Page 13 of Reckless Harmony

“I do,” she said firmly, even though a part of her still wanted to flee the shop and never look back.

“You’ll have to book for a different day. Nix is just starting his lunch break, and he has another tattoo this afternoon,” Preacher said.

Disappointment washed over her, along with trepidation at having to come up with another lie to tell her father, but it was worth the risk to get the perfect tattoo. “Okay, I can rebook.”

Nix studied her for a few seconds. “I can do the tattoo now.”

“Really?” She sounded like an excited little kid.

A small grin crossed Nix’s face, and Nola’s heart went into overdrive. She’d thought him handsome before, but now… now, she could barely breathe in his presence.

“Just give me five minutes,” he said.

CHAPTER 7

Rayna parked her truck on the quiet side street and grabbed her lunch bag. Typically, she would return to the Sneaky Leaks office space for her lunch break, but her next client wasn’t far from downtown.

She unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite while checking her emails. There were over a dozen emails requesting help for animals, but thankfully, her dog and cat foster coordinators were handling them. Her phone dinged with an incoming text, and she responded to Reba, their cat and dog medical volunteer, confirming that she could do further testing at the vet for a cat that had been vomiting off and on for two days.

In between bites of her sandwich, she answered various messages from different volunteers, assured Zuri she hadn’t forgotten about their meeting regarding the bachelor/bachelorette auction, and called Brandt Vet Clinic to book an appointment to spay the cat of a senior with limited funds who couldn’t afford it.

Out of all the programs she’d set up within Little Whiskers Rescue, she was most proud of their Helping Hands program. The program utilized rescue funds to support low-income families in Harmony Falls with veterinary care for their animals.

Speaking of funds, she really needed to rebook her meeting with the rescue’s accountant. Mack had cancelled twice now, and with year end rapidly approaching, she needed to know the exact numbers in order to allocate funds for the various rescue programs for the following year.

She sighed and rubbed at her forehead. Dealing with the money side was her least favourite part of the rescue work, and she knew how lucky she was to have Mack. He’d been with the rescue since the start, volunteering his time to handle donations and bank accounts and doing all the bookkeeping. Still, she was sometimes uneasy at how little she paid attention to the money side, but she was already stretched thin as it was. She couldn’t be a control freak over every aspect of the rescue. She’d go into complete burnout if she tried.

Her work phone rang, and she hit the answer button. “Go for Abrams.”

Her boss laughed. “God, you’re such a dork.”

“Takes one to know one, Douglas.”

He laughed again, and she grinned before biting into her apple and chewing noisily. “What’s up?”

“Where you at?”

“Just outside of downtown.”

“Perfect. I need you to handle an emergency call.”

“Sure. Where?”

“Stark Entertainment. Their office is the old fire station.”

She froze with the apple halfway to her mouth. The sandwich she’d eaten now sat like a rock in her stomach.

“Rayna, you still there?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Can you ask Jimmy instead?”

“He’s way over on the south side. You’re closest.”

“What’s the emergency?” Rayna asked.

Doug hesitated, and Rayna said, “Doug? What’s the emergency?”

“Low water pressure in the gym showers.”

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