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“If she wants hot fudge with butter pecan, we’re in crisis mode.”
“What do you have in crisis mode?” he asked. “And you never said what you ate when Mike broke up with you.”
“I had mint chocolate chip,” she said. “It’s a level or two down from peanut butter cookie dough.”
“Oh, so you weren’t that into Mike.” Slate wrapped her up in his arms, and Jill giggled as she shook her head.
“I’m not answering that.”
“Well, he didn’t get peanut butter cookie dough.” Slate released her and moved forward with the line. It was almost their turn, and Hannah hadn’t answered yet. Jill sent her another message, needing to know if she should head to the grocery store now and then get back to the ranch as fast as possible.
No hot fudge, Hannah said.I saw it coming a couple of weeks ago.
I’m so sorry, sweetie. You’re going to find the right guy.Jill tapped to send the message and looked at Luke. He wasn’t watching her, but he’d moved up with Slate. He glanced back to Jill, and she gave Luke a smile.
“Is she okay?” he asked, and the concern in his voice could’ve melted the polar ice caps. “I can stop and get the ice cream. Drive your car back to the ranch so you can go with Slate.” He actually looked hopeful too, like he wanted to do it.
Slate elbowed him, and Jill didn’t miss that, though she dropped her eyes back to her phone as if she hadn’t seen it. Smiles and sunshine sang in her soul, because she now knew that Luke liked Hannah. Of course, Hannah wouldn’t be ready for a new relationship right away, but Luke had time left at the ranch before the cabins would be done. Maybe if he started dating Hannah, he’d stay. Then Slate would stay. Then she and Slate would fall in love and get married…
Her thoughts ran away from her as they tended to do. She couldn’t help her feelings though. She did move from relationship to relationship fairly quickly, because she hadn’t had a peanut butter cookie dough man in a long, long time.
The last time had been a year or two after she’d come to Hope Eternal Ranch, actually. She’d come to the ranch because of a man like that, and she’d promptly fallen in love with another cowboy who’d stolen her heart, stomped on it, and spit it back in her face.
Since then, she’d been flitting from boyfriend to boyfriend, looking for a good time without too many strings. Now, she wanted all the strings. All the fun, too, but the kind that came with commitment.
“Our turn,” Slate said, and he entered the pen first. Luke went after him, and Jill put her phone back in her bag before she went inside too. A few of the overly friendly pups came right up to her and started sniffing. She smiled down at them and let them.
“That’s right,” she said. “Can you smell Ursula? The horses?” No matter what, the dogs liked her and kept sniffing and sniffing at her legs and shorts and boots.
Slate had gone over to the dog in the corner of the pen and crouched down in front of it. The dog had laid down and was currently stretching forward to greet him. He held very still, his hand out for the pup to smell. He did, and then he licked Slate’s palm. Jill knew that was the dog Slate would get, and she found herself wishing she had a few more minutes with all the canines in the pen.
But Slate straightened, caught the attention of one of the shelter workers, and indicated he wanted the shaggy brown dog he’d chosen from the line. Turned out, the dog was a five-year-old male that had been abandoned in the parking lot of an apartment complex last month. No collar. No tags. No microchip. No one had seen who’d left him, and the pet rescue arm of the shelter had picked him up.
“He’s a Briard,” the woman helping them said. She wore a name tag that said Bernice on it. “He needs to run a lot, and he’s very sensitive.” She looked at Slate with doubt in her eyes. “What do you do?”
“I work on a ranch,” he said. “He’ll have plenty of time to run and work. There are several other dogs on the ranch.”
Bernice nodded, but she didn’t smile and she didn’t put down the dog either. “His name is Axle, but you can change it if you’d like.”
“Do most people change the name of their rescue dog?” Slate asked.
“That’s personal,” Bernice said, grinning at Axle. “I have to be honest and say he’s been adopted out twice in the past month and brought back. He his very high energy, and he’ll do anything to please you. He’s very sensitive to loud noises and children. He’s nervous, basically.”
Slate nodded and reached out to pat Axle again. “Okay.”
“We ask that if you don’t want him for whatever reason, please bring him back to us. We won’t ask any questions, and we’ll even refund your adoption fee. We just want him to find his forever home, with his forever human.” She looked doubtful that that human would be Slate, but he looked just as determined to make sure it was.
“Okay,” he said again.
“Okay,” Bernice said. “We need you to fill out the paperwork and pay the fee. And you can’t take him unless he’s in a kennel.”
“I’ll get it,” Luke said, already moving toward the truck they’d arrived in together. Jill had driven her own car, because she’d stopped by the elementary school to drop off their fall flyers for distribution on her way here.
She stayed out of the way while Slate got all the details taken care of. They gave him a leash and a collar for Axle, and the pair of them walked side-by-side over to Slate’s truck.
“He likes you,” Jill said.
“He’s going to be great,” Slate said, herding the dog into the kennel. He bent down and grinned at Axle. “Isn’t that right, bud? We’re going to get along just fine.” He stood up, his smile still stuck in place. “I have a dog.”
