Page 35 of Summer Ride

“You can cry,” she said, running her fingers lightly through his wet hair.

He’d seen her several times holding a shivering, scared dog in her arms, with tears flowing down her cheeks.

“I’m not sad. I’m angry. But I’m just too tired to do anything about it,” he admitted. “Tomorrow. It’ll hit me all again tomorrow.” He sighed and fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke, it was to the smell of bacon and coffee. Hearing Kara moving around in the kitchen, he stumbled into the bathroom and quickly pulled on a clean pair of scrubs before heading downstairs.

The main bedroom was at the end of the hallway upstairs, along with three smaller bedrooms and two more bathrooms. Two of the bedrooms were in desperate need of flooring, paint, and furniture. One of the bathrooms was not in working order yet, while the other one he had just finished remodeling himself.

The old wood stairs creaked under his feet as he headed down them. The stairs ended directly at the glass front doors, which led out to the massive front porch he’d rebuilt two summers ago.

To the left of the stairs was his study, which was filled with his books, a desk that he hardly used, and a leather sofa that he used all of the time. Most of the time he would fall asleep in the old comfortable thing while he was reading.

He often wished for an old dog or two to cozy up to on cooler nights, but he knew that his schedule was far too crazy. He couldn’t leave any companions alone for that long. His life wasn’t quite there yet.

He’d played host to many animals over the years, ones that he had to watch overnight or through the weekend for medical purposes. That was another reason he’d held off getting a pet of his own.

Behind his study was a formal dining room that he used only rarely, when friends or family came over. Beyond that there was a hallway leading to a mud room, the laundry room, and the garage.

To the right of the stairs sat the large family room, which was connected to the kitchen.

Currently, Kara was standing at the farmhouse sink washing a pan.

The kitchen was the first thing he’d remodeled in the house since it was the most vital to his happiness. He’d decided to keep the farmhouse theme and decorate it with a country charm style. He was pretty sure that Chip and Joanna would be proud of how it turned out. He’d watched lots of their shows while he’d been remodeling.

Actually, he’d taken a lot of the color schemes and remodeling ideas from their show, from how he’d organized his walk-in pantry to the cozy furniture he’d ordered for the living room.

After some great debate with Aiden, who had often helped him out during the first stages of remodeling, they’d decided to keep the exposed wood beam ceilings that ran the length of the two rooms.

He and Kara had found the massive wood-and-iron chandelier that hung over the rich maple dining room table at an antique show. After a few hours of rewiring, sanding, and staining, he’d had the thing looking brand new.

In every space he’d remodeled, he’d worked to make it the best the space could be with an eye towards winning Kara over to the place without spooking her away.

“Morning,” he said, moving behind her and kissing her cheek as he wrapped his arms around her.

“Morning.” She turned in his arms and kissed him.

Since she was dressed in her normal camp attire, he knew that she probably had to head to work soon.

“I can drop you off…” he started to say.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll drive. You can’t always be by my side.” She ran her hands through his hair. “You need a haircut.”

He smiled. “You can give me one tonight.”

She chuckled. “You didn’t learn that lesson after the last time I tried to cut your hair?”

He smiled, then kissed her. “I liked it. Even if you missed half my head.”

They laughed and joked all the way through breakfast. After they ate, they each jumped into their own vehicles and headed off in different directions.

He made his way to the sanctuary but not before sending off a quick text message to let Brett and Aaron know that he would be MIA that day and they should keep an eye out for Kara. By the time he pulled into the sanctuary’s parking lot, both men had replied that she’d made it to work and they’d have her back.

“Morning,” Leslie said, stepping out of the main building.

“Morning.” He shielded his eyes from the sun.

Leslie ran the sanctuary along with a handful of other full-time paid employees. “Thanks for helping out today. I know you wanted to clear your schedule this week.”