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An arm slipped around my waist. I leaned my head on Miss Adeline’s shoulder.
“We always figure it out, don’t we?” she whispered.
I nodded.
“We can take them today, but since they’re comfortable here, it might be best to do it tomorrow,” Vivian said. “They can stay until we get the jerk-face off your back.”
“Take them?” My brain was foggy with nightmare scenarios to the point I couldn’t think.
“Did you not hear me?” she asked. “I said we have plenty of space.”
“We can’t ask you to do that,” I said quietly. “If we get caught—”
“What are they going to do to us?” Vivian looked smugly at her husband, whose back was toward us as he spoke low into his phone.
“Take them all. Shut us down permanently.” I was going to be sick.
Sadie pawed at her cage like she was trying to dig out. I opened it and sank to my knees. She bolted straight into me, covering my face with kisses. I couldn’t lose them. They were my life.
“He’s legit,” Daniel said as he strode back in the room. “And he has the authority to do what he said, even though it wasn’t precedent with previous inspectors.”
“We’ve solved the problem,” Vivian said. Daniel looked warily at his wife. “They’ll come hang out with us until this blows over.”
What if it didn’t blow over? I was beyond grateful for their help, but it wasn’t a permanent solution.
“They can’t just disappear. We’ll have to show who took possession of the dogs,” I said. Hiding them out wouldn’t be good enough.
“You can put them all in my name.” Stone tugged on his ball cap. He was a massive movie star—at least he had been before he quit—but he’d always been down-to-earth and kind.
“That won’t do. We can’t turn over that many dogs to one person.” As much as I wanted to take him up on the offer, it wouldn’t work.
“They try to be asses and I’ll take it public. Besides, we’ve got a lot of acres in Texas. More than enough for the dogs. If they ask questions, our alibi is airtight.” His stance was casual, easy, like he’d solved all the problems.
Had he?
“Not to mention we’re having the adoption event soon,” Muriella said.
I put my head to Sadie’s and rubbed behind her ears. The adoption event. I—I couldn’t get excited about it. As crazy as this girl drove me, I didn’t want to let her go. We were her forever home.
And she wasn’t the only one.
I never should’ve agreed to the event in the first place. Maybe that was selfish. Maybe I needed an attitude adjustment. A new way of thinking.
But as Muffy nudged his door and wagged his tail, I knew we did something right.
As many dogs as we had at the rescue, they were happy.
I’d always be proud of that.
“We’re not letting some old mean man stop us, are we?” I whispered to Sadie.
I drew in a long breath and let it out slowly. When I rose to my feet, I looked around at the supportive faces. Thank goodness they were here.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked. Miss Adeline gave me an approving nod.
“Wearedoing this,” Muriella said.
“Thank you.” A lump formed in my throat but I quickly swallowed it down. “We have a few who are recovering from injuries, so they’ll stay here.” I rubbed Sadie’s head. “Along with the troublemakers.”
