Page 6 of Safe With Me

“I think you’re drawing a false analogy.”

“Maybe I am. But I won’t force you to do anything. Tell you what. Go back to the clinic for a week. See if he’s such a bad guy. If you find out you can’t tolerate working for him, I’ll assign somebody else there.”

“Will you keep me on here?”

“Yes. I suppose everybody here has prejudices. I can’t fire people for them, even if I knew about them.”

“You think I’m prejudiced?”

“Aren’t you?”

“I hate to think of myself that way.”

“Steph, I don’t want to resurrect that traumatic event in your life. If it’s too painful for you to be at the clinic, you’ll find out in a week. And I promise, I won’t hold it against you if you still have the negative feelings.”

Disturbed by their conversation, Steph asked, “You better run it by him. I was obvious about my attitude and he may not want me back.”

“I’ll do that this afternoon. Take the rest of the day off. I’ll call you when I talk to him.”

She left the office feeling disappointed with herself. So she went home, changed into jeans and a T-shirt and drove out to her happy place.

When she opened the heavy door to the pet adoption center,Forever Friendsappeared to be in chaos. But she knew the owner, Matt Lanier, had a handle on everything. As soon as she got inside, a big dog with a lot of caramel-colored hair rushed over to the gate.

She bent down and ruffled her fur, which appeared to be newly washed. “Hey there, Sunshine. How are you today?”

The dog licked her face.

Smiling, Matt approached her. A big man with black curly hair and big blue eyes, had a gentle touch with the animals. “Go inside the gate and play with her. She had a bath and she’s anxious from it. But she loves it when you come.”

Steph straightened. “Can I take her for a walk?

“No work today?”

“Day off. Long story.”

“Sure, you took the volunteer course. Go ahead. She might also like the dog park.”

He handed her a harness and a leash. She walked inside the cordoned-off area and wrestled Sunshine into the cute pink vest-like harness, attached the leash and led her outside.

She already felt better.

Chapter 2

Pax woke himself up yelling. This had happened frequently right after the surgery which changed his life forever. But that was two years ago. It took him a full year to get them to stop. Now, thanks to Stephanie Giordano, who had resurrected his worst ghosts, they were back.

He threw off the covers and rolled out of bed. A glance at the clock told him it was 5 a.m. He’d be tired today. And outside, he could see a rainy, cold October morning. Depressing at best.

In the small kitchen, he turned on the Keurig and while he waited for it to heat up, he caught sight at the back door. He wondered if the mutt was here again.

You idiot. If you’d stop feeding him…

He went to the back door and opened it. The rangy dog had some German Shepherd in him, but the rest Pax couldn’t identify. The mutt looked up at him with puppy-dog eyes. And he was shivering.

Telling himself not to, he opened the door wider and the dog stayed where he was. “Come on in.” He’d never invited the animal into the house. Nothing. So Pax stepped to the side. The dog limped in. And whimpered. His fur was soaking wet and he was shivering.

“Hold on a second.” Pax closed the door, went to the cupboard and drew out a heated blanket he’d brought home from the clinic. Right now, he couldn’t remember why.

Sticking the padded covering into the microwave, he waited a minute then took it out. When he approached the dog, it whimpered again. “Shh, I won’t hurt you.” Slowly he draped the dog with the blanket. The poor thing sunk into its warm folds. “Aw.” He knelt and rubbed the cloth along its back. Then on top of his head. Once again, the dog moaned. It was skinnier than he thought. Dangerously so.

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