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Before I could comment, a girl approached, dragging her mother along with her.
“Mom, look at him,” she said, pointing at Lowell, a two-year-old English Mastiff. “He’s so cute. He looks a lot like Leonard.”
“Looks like I’m up,” I said to Nora then walked closer to the pen holding the dogs. “Hi, I’m Dr. Summer Hanson. Do you have any questions about Lowell?”
“Mom! His name is Lowell.”
“I’m Holly Smith and this is Chloe.” She looked at her daughter who was petting the gentle giant of a dog. “I guess we’re interested in hearing about Lowell.”
We’re vigilant about screening all applicants, but with large dogs like Lowell, we take that up a notch. People are often fascinated with the bigger breeds, but don’t have the space for them. But after my conversation with Holly, I felt good about the match.
The family had lost their English Mastiff named Leonard a year ago. Chloe has been begging to get another dog and when the girl spotted Lowell, she fell in love.
“I need to speak to my husband before filling out an application and he isn’t with us,” she said.
“We don’t take applications here anyway, but you can set up an appointment to go to the rescue and spend some one-on-one time with Lowell. If you’re still interested, you can fill out an application then.”
That’s a policy Nora has enforced since the rescue started having a booth here years ago. Sometimes people attending the festival from out of town push back about not wanting to make an extra trip before they can apply, but a pet shouldn’t be an impulse buy.
Holly set up an appointment for next week then let Chloe visit with Lowell for a few minutes more before dragging her away. More people approached and I spent the next hour offering information and making appointments.
Ginny came over to relieve me so I could grab a bite to eat. Nora had ordered sandwiches and salads and had a table set up just behind the booth.
“Thank you for ordering this,” I said. “I’m starving.”
I grabbed a sandwich and filled the rest of my plate with salad then joined Nora at the table.
“It’s the least I can do for my amazing volunteers,” she said. “I couldn’t do any of this without all of you.”
“You know we love helping.”
I took a bite of my sandwich and looked around. The perfect weather has brought people out in full force and the festival is more crowded than I’ve ever seen it. Since we need extra room, our booth is toward the back of the grounds. It gives us enough space to put up pens for the animals and also have a table to sell biscuits.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Adam and his mom walking through the crowd. A smile split her face as she looked adoringly at her son, listening to whatever he was saying. She’s gone to visit him a couple times, but I know she wishes he’d come home more often. Especially for holidays. Maybe this trip will be the catalyst he needs to make that happen.
“Anything going on there?”
“Where?”
I looked over at Nora, my brows raised.
“You and Adam were quite an item years ago. Any of the old flames getting rekindled since he’s home?”
“No.”
“Have you spent time together?” she asked. “Aside from the hike?”
I didn’t even correct her misconception about the hike.
“Not really.”
Anytime Thea is outside, she stares at the Barnes’ yard, as if she’s waiting for him. I’ll admit that I look too, but neither one of us have spotted him. And I guess that’s for the best.
“That’s too bad. You two were good together.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so instead of answering, I looked back at the crowd and immediately spotted Adam. He was looking right at me. Our gazes held for the space of several heartbeats before his mom approached and he looked down at her.
She glanced at where he’d been looking, then smiled and waved. I returned the gesture then turned my attention back to my plate. For a second anyway. I couldn’t keep myself from peeking in their direction as I took a bite of my sandwich.
