Page 8 of Grady

“Hell, that horse would fight those wolves for you, but another horse might have panicked, reared up, and dumped you.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Grady blew out a breath. “I appreciate you calling.”

“I was out to dinner with Parker, but Jeff let me know when I stopped at the barn before heading home. Scared the hell out of me.”

“You? How do you think I felt? My heart’s still racing.”

“I hope you gave that horse extra oats.”

Grady grinned. “I did, and he got an apple.”

Maverick chuckled. “He deserved it. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Thanks, me too. I’ll see you in the morning.” Grady hung up.

He got up from the chair, put the screen in front of the fireplace, then headed to bed. He just hoped he could sleep after a day like today.

Chapter Two

Saturday afternoon, Savannah sat on her sofa, watching TV as the snowstorm raged outside. She could hear the sleet hitting the windows.

“It’s April for heaven’s sake,” she muttered.

When she moved to Clifton last year, she’d arrived in mid-May, and though some mornings were still chilly, she thought everyone was joking when they told her she just missed a big snowstorm.

But as she sat listening to the wind howling, she knew they’d been telling her the truth. As much as she loved the snow, she was not fond of it stranding everyone indoors. Not that she planned to go out either, but if she did, she knew she’d have no customers in this weather. That was why she didn’t open the store today.

She hated being alone, but it was the way it had to be. Kirk had divorced her three years ago, but right now, she refused to think about it. It took her years to get past the pain he had caused her. After counseling, she knew it was not her fault. It happened quite often, but Kirk blamed her and walked out. With all she’d gone through, then he left her, she wanted to die, but a wonderful therapist helped her come to terms with it, and now she was fine with what he did. She was not the one who did anything wrong.

Getting up from the sofa, she entered the kitchen and made herself a hot cup of tea. She doubted she’d even make it to work Monday if this kept up. She looked out the window in the door and shook her head as the snow continued to pile up.

With a sigh, she walked back to the living room and sat back down on the sofa. As the wind picked up, she pulled the quilt off the back of the sofa and tucked it around her feet. Her feet werealways cold. It could be ninety degrees, and her feet would feel like a block of ice.

As she sat there trying to get into the movie, she thought she heard something outside. She put her cup down, got up, and walked toward the window. She pulled the curtain back and peered out but all she saw was snow.

But, as she turned to head back to the sofa, she heard it again. She walked to the door, opened it and peered out. Still not seeing anything, she started to close the door when she heard the noise again and looked down to see a small dog hunched up against the house.

“Oh, my God! You poor thing. Stay right there. I’ll be right back.”

After closing the door, she quickly ran upstairs and grabbed a few towels, then ran back down the stairs. She opened the door, knelt, and put her hand out toward the dog.

“Come here, baby.” She almost cried when the dog licked her hand and inched closer.

Savannah wrapped the towel around the pup and took him inside. She sat on the floor and dried the dog off as much as she could.

“Who left you out in this weather? You have ice frozen on your fur. No wonder you’re shivering. I see you’re a male.”

Briskly rubbing the dog, a tear rolled down her cheek for the poor pup. She was an animal lover, especially dogs and she’d like to meet the person who put this guy out in the snow. She looked for a collar, but he didn’t have one. It looked like he’d worn one at some point. She walked onto the porch to see if she could find one, but it was nowhere around. Of course, the snow could have covered it, or, as much as she hated to think about it, someone removed it when they dumped the poor animal.

“I’ll call the vet once I get you dry, to see if anyone is missing you.” She laughed when he licked her nose. “Thank you for thekiss.”

Once she got him dried off, she sat on the sofa, and picked up her phone to call the veterinarian’s hospital.

When the phone was answered, she explained the situation to the woman on the other end of the line, then she was put on hold while the woman put the vet on.

“Hello, this is Dr. Russell, can you tell me about the dog?”

“He seems young, and he’s not neutered. It looks like he had a collar, but he doesn’t now.”

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