1
My sister buried her nose in my hair when I pulled her close for a long hug, taking a whiff just like she had when I arrived.
I chuckled. “I should just give you the shampoo if it makes you that happy.”
“But then I wouldn’t have a reason to steal so many hugs,” Bri said innocently. “Love you. Don’t forget—”
“To call Trinity. I know,” I said, cutting her off.
She raised an eyebrow. “You better. She’s interested, Vaughn, and I think you’d hit it off.”
“Iwill.Just not tonight.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her I wasn’t interested in dating anyone right now, because I didn’t really have a reasonwhy.I was just content with work and how things were going. I didn’t need a “plus one” just for the sake of having one.
Bri kissed my cheek. “See you next weekend.”
“If not sooner.”
I sprinted through the rain to my truck and fired it up. As always, Prince, Bri’s two-year-old Doberman, saw the loud rumble as a threat and barked at it defensively, but my sister knowingly had a firm hold on his collar, and I waved at them both as I pulled away.
An old Brooks and Dunn song filled the cab of my truck, tempting me to crank it up some more. It was the perfect melody to wind down to from a fun evening with my sister. It’d been a few weeks since she and I had been able to have dinner together, since our jobs continued to get in the way, and I’d missed her company.
I was still grinning when I made it through downtown Coeur d’Alene. Streetlights illuminated the way as I neared the onramp for Highway 29, though it was still difficult to see through the rain. I spotted someone near the shoulder, waving their arm, trying to catch my attention. Pulling over to see what the problem was, I flipped on the hazard lights and rolled down the passenger window. The larger frame and broad shoulders suggested it was a man approaching, but I couldn’t see the person’s face as they were hunched over to shield themselves from the downpour.
When the stranger finally reached my window, I was a bit taken aback by a long face covered in a full, wild and scruffy beard. Matted, blond hair was plastered across the man’s face, nearly reaching his eyes, and his coat was completely soaked in water.
“Please help,” he said in a desperate tone. “My dog was hit by a car.”
I looked down to the bundle in his arms and felt my stomach drop. A small bunch of dirty, black fur was poking out from under the flap of the man’s jacket.
“They just took off,” he continued, dropping his gaze to the dog. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry!”
All thoughts of the evening with my sister vanished as I slipped into work mode. “Are they bleeding?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
That meant they should at least survive the drive to the clinic, assuming there were no serious internal injuries. “Good. Get in.”
The man quickly ran to the side of the road, where a small pile of bags had been haphazardly tossed aside. Somehow, he managed to hoist all three of them up with one arm and carry them to the back of the truck without letting go of his dog. As he tossed them into the back of my truck, I noticed they were just as soaked as his jacket, and it made me wonder how long he’d been out here. Was he homeless? Or a hitchhiker? Worse, had he just been abandoned by someone on the side of the road?
I barely remembered the passenger seat was covered in papers before he opened the door, and quickly shoved them into the backpack I always had with me, giving him room to climb in. It took him a minute to shut the door and reach for the seat belt with one arm, and the dog let out a sharp yelp as he moved around.
“Here, let me,” I offered, taking the buckle from him and carefully clipping it into place.
As I turned off the hazard lights and flipped on the turn signal, I asked, “What’s your name?”
His teeth chattered as he replied. “Al-Alex.”
I cranked the heat, hoping to provide some warmth and comfort. “I’m Vaughn. What’s your dog’s name?”
“R-Roxy,” he chattered.
I smiled. “That’s a sweet name.”
Wanting to distract Alex from the trauma and frigid temps, I tried to make small talk during the ten-minute drive across town. When we finally pulled up to the back entrance of the old brick building, the motion detector automatically clicked on the overhead light. I put my truck into park and quickly opened the door.
“Follow me,” I said.
While I fumbled with the keys to unlock the door, Alex read the sign on the wall.
