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The cold hit me as I neared the door. Ash was on my heels, along with her pal Muffy.
Pepper was balled up in a chair, but Sadie now lay at her feet.
I took the chair beside her, though I was dissatisfied with that. It wasn’t close enough for me to hold her the way I wanted to.
For a while, we sat in silence. Every time I opened my mouth to say something, I closed it. Nothing sounded right in my head, and she needed more than the typical lines people said when something bad happened.
“How’d that lawyer find me?”
In true Pepper fashion, she saved me from saying something stupid.
“I haven’t talked to anyone in that town since the day I left,” she continued, as if she were having a conversation with herself.
“We’re all more accessible with the advances in technology.” Okay. So that sounded lame.
She cut her eyes at me in obvious agreement.
“All I mean is it’s not that hard if you’re willing to dig,” I amended quickly.
“It’s like the ultimate screw you. And now none of them are around to give me any answers.” She threw her hands up. Sadie lifted her head to check on Pepper. She sniffed a few times and let out a satisfied sigh.
“What would you want to know?” Maybe it was better when I kept my mouth shut. Maybe I needed Miss Adeline as backup now. She wouldn’t fumble her way through this.
“Why they lied. What did I ever do to any of them?” Pepper’s voice cracked, but she didn’t cry.
“How they treated you says more about them than it does you.” And while that was true, I still felt I wasn’t doing anything to comfort her.
“I’d have rather known they didn’t want me.” She hugged her knees. “It would’ve hurt. A lot. But the truth is always better than a lie.”
“You aren’t going to pay their debts,” I said resolutely. I didn’t want her to have to give this a second thought.
“I just want it to go away. I’d moved on and now here it is again.”
That I understood. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an answer for how to give her what she wanted. My father was the gift that kept on giving. Her family seemed to be the same.
“You should talk to a lawyer.”
“I can’t afford a lawyer,” she cried. Sadie barked like she was scolding me for upsetting Pepper.
“Don’t worry about that,” I said evenly.
“How can I not worry about it? And what if I have to pay off their debt? I make it because Miss Adeline keeps me afloat.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Belittle the value you bring to Grey Paws.” I hated to hear her talk like that. She didn’t realize how needed she was. That meant more than all the money in the world. If money could solve problems, my family would be happy campers.
“You don’t have any idea what it’s like to find out the parents you thought were dead your whole life really weren’t. So don’t tell me what to do,” she snapped. “I have to walk the dogs.”
She popped up, and I caught her hand as she passed. “I’m not trying to.” Shit. “I want to fix this for you. Instead I’m making it worse. But I’m here, whatever you need me for.”
She stared at me. Raw pain reflected in her dark pools. Something in me cracked at how deeply she was hurting.
I got to my feet and pulled her into my arms. To my surprise, she yielded. Her forehead dropped to my chest, and she fisted my shirt.
“I just want everything to go back to the way it was.”
