Page 56 of 15 Summers Later

When they returned to the house to say their goodbyes to everyone, she found Ava waiting for Leona in one of the rocking chairs on the porch. She was gazing out at the vast mountain range beyond the ranch, her expression distant and...somehow haunted.

Where earlier in the evening, Madi might have ignored Ava, she found she couldn’t do that when her sister seemed so troubled.

“I’m taking off. I’m sure I’ll see you later.”

“All right.”

Madi paused, then hurried on before she could change her mind.

“I was serious about suggesting you volunteer at the shelter. For what it’s worth, I was only teasing about cleaning after the pigs. You wouldn’t have to do that.”

Ava blinked in surprise. “Thank you. I might do that. You know I’m not really good with animals, right? Not like you are, anyway.”

“You’ll be fine. We’ll put you with the puppies. You can ask Sierra. They’re good therapy, guaranteed to put a smile on your face. I’ll let the volunteers know you’re preapproved. You don’t have to go through the vetting process since Luke and I both know you.”

Madi didn’t know why she was being so generous to her sister, not when she was still furious with Ava. She just couldn’t stand by and do nothing when her sister seemed so...shattered.

“I... Thanks,” Ava said, as Luke drove his pickup closer to the house and stopped.

“Oh. I didn’t realize you came with Luke.”

“I didn’t. I came with Nic but she’s decided to stay the night here. Luke offered to give me a ride home so he can check on one of our animals at the rescue.”

Madi also wasn’t sure why she felt compelled to explain herself and her choices to her sister.

She gave Ava one last wave and hurried down the steps. As she knew he would, Luke walked around the truck to open the passenger door for her and held his hand out to help her up. She knew she would be wasting her breath to tell him she was perfectly capable of opening a door and that she regularly drove herownpickup truck, which was much harder to get into.

She placed her hand in his and let him give her a boost, aware of a strange heat that seemed to jump between them. As soon as she settled into the seat that smelled of leather and pine, she was quick to withdraw her hand, not looking at him as he closed the door and made his way around to the driver’s seat.

He pulled away from the house in the direction of the sanctuary on the other side of town, some of Boyd’s horses galloping beside them in their paddock, their manes and tails limned by the colorful sunset.

“What a lovely evening,” she said, settling into her seat and enjoying the familiar view they passed. Everywhere she looked, she saw people outside enjoying the peaceful Sunday. Families rode bikes on the trail that followed the creek, the large downtown park was busy with informal pickup soccer and baseball games, and they even passed several people horseback riding. “I don’t know why anyone would want to live anywhere but here in Emerald Creek.”

“It’s a pretty great place. Not perfect, of course, but no place is.”

“You’re right. But in my view, Emerald Creek is closer than most places. It’s not only the scenery. I love the farmers market and the Monday-night movies at the park and bumping into friends at the grocery store. I don’t know how Ava possibly can be happy living in the city. I visited her once and had a headache the entire time from the noise and the chaos.”

“It’s good that other people find home in lots of different places or the population of Emerald Creek would explode.”

She smiled. “You’re right. We wouldn’t want that.”

They chatted about the upcoming workload for the week at the vet clinic until he pulled into the driveway of the animal shelter. “I can drop you at the house before I head down to the barn,” he said.

“You don’t have to do that. I would like to go with you to check on Barnabas. I can walk over after.”

“You know I’m always glad for your help.”

He continued on the driveway and parked in front of the barn.

She didn’t wait for his help exiting the pickup but climbed out herself. Her leg wobbled, tired out from the long day, but she managed to catch herself before she stumbled, then she hurried to the door.

She unlocked the facility with her code and let them both into the empty office.

Unless they had a critically ill patient, they didn’t keep overnight staff at the shelter. Madi had installed an extensive camera security system that alerted her in case of anything unusual with the animals. Volunteers took turns monitoring the cameras on a schedule, so Madi didn’t have to do it herself every single night, worrying about their charges.

Tonight was actually her turn, and throughout the evening, she had been checking the cameras every hour or so.

“Is he in here or out in the field?” Luke asked.

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