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It was part of being in a small town. If something was off or different, people talked. It was one reason I worked so hard to keep my nose out of trouble. When I’d first opened the shelter, there were a few residents who had something to say about it, worried that the dogs would make too much noise. That was quickly put to rest by the pet-loving population in town. Word spread quickly about the small place, and within days, I was busting at the seams with more dogs than I knew what to do with.

“She looks like a fish out of water. Who wears shoes like that to go for a walk?”

It was old Mrs. Dewing. She had been one of the people who’d tried to throw a fit about the shelter. If I had to guess, she was perpetually unhappy and would remain that way even attempting to drag everyone along with her.

A quick look around the cafe had me spotting the blonde sitting at a booth by the window. I hadn’t seen her before. She was probably what had everyone talking. The shoes in question? They were boots that had a chunky heel, and so what if a girl wanted to walk around in them? If they were comfortable, and she was happy, that should have been what was important.

What caught my attention was the camera sitting next to her on the table as she tapped away on her phone.

“Truman, you watch out for that one.” I turned as soon as Mrs. Dewing addressed me. She rarely talked to me, especially after she lost her battle to shut me down.

Lina set a steaming cup of black coffee in front of me. I picked it up to take a sip, trying to avoid where this conversation might be going.

“Don’t get started on that. She seems very sweet. I talked to her a little this morning when she first came in.” Lina was always so optimistic.

Mrs. Dewing wasn’t having it, however. She hummed and turned up her nose. “I’m just saying that we don’t need some snooty, big-city, social media person tainting our quiet little town.”

That made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Social media? Great. Another person trying to make Maple Lane Falls bigger than it was. It wasn’t that I didn’t want the town to succeed, but there were times when even old bats like Mrs. Dewing were right. I liked it here because it was so quiet. There was no need to turn it into a hopping tourist attraction.

Lina tsked, pouring a little more coffee into my mug. “I’m just saying, give the girl a chance.” As she walked away, I turned to look at the woman again. She didn’t seem to be paying attention to anything around her—she just kept tapping away at her phone.

I made a face. Yeah, I wasn’t so sure I’d be giving her a chance. As long as she stayed away from me and my dogs with that camera, I’d be fine. I did just fine without any extra help, and I could see her walking into the shelter and thinking I was a charity case.

Even if I had just been thinking about having a nicer facility. I didn’t need it if it came at the expense of signing my soul over to a social media influencer and their hoard of uncontrollable followers.

I finished my coffee right as Lina brought me a plate with eggs, bacon, and toast. “What’s this for?” I asked.

She grinned. “You forget how well I know you. Coffee is not a meal. Now eat up before I force-feed you.”

And there it was, that smile that only Lina seemed to make me crack. I picked up the fork next to the plate, shoveling a bite of food into my mouth.

There was a sign on the front door of Maple Lane Falls Animal Shelter when I made it back. When I peeled off the tape and looked at it, I heaved a heavy sigh. It was that time of year, so I should have been expecting it, but I wasn’t sure why anyone bothered inviting me to the town festival. All those people coming together in a small area was not my definition of a good time. I tolerated a person at the best of times, hated people at the worst, and never went anywhere near a crowd.

I was about to crumple the sheet and toss it aside when something caught my eye. They were still accepting applications for booths. It wasn’t something I had ever done before, but now that I’d put the thought out into the universe, maybe I could think of some sort of adoption or fundraising event for the shelter. That way I wouldn’t need to worry about the new girl in town trying to step in.

As I walked through the front door, I was greeted with barks from the back. It was as if the dogs knew what I was thinking and knew exactly how to pull at my heartstrings. I’d do just about anything for them.

There was a small whimper mixed in with a lot of the more robust barks, and a frown settled on my face. I knew what it was, and it made me sick to my stomach. Daisy must not have been feeling well again. She was an older Chihuahua that I’d brought in when another shelter had been ready to euthanize her. Most people didn’t want an older dog, and Daisy hadn’t been that old at eight. She still had a few good years left in her.

The longer she was in the shelter, the more depressed she became. I did my best to give her the best treatment possible, but she was so much smaller than most of the other dogs that I took in. If I were in her shoes, I’d feel pretty lousy and out of place too.

Instead of continuing to stand there listening to her, I set the flyer on the front counter and went to the back to retrieve her from her pen. Her little ears perked up the moment she saw me.

“Hey there, little girl. You doing okay?”

She stood up from where she was lying on the floor, and walked up to the gate to sniff the hand I’d held out to her. The first thing I noticed was the slight limp as she moved. Her little joints were taking a beating recently when she was let out with the other dogs to play, but I couldn’t keep her separate all the time. Daisy was highly social and liked to pretend she was just as tough as the bigger dogs.

I opened the pen to pick her up. As I lifted her to my chest, she let out a little yip before licking me in the face. It made me laugh because she loved all the special attention. All the more reason she would have made the perfect pet for the right home. Something told me that she would end up being with me until the end of her days.

It wasn’t customary to let the dogs run free in the front of the shelter, but I set Daisy on the floor, letting her explore as I opened up the laptop to pull up the website for the fall festival. I navigated to the application for a booth and filled it out. As much as I didn’t like having to talk to so many people, it was all for the animals. They deserved it. I had to keep telling myself that.

Chapter 3

Allie

Thank you so much for this opportunity. I promise I’ll make the festival look like the must-see event of the century.

A smile split my face as I hit send on the e-mail. No one in this town knew me, but after sending my profile to the woman in charge of the Fall Festival, she seemed so excited to have me on board. She’d immediately started sending me information on participating vendors so I could get an idea of what to expect.