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“Never. It’ll all be gone by the end of the evening.”
Pepper set up the table with the pastries she’d brought with her. “You really think so?”
“I do.” She glanced up at the clock. “We have a little time before the adoption party. Come with me.”
Pepper glanced back at the table that wasn’t totally set up. She really should stay here. She needed it to look its best. Even though her bakery was temporarily out of business, she was not giving up. She intended to use the insurance money to fix everything and then life would go back to normal. In the meantime, she was passing out her business cards in hopes that people would call her for cakes and remember the name of her bakery and come to visit when she had her grand reopening.
“You can do that later,” Stephanie said. “I have someone for you to meet.”
Meet? Pepper wondered who it could be. She’d been coming to the shelter for so long that she knew all the volunteers by name. Maybe they’d taken on someone new.
Pepper followed Stephanie to the back of the shelter where they housed the puppies. Each doggie looked so sweet to Pepper. They all had their sad stories that pulled at Pepper’s heart strings. If it were up to her, she’d adopt them all. If only she had a big enough house and all of the hours necessary to care for them.
She did take care of foster dogs from time to time. They were usually very special cases. However, with the opening of the bakery, she hadn’t had the free time that she used to.
Stephanie led her to the last kennel and stopped. “Pepper, I’d like you to meet Daisy.”
Inside the kennel was a beagle puppy. She was timid and smashed herself against the back corner. She was the most adorable fur baby with her brown, floppy ears. Pepper’s heart immediately melted.
“What happened?” she asked.
“We don’t know the details. Only that someone found the puppies in a box in the freezing cold. Daisy was the only one to make it. However, she isn’t ready for adoption yet. She has a lot of recovery to do. And as you can tell, she needs to be socialized. She doesn’t trust people, and with her history, I can’t blame her.”
“Can I try?” Pepper was drawn to the puppy.
“Go ahead. I don’t have to tell you to take it slow.”
No, she didn’t. Pepper had done this countless times. She opened the kennel door. “Hey, Daisy. My name’s Pepper.” She wanted the puppy to get used to her voice. “I was hoping we could be friends.”
Daisy silently stared at her with those big brown eyes. Her whole body, from her nose to the tip of her tail, quivered with fear. She was going to be a tough case, but Pepper was eager to work with her. Immediately, Pepper felt a bond forming between them.
In one breath, she knew she wanted to take Daisy home. In the next breath, she remembered the sobering fact that she didn’t have a home. And Pepper was quite certain that Simon would not appreciate having a puppy on his gleaming floors or near his priceless pieces of art. To Pepper, it was like the man lived in a museum rather than a home.
“I’ll just let you two get acquainted,” Stephanie said with a knowing smile.
A while ago, Pepper had mentioned that she would love to have a beagle. Leave it to Stephanie to remember. But she was not adopting Daisy. She was in absolutely no position to even consider it.
Pepper reached into her pocket and pulled out the doggie biscuits she’d made. They were all too big for the little girl. “I’m sorry,” Pepper said, “I don’t have any treats for puppies. We don’t have too many puppies your size that pass through here. But I promise to make you some for our next visit.”
Pepper stayed there visiting with Daisy for as long as she dared before going to finish setting up the table. And then she took a seat at the information desk, where she was assigned to work for the next few hours.
* * *
She was tired. Absolutely exhausted.
It felt as though she hadn’t slept in days.
Pepper used the spare key Simon had given her to let herself into the penthouse. All she wanted now was to curl up with a black-and-white classic movie—
“You’re home.”
Pepper jumped at the sound of Simon’s voice. She dropped her things near the door, then followed the voice to the living room. Simon stood next to the wall of windows overlooking Central Park.
“Did you need something?” she asked.
“I didn’t know where you were, and when I couldn’t reach you on the phone, I, uh, didn’t know what to think, with you not feeling well this morning.”
She pulled her phone out of her back pocket. The missed calls appeared on the screen. He hadn’t called once. He’d called twice.
