I used my good hand to scrub at the back of my neck. “The shelter in town isn’t a no-kill one.”
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “They aren’t?”
I shook my head. “I usually go once a week to hold some paws while they’re put to sleep. So they don’t feel alone when they go.”
Silence.
“Most strays don’t have a good life. They’re stuck in cages for the majority of it, and what kind of life is that? Our shelter is pretty small, too. Not funded like it should be. They can keep a stray for like a month before it needs to be euthanized due to space constraints.”
“Shit,” he said. “I guess that would make you passionate.”
“My sister has a dog that’s not neutered,” I murmured. “It drives me insane that she does.”
“She’s being responsible with him, from what I understand,” he pointed out.
“I know, but this isn’t something I’ll ever be rational about,” I admitted. “It makes me come off as a real asshole. When I was in high school, I started volunteering at the animal shelter as part of my senior volunteer hours. We had to have like a hundred to graduate with this one certain honor. I chose the animal shelter. Which was where I learned the hard way that life sucked. Well, learned even more reasons as to why life sucked. I also really began to resent my stepfather and Mable even more because of the dog breeding thing they had going on. I freakin’ hated that they bred these dogs when there were a ton of dogs at the shelter that desperately needed a home.”
“Understandable,” he said. “Does Mable know this?”
I shrugged my good shoulder. “I don’t actually know. She has always thought the worst of me. I don’t know if she knows anything about me at all.”
Twenty
If anyone needs me, don’t.
—Creed to Boone
Creed
“Y’all seemed to get along for a short while there,” I pointed out. “Right after your mother died.”
She winced.
I’d seen them around each other a lot there for a while.
That was where my fascination with Birdee had begun—even if I hadn’t allowed myself to admit to that fascination.
Then one day, she’d just not been at any of the get-togethers at her house anymore.
Just…gone.
And that was when I started to get annoyed that I would always see Vito, Cody and Mable together but no Birdee.
She started, but a nurse flung the curtain aside and breezed inside. “Are you ready to rocket?”
“As long as we don’t actually rocket,” Birdee agreed with a small smile on her face.
“How about we turtle then?” the nurse suggested.
“Perfect. Right up my alley,” Birdee teased.
I stood up and gathered my jacket from the chair.
“You gonna use that?” Birdee asked curiously.
I frowned. “No. It’s too hot in here.”
“Then can I borrow it?”
