed to have landed in his stomach. Daddy had encouraged him to try and mend fences with his sister so he could have some closure. Daddy had said that no matter which way things went, at least he’d know he tried, and that was the best he could do.

You can’t force someone, even if they’re a blood relative, to care about you or be in your life.

Then Lee held him and kissed him over and over, saying not to worry or be sad. That they had their own family together and he would always be loved.

Ash gave a small shrug and smiled as best he could. “It’s really all right. At least now I know, and I quit wasting my energy trying to make them love me.”

Micki went up on her toes, leaning as far over the counter as she could. She held out her arms, and Ash did the same.

“You know I love you, right?”

He gave her a hug before letting her go. The hard granite edge of the counter was digging into his hip bones, and he imagined it wasn’t much better for her.

“I do, and I love you too. You’re the sister IwishI’d been born with.”

“Well, born or not, you’re stuck with me now.”

He chuckled. “Watch out, you’re stuck with me, too.”

“Excuse me.”

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