Eliza had been clearly overjoyed that Sydney and Reese were considering partnering with them to raise funds for the shelter, so she was, in Hallie’s opinion, really rolling out the red carpet.
The building itself was separated into two distinct areas. The smaller section, where they’d entered, housed offices and operations. It was clean and bright, if not a little run-down. They’d received a quick tour of that area before being led through a set of double doors into the much larger portion of the building.
Which was where Hallie now stood, surrounded by rows and rows of cages housing all of the aforementioned perfect animals.
Eliza walked slightly in front of the group, spouting off facts about the important work the rescue did. “Just like my job here, the humane society does a little bit of everything. Facilitating pet adoptions and surrenders is what we’re known for within the community, but there are also a wide variety of other services that we offer.”
Eliza continued to list off the vast array of responsibilities that they handled every single day: public services like microchipping, low-cost spay and neuter options, and vaccine clinics. Then there were the programs that they ran to help their animals get placed in foster homes if they hadn’t been adopted yet, running their volunteer program, hosting events in the community to raise awareness—and those were just the ones that Hallie could remember. Eliza must have rattled off at least half a dozen other key areas that the rescue handled.
It was impressive, to say the least.
And even though she was trying her best to listen and take everything in, as she walked by each kennel, where dogs were resting for the night, she had to resist the urge to ask—or beg, more accurately—to pet every single one of them.
Brynn seemed equally enraptured, making little sounds of happiness every few feet.
“Did you have pets growing up?” Hallie asked quietly, so as to not interrupt Eliza’s pitch. Even though Hallie could tell from the looks on both Sydney and Reese’s faces that everything happening now was a mere formality. Of course they were going to donate.
For all that Hallie felt like she knew about Brynn, there was still so much that she had left to learn. And she wanted the chance to learn it all.
Brynn shook her head. “We didn’t. But I remember, whenever my sister was in the hospital, they’d have therapy dogs come through. I loved the days that they were there.”
Sydney and Reese were walking near Eliza, a few feet ahead. Even if they weren’t, Hallie still would have grabbed Brynn’s hand. It meant something to her that Brynn had opened up about her sister. Hallie knew that Brynn didn’t talk about her often. Brynn herself had said as much. So Hallie never pushed, but she took these little moments and tucked them away, grateful for whenever she was able to peek behind the curtain and see how Brynn had become such an incredible woman.
“Now that I have more free time at the inn, I’m actually thinking that a dog may be in my future.” The more the idea had rolled around in Hallie’s brain over the last few minutes, the better it sounded.
Brynn gave her an appraising stare. “I had you pegged as more of a cat person.”
The statement earned a raised brow from Hallie. This oughta be good. “And how, pray tell, did you come to that conclusion?”
“They don’t need to go outside,” Brynn said, flashing Hallie a cheeky smile.
And while that was a completely fair point… “For the right dog, I’d go outside. We may even go on walks. The sky’s really the limit with this new version of me,” Hallie defended herself. She could be a dog person.
“Seems like under the right circumstances, and with the right motivation, you can find all kinds of get-up-and-go.” The implication was clear, as Brynn’s stare shifted down to Hallie’s lips.
Another moment passed between them. Hallie realized that they were still holding hands and had walked almost completely down the long row of kennels like that.
Which also meant that… Hallie looked up to find Sydney and Reese staring at them, different looks on their faces. Sydney had that goddamn grin again, and Reese, to her credit, just looked really confused.
Knowing Reese, she’d be too polite to say anything.
Hallie was really banking on that because she could not get into her and Brynn’s complicated relationship dynamic right now. She might say something crazy, like she’d been deluding herself when she’d told Brynn that she was falling for her.
The reality was that she’d already fallen. Hard.
It had only become clearer to her over the last few days because the slower she tried to go, the more her body was rioting against her. Even as she held herself back from Brynn. Even as she tried not to put a label like “dating” on their situation.
It was the ultimate pining paradox. In trying to grapple with her feelings and keep them manageable, all she’d actually done was open herself up to falling harder. Doing so had allowed the little moments to sneak in when she hadn’t been paying close enough attention.
Hallie gave Brynn’s hand a comforting squeeze before she let it go, even as her body screamednoat separating from Brynn. It wasn’t up to her to unilaterally decide to debut their… whatever it was that was going on. After all, that wasn’t what they’d agreed to earlier tonight.
“Oh, wonderful,” Eliza said, noticing something in the next row over, which Hallie couldn’t see. It was probably for the bestthat their tour guide was oblivious to the moment playing out among her four guests. Eliza gestured, probably to a person, since Hallie doubted they let even the cutest of the dogs—which, again, was all of them—run wild in the facility. “One of our evening volunteers is here. Although the rescue is only open during the day, it’s a fairly twenty-four-seven operation, given that we’re dealing with animals who all have unique needs.”
As soon as he came into view, Hallie’s lip curled. Jake. She’d recognize that mug from any old dating app. The idiot who’d gone on a date with Brynn and then unmatched her while Brynn had been walking home. What a?—
“Brynn?” Jake said, seemingly oblivious to Hallie’s very serious interest in biting his head off.
Hallie had never considered herself a violent person, but she was now two-for-two tonight on vivid fantasies involving maiming the men who had wronged Brynn.
