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“You deserved to know,” he said. “Open the door.”
“I said go away!” she said evenly.
Danny made a frustrated sound and swore under his breath. “I’m here for you if you need me.” He said, sounding supportive and understanding.
She actually laughed out loud at that.
“Call me,” he said, and then she heard him leave.
When he was finally gone, Abbe sat down on the floor in her bedroom. She couldn’t get into her bed because it smelled like Rafe.
Sitting on the floor with her back against her bedframe, Abbe cried herself to sleep.
Seventeen
The fact that Abbe had the kind of job where living creatures depended on her meant that there was no such thing as a mental health day. The animals couldn’t wait for her to be ready to leave her house. Brokenhearted or not, when the sun came up, Abbe got up.
She had one last thing to do before closing the doors of Furry Faces Shelter. She had to get the three dogs and two cats still left in her care to Rachel’s shelter in western Massachusetts.
There were messages on her phone. She didn’t know how many. Her phone had buzzed all night. She saw Rafe’s name, Danny’s, Avrika’s, and Charles’. She didn’t pick up for any of them. Abbe washed her face, got dressed, and was out of the house and driving to the shelter before it was even fully light out yet.
When she had the animals in their carriers and loaded up in the car, she locked the doors behind her, wondering if this would be the last time, and then drove directly to Rachel’s. She drove up to the main house, pulling around the gravel drive to Rachel’s Ranch, and saw the woman herself coming out of the house with a big smile on her face.
“Well! I wasn’t expecting you until tomor—” Rachel didn’t get to finish her sentence because Abbe burst into tears. “Oh, dear,” Rachel said as Abbe got out of her car. She gave Abbe a hug and let her cry on her flannel-clad shoulder for a while. “I know it’s upsetting, but you’re going to get your shelter up and running again!” Rachel said optimistically.
“That’s not it. I mean, that’s not the only thing,” Abbe said, sniffling. She told Rachel the whole story while they settled the animals into their new temporary homes, and then went back inside to Rachel’s kitchen.
When Abbe was done telling the whole story, Rachel looked confused. “He pulled your funding, reinstated it, pulled it again, and sent the Staties after you?” she asked, her face screwed up with disbelief over her mug of tea “Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. To get back at me for making his company look bad on social media?” Abbe guessed.
Rachel looked doubtful. “There’s something else going on here,” she decided. “There’s no way you would have fallen madly in love with such an asshole.”
“I’m not in love with him,” Abbe said defiantly. She stared at her tea, knowing that was a lie. She had fallen completely and totally in love with Rafe. She swallowed down a fresh upwelling of tears. “And anyway, my being in love with him would only serve to prove he’s an asshole. Apparently, they’re my thing.”
Rachel guffawed. “Danny’san asshole,” she agreed. “But you were never in love with him.”
Abbe frowned in surprise. “I almost married him,” she said.
“Yeah, but you weren’t in love with him. You didn’t cry like this when he left you, probably because deep down you sort of always knew he would.”
Abbe had to accept that what Rachel said was true. Danny had hurt her, embarrassed her, made her question whether she could ever trust anyone again, but he hadn’t broken her heart. Not like this.
“Can I stay here for a little while?” Abbe asked. “Help around the shelter? I really need to work right now.”
Rachel stood. “Until you get your credentials back and open your place up again? Sure. All I can offer is room and board as payment.”
“I’ll take it,” Abbe said. She grabbed Rachel’s rough hand as she passed, and squeezed it. “Thank you.”
Gruff as always when confronted with human emotions, Rachel gave her an awkward pat on the head and mumbled something about always taking in strays, before wandering out to the barn.
Rachel had no shortage of work for Abbe over the next few days.
The property spanned over thirty acres, and provided shelter for all different kinds of animals, from small animals like rabbits and birds, to large animals like llamas. Abbe threw herself into the physical labor aspect of life on Rachel’s Ranch.
Abbe put the outside world on pause. The only calls she returned were those to Charles, Maria, and Steven. She let them know that Furry Faces was shut down indefinitely, or at least until she heard back from the state about her appeal. Although Abbe had been shut down in a hurry, she had no illusions about the length of time it could take the state to review her case. She knew it could be months, and told her friends as much.
After three days of hiding on Rachel’s Ranch, Abbe was out in the paddock, feeding the llamas, when she saw a familiar black Range Rover pull up the circular drive and park in front of the main house. She couldn’t feel her hands and her legs stiffened of their own accord, like they were ready to bolt. She watched as a tall, broad man emerged from the back, expecting to see Rafe’s dark head, only to be confused to see light brown hair instead.
