Chapter Ten
After her shower,Linx plucked Ginger from her doggy bed and changed the sheets and towels. She warmed up a wipe under the faucet and wiped the puppy’s bottom to stimulate her bladder and bowel movement. Normally, a mother dog would lick them and consume the results, but poor little Ginger was orphaned and had to sleep with a hot waterbottle.
Linx fed her every two hours, making sure to smother her with plenty of attention, but she wasn’t a good enough substitute mom for the puppy, who cried and whined whenuncomfortable.
“I shouldn’t have left you alone.” Guilt swarmed Linx that she’d gone to satisfy her own physical desires while leaving little Ginger withoutcomfort.
The puppy had already gained weight and her front feet were strong, pawing at Linx for affection. The little girl’s eyes were still closed, but she appeared to be peeking out of oneeye.
Linx rubbed her face in the puppy’s downy fur, and the tip of the puppy’s tailwiggled.
“You love me, don’t you?” she crooned to the little red ball of fluff. “I don’t want to give you up, but you’ll have a better life with a little boy or littlegirl.”
After cleaning Ginger and drying her, Linx tucked her under her arm and fed her a bottle of puppyformula.
Tami had gone home already, and it was time for Linx to traipse up to the family ranch for their weekly Friday night fishfry.
Her cousin, Kevin, was a social media whiz and a photographer and videographer, working to set up a dude ranch with her brother, Chad. He’d promised to help her publicize the rescue center using Ginger as thestar.
Linx tied a pretty pink bow around Ginger’s neck and tucked her into a small, padded carrier with a hot water bottle wrapped in a clothdiaper.
The little puppy squealed and snuggled up to the water bottle, her tummy full, fornow.
On the way, Linx stopped by the town square and picked up Joey and Vivi, her younger twinsisters.
“Oh, she’s so precious,” Joey squealed as she got into the back seat. “May I holdher?”
“Go ahead. She loves to snuggle.” Linx pulled back the puppy’sblanket.
“I want her,” Vivi said, bouncing on her seat. “I could use a watchdog at thestore.”
“I could have a diner dog,” Joey said. “We can shareher.”
“Do you think there are other puppies like her?” Vivi asked. “Don’t they have largerlitters?”
“Maybe this one was a runt, and they abandoned her.” Joey held the puppy close to her face. “I’m in lovealready.”
“Okay, you two, duke it out.” Linx laughed as she let Cedar lay her head on her thigh and started theignition.
Linx drove down the switchbacks into the Sierra Valley, a high-altitude valley full of pasture-land and marshes. Her father had a hay farm where he bred horses and raised range-fed cattle and pasture-fedpigs.
Her mother, meanwhile, had run away twenty years ago when Linx was five years old, but all of her siblings, except for Becca who’d gone away to law school, still lived in thecounty.
Dear old Dad had miraculously held the family together, along with her grandmother who’d passed away six yearsago.
Linx had grown up pretty much on her own on that ranch, hiding out in the wilderness and exploring all the back trails. While her older brothers helped their father, and Becca did the cooking and mothering, she had been left alone since Gran was busy tending to thetwins.
She lowered the windows, letting the crisp breeze rattle into the SUV. Cedar left her lap and stuck her head out as they joggled down a country road, past antique barns and miles of grassland. The sun was setting over the majestic mountain peaks behind them, brushing the sky with grand purple and orangehues.
Like the gold still hidden in the hills, she was here to stay, and no city boy would ever drive heraway.
* * *
“How are my girls?”Linx’s father took off his hat and clambered through the farmhouse door. He was as rugged and handsome as ever, even though his hair was gray all the way through and his blue eyes crinkled from working outside in thesun.
“Look at Linx’s puppy,” Vivi said, holding up Ginger who squealed and pawed at theair.
“Your mom would have loved her.” Dad cupped his big hands to receive the puppy. “She had a thing for red hair—thought it brought goodluck.”
