“Sold,” Madison laughed.
Madison checked her cell phone and frowned.
“I should get going,” Madison said with resigned indifference.
“Alright. I’ll see you tonight,” Quinn answered with a smile.
She watched as Madison pushed open the door and walked out. Quinn was once again alone in her bar with no idea what to do. She was capable of handling the task in front of her, Quinn had no doubts in her abilities.
Chapter 2
Autumn sat down in her home office and glanced out the window. The world seemed all too happy to roll right by while she was stuck inside. She’d often thought that it would be nice to have a reason to go for a walk outside throughout the day. On her own she simply didn’t have much of a reason to leave. Recently, she’d even considered adopting a dog. She wasn’t quite ready to take the plunge yet but had signed up to volunteer as a dog walker at a local rescue.
Happy Paws Wagging Tails Animal rescuewas a wonderful rescue in town. Autumn had recently heard about it through Mel. Mel was engaged to her good friend Willow. It had been the coincidental encounter she’d needed to push her into volunteering. Today, she was meeting up with the shelter director, Jordan Foxx.
Autumn stood and stretched out her shoulders. Five years ago, she’d started her interior design business in WaterColor. In that time, she’d watched herself go from small jobs here and there to some pretty big name clients. She was grateful that she was able to take an hour out of her day to do something as simple as take a walk.
Happy Paws Wagging Tails Animal rescue was probably the cleanest dog rescue Autumn had ever seen. A very well put together woman was waiting for her up front. The woman had long dark hair and striking dark eyes. She seemed to be a bit older than Autumn, though not by much. The woman gave her a wide and welcoming smile then extended her hand.
“Hi. Are you Autumn? I’m Jordan Foxx.”
“Yes. I’m Autumn Kingsport. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“We’re always glad to get in a new volunteer. I’ll give you a bit of a tour then drop you off with one of our dog walking volunteers, Madison. She can show you the ropes.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“Great. The first place I’ll take you is the cat room.”
Jordan showed her to a room that was filled with cat trees and perches along the walls. Several cats lay around on various cushioned objects.
“They seem very comfortable,” Autumn laughed.
“I certainly hope so,” Jordan chuckled.
A small black kitten swatted at one of Autumn’s shoestrings. She bent down to give the kitten a little scratch on the head. The kitten gave a soft mew as it rubbed against her hand, purring.
Jordan led Autumn through the rest of the rescue from the front office space to the rooms where they housed their more senior dogs. Most of the older dogs were napping on giant dog beds. Autumn’s favorite was a Chihuahua in a private room napping on a dog bed that was clearly meant for something more the size of a Great Dane. The dog caught them watching and gave a long, luxurious stretch before turning her back to them.
“That would be Chi Chi,” Jordan smiled and shook her head.
“She seems sassy,” Autumn laughed.
“The sassiest. But also, very sweet.”
Jordan began walking back the way they’d come, and Autumn followed.
“You’re Mel’s friend, right?” Jordan asked.
“I am.”
“Well, we always love it when word of mouth leads to new volunteers. Let’s get you over to Madison and she can show you the ropes of walking our dogs.”
Jordan led her through two swinging doors and through one final kennel door that led outside. Just outside the doors was a woman in overalls washing out dog bowls. As they approached the woman glanced up, she had long red hair and deep brown eyes. Her smile was wide as she stood to greet them.
“This is Madison. She’ll get you started learning the ins and outs of our dog walking program,” Jordan smiled.
“Madison, this is Autumn. She’s a new volunteer. She’s going to be coming in and helping twice a week.”
