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This was intriguing. A smile played at his lips. “Shoot.”
“Did you want to be my plus one for the gala?”
He felt his throat go dry. “On Saturday?”
She hesitated for a second before answering him. “Yeah. It’s at the Beach Club. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. In fact, maybe we shouldn’t. My parents are going to be there.”
“I want to come.”
“You do?” Her voice softened. “Are you sure? People will talk.”
“People always have.” Maybe this time they wouldn’t talk about him being trash like his brother. In fact, it would be his chance to show this whole town who he’d become, no thanks to them. And if he got the chance to rub his relationship with Brooke in Martin and Lillian Newton’s faces? Well that would do him fine.
“I’ll be there, Brooke. In fact, I’ll pick you up. And in the meantime, I’ll see you at the shelter Monday.”
He glanced over at the file folder in the seat next to him. The report with details of Jamie’s parole. For a moment he felt his chest tighten at the thought of Jamie, at the thought of how the Newton’s thought he was the same as his brother.
Yeah, well he wasn’t. And maybe he finally had a chance to prove it.
23
The animal shelter had descended into chaos. A cat they’d rescued the previous day was giving birth to a litter of mewling kittens, whose unexpected arrival had caused all the other animals in the shelter to be on edge. They’d spent the best part of the afternoon in surgery, helping the cat as each tiny kitten emerged. Each one had been born alive and healthy, thank God.
“Well, I need to get back to work,” Max said, when the final kitten had arrived. All five of them were now nestled against their mother, taking in her milk. He pulled his scrubs off and stuffed them into the laundry chute, before washing his hands and grabbing his battered leather bag. “You did good here,” he told Brooke, looking over his shoulder at her. “I’m looking forward to you joining my team.”
“Me too.” Brooke gave him a tired smile. “If I graduate that is.”
“Of course you’re going to graduate. I gave you a good write up on your practicals, and I know your written work is good. I checked it over, remember?”
She did, and she was forever grateful. It was only a couple of months until she finished college – and until she would get an honest-to-god paycheck every few weeks. The limbo she and Nick were living in would disappear. She couldn’t wait.
The shelter director walked into the operating room, the open door letting in the wails and barks of all the animals in their pens. Clara glanced at Brooke. “You look about as beat as I feel. Let’s get on with the gala preparations and maybe we’ll be out of here before midnight.”
“That sounds like my cue to leave.” Max grimaced.
“But you’ll be there on the night, right?” Brooke asked him.
“Of course. I’ll see you there.” He pulled his jacket on and turned to Clara. “From the looks of the kittens they’re settling in nicely. They’ve all fed and their mother is keeping them warm. There’s a small one I’d like to keep my eye on, but I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”
“Of course.”
“Brooke did great. She didn’t even need me here today.” He winked at her. “You’ll be doing me out of a job soon.”
A loud rapping on the door cut through the sound of the animals and Max’s conversation. Clara frowned and glanced at the clock. “Please God don’t let i
t be another animal. We’ve no space left.”
“It’s okay. It’s a friend of mine. He’s offered to help with the gala preparations,” Brooke said quickly. Did she sound breathless? She felt it. The thought of seeing him again made her stomach erupt with butterflies.
She walked over to the front door and slid open the locks, turning the key to unlock the handle. “Hey,” she said, smiling as she saw him. Aiden was still in his suit – no doubt he’d come straight from the resort – and the contrast between his elegant perfection and her just-helped-a-cat-give-birth disarray couldn’t have been starker. But it was hard to be embarrassed when he was staring at her with those warm, brown eyes in a way that made her heart stutter.
A slow smile pulled up at the corner of his lips. “I’ve missed you.”
Her heart wasn’t stuttering anymore. It was galloping like it was at the Kentucky Derby. “I’ve missed you, too.”
“Who’s this?” Clara asked, standing closer to Brooke than she’d realized. Brooke jumped and turned around, her eyes wide.
“Um, this is Aiden Black. He works at the Silver Sands Resort site. He’s the one who found Perdita.”
