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“I can’t give you the adopter’s information, but if you give me your name and phone number, I can contact them and explain what happened. Then it’s out of our hands.”
“Anything. I can give you pictures of me with him. I can even get his records from my vet.” He’d give her a kidney if it meant he’d get Boss back. He wrote down his name and phone number on the scrap of paper the woman gave him. Then he scrolled through his phone’s picture gallery and pulled up his favorite picture of him with his arm around Boss, their heads together. He’d been smiling at Britney when she took it. Still, it showed the love between him and Boss. “Can you send them this picture?”
“Aww. Sure, I’ll send it from my phone.” The worker snapped a photo.
He couldn’t see her phone screen when she tapped in the number, but he stood ready to answer questions if Boss’s new owner answered the call.
“Voicemail,” she mouthed. It sounded like a woman’s voice on the message, but he couldn’t make out the name. “Hi. This is Seana at Cumberland County Animal Services. I’m here with a soldier who just returned from deployment, and it’s possible the dog you adopted was his. He says his girlfriend—”
“Ex-girlfriend,” he clarified. Okay, maybe he growled, but they’d given away his dog. Couldn’t get much lower than that.
“—didn’t have permission to relinquish him. I’ll give you his contact information and try to text you a picture he has with the animal. I’m sorry about this. We had no idea.” She read off John’s rank, name, and telephone number before hanging up and texting the photo.
“Thank you. I appreciate you contacting them,” he choked out. It wasn’t a victory yet, but at least he had a fighting chance to get his dog back.
ChapterFour
LIFE CHANGES – Thomas Rhett
“After he came back,what did you do?” Elizabeth asked her client.
“I finally told him how I feel when he storms off when we’re fighting.” Shannon drew in a shaky breath. Tears formed in the young woman’s eyes. “He said the reason he leaves is to get control of himself and not say—or do—something that will hurt me.”
“And did hearing that change anything?”
“Definitely. Once I understood he did that to protect me, not that he doesn’t care and wants to leave me, I saw things differently. I got out of the crazy cycle, and we talked—really talked—instead of me freezing him out when he came home. I tend to expect him to read my mind, and then I get mad when he doesn’t do things I want him to do. He wants me to ask for help with things around the apartment. That way, we can work together.”
Elizabeth noted the relief in Shannon’s voice and her straighter posture.
“Patterns of behavior can be hard to break,” said Elizabeth. “Knowing what to look for, practicing, and then seeing that it goes well can help change those old habits. It sounds like you’ve done that and made progress. I’m proud of you for being assertive in telling James what you’re feeling and what you need.”
“Since we weren’t fighting, I felt hopeful about things and wasn’t stressed at work. That made things better between us the past week, if you know what I mean.” Shannon blushed and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I do.” Though that was definitely good for Shannon, and her situation was vastly different than Elizabeth’s, the mention still triggered a tightness in Elizabeth’s chest. “Keep working on those communication skills. When would you like to come in again?”
A few minutes later, Elizabeth escorted a smiling Shannon to the lobby. Ending with a client moving toward a healthier and happier life was an excellent way to finish her day.
She made notes on her computer, then checked her messages before heading out. She had a text from Jillian about dinner and a message from a number not in her contacts. There was also a missed call, along with a voicemail notification. She started with the voicemail, expecting a pre-recorded scam call about forgiving student-loan debt or extending her car’s warranty.
Her brain refused to process the caller’s words, so she restarted the message.
No, she’d heard correctly.
“Oh, my. Oh, Bruce.”
* * *
Elizabeth didn’t seeJillian enter the busy café until her friend set her order pager on the table.
“I’m starving.” Jillian slid into a chair. “My lunch got interrupted when I had to respond to a call about someone passed out in their car at a gas station.”
“He was drunk in the middle of the day?”
“Plastered. We asked him who the president was. He said he didn’t know because he’s from Missouri, not North Carolina.”
Elizabeth shook her head. Her friend’s police call stories always helped take Elizabeth’s mind off her clients.
“He blew a one point two on the breathalyzer, so I had to book him. At least this one didn’t pass out and pee himself in my squad car. So, give me an update on Ariana.” She had a vested interest in Elizabeth’s newest resident at The Oasis since Jillian had connected them in hopes that having a place to go would encourage Ariana to leave her abusive boyfriend.
