Chapter One
Beth
It’s Valentine’s Day, and the early evening sunlight has painted the white walls of Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary a light coral, while the windows look like beaten gold. It’s been a gorgeous, hot summer day, and even though it’s getting late, it’s only just starting to cool down.
The Ark is holding a Valentine’s Day fundraising event, and it’s going great. Flags of colorful bunting strung across the Quad flutter in the breeze, and cooked food and the chatter and laughter of the few hundred guests fill the air.
Grazing tables hold mainly vegetarian nibbles and a variety of homemade cakes, while a local band plays in the background. Donation stations scattered around the site are already three-quarters full, and we haven’t even had the silent auction yet.
Noah King has given a talk about the Ark and how thankful we are for every dollar that’s being donated. Now, a few of the guys are giving short training demonstrations with dogs, some of whom are more trained than others, provoking much laughter from the watching crowd.
I’m over by the paddock, leaning on the fence and watching Hector the horse at the gate to my right taking mints from a child, encouraged by his parents. On my left is my friend Isla. It’s the first chance we’ve had to chat today. She’s spent the day at the large farmhouse they’re converting into offices for the new PAWS Animal-Assisted Therapy Center, and she’s been explaining how the work’s been going. As shetalked about working with Archer Cole, though, my spirits dropped even lower than they were already, and I’m struggling to lift my mood.
“You okay?” she asks. “You don’t seem… happy.” She drops the word into the conversation like a stone into a barrel of treacle and waits for it to sink in.
I clear my throat. “I don’t know. Happiness is an abstract noun. It’s hard to grasp the concept.”
I’m being deliberately obtuse. Isla is happy. It’s written all over her face. Since she started seeing Cullen six weeks ago, she’s positively glowed.
I’m pleased for her. I really am. And I’m not jealous. Jude and I were happy in the beginning—all couples are. It’s the honeymoon period, right? Even though we’re not married. And unlikely ever to be at this rate.
I look down at the fencepost and kick it with the toe of my shoe. “Don’t mind me. I had a row with Jude earlier, and it’s soured my mood.”
Her brows draw together. “Oh… not again. What about this time?”
I shrug. “Same old, same old.”
“He’s still refusing to commit? Oh Beth… how long have you been seeing him now? Two years?”
“Two and a half.”
“I don’t understand what his problem is. He’s never going to meet a girl as wonderful as you. He should be throwing you over his shoulder and running down to the church.”
“I understand why he’s reluctant.”
“Don’t be nice. He doesn’t deserve it.”
“No, really, I do. His parents getting divorced, then both his brothers… I completely get why he has a tainted view of marriage. Of course he would have. It doesn’t bother me that much. It’s just…” I hesitate, trying to put it into words. “He never says he loves me.”
She frowns. “I’m so sorry.”
“He hasn’t done for a while. And I think it’s partly to do with Kim.”
To my right, a baby’s cry cuts through the air, and the mother of the family at the gate bends and lifts it out of its pram into her arms. It’s wearing a mint-green all-in-one and a pretty white jacket, and it has a thatch of dark hair that’s sticking straight up. As we watch, a soother falls from it onto the grass.
I run over and pick it up for the mother. “She’s beautiful,” I say, giving it back to her.
“Thank you.” She smiles, pockets it, and then starts leading the family back to the Ark. I return to Isla.
Isla’s eyes meet mine. “Makes your ovaries ache, doesn’t it?”
I laugh. “Yeah.”
“Me too.”
“Aw.” I smile. “Do you think you and Cullen…”
“Oh, far too early for anything like that. But… yeah. Maybe.” She wrinkles her nose. “Poor Kim. Are they going to give it another round?”
