“Thank you,” she told him as she joined him in the kitchen. “What’s that? It smells amazing.”
“Grilled ham and cheese,” he told her. “And tomato soup. I thought you could use some warming up.”
“That sounds amazing,” she groaned. “But what about Henrietta? Did she eat anything yet?”
“Yes,” Ransom said, smiling at how much she clearly cared about her new canine friend. “I grilled her up some hamburger while you were showering, and she really enjoyed it.”
“Nice,” Hailey said, nodding.
“The dogs eat better than we do half the time,” he laughed as he slid her sandwich onto a plate and passed it to her. “I give them a lot of raw chicken. It’s good for them and it helps the younger dogs with the need to chew. But tonight I figured she could use some extra fat.”
“She earned it,” Hailey agreed.
She took a bite of her sandwich as he grabbed her soup from the microwave.
“I’m surprised the kids didn’t wake up with all this commotion,” she said.
“They were pretty worn out from playing in the snow today,” he told her. “They would probably sleep through an elephant stampede.”
“Oh, this is so good,” she groaned around her first bite. “Thank you. I guess I worked up an appetite.”
“I still can’t believe you did what you did,” Ransom said. “Weren’t you scared?”
“Terrified,” she said, nodding. “At first. Then we were in so deep that it didn’t matter anymore.”
Ransom nodded, wondering if she would go on.
“The hardest part was the beginning,” she said. “And then taking the babies from her to put them in the crate.”
She shivered, as if the memory still scared her, and then took another big bite of her sandwich.
“I would have been careful about that myself,” he admitted. “You did a great job though, and it’s clear she trusts you.”
That earned him a smile.
“I guess I’m not as afraid of dogs as I thought,” she said, shrugging.
“After what happened at your party, which again I’msosorry about, I just can’t believe what you did tonight,” he ventured.
“In retrospect, I guess it was kind of funny,” she said, stealing a glance up at him. “Finding me up in a tree?”
“Not to me,” he assured her. “I knew how scared you were and all I wanted was to turn back time so I could stop it from happening.”
“How did it happen anyway?” she asked.
“Travis was very, very sad about it,” Ransom said. “But he was playing with the puppies, and he thinks he left the gate open. Although…”
He glanced over at Henrietta and another idea started to occur to him.
“What is it?” Hailey asked.
“I wonder how she got out tonight,” he said, frowning.
“Do you thinksheopened the gate?” Hailey asked.
“I would have said no, but I’m not sure how else she could have gotten to you,” he said.
“And my barn door was open,” she said softly. “I thought I must have left it that way.”
