Page 54

"Isn't the holiday season the time to be giving?" Hannah points out while cuddling Luna to her chest.

"It is." I lift my face off the wall, pinch the bridge of my nose, and turn around. "Turns out helping animals out of traumatic situations and to survive doesn't get you as many karma points as building yet another statue of a guy who supposedly did something great a hundred years ago."

"Oh, damn."

I fall onto the couch, and within moments Mr. Muffin clumsily climbs into my lap and nudges his head against my chin. Christmas is inching closer, and I'm getting really damn scared for my credit score and the repercussions of not being able to come up with the remaining balance for the sanctuary.

"I'm running out of options and ideas here," I confide in Hannah and lean my head back to stare at the ceiling.

"Listen, if we need to go door to door and beg for money, rob a bank, or pull off a jewelry heist..." She takes a seat next to me and nudges me with her elbow. "I'm in, for whatever."

"Going door-to-door sounds like my own personal hell. As does jail. But for the animals, I'd do it," I whisper and run my hand over Mr. Muffin's soft head.

He nudges his face into my palm.

“I'd sell my TV to come up with some of the money, but one, I don't own a TV, and two, it would barely be a drop in the bucket." I chuckle and let out the deepest sigh humanity has ever heard. "I'm so tired, Hannah."

My brother appears on the other side of our glass entrance door. I catch his eye and shoot him a glare before he even touches it. I swear, if Mr. Muffing runs off because Evan’s being a dickhead, the day might end in jail after all.

Demonstratively, he touches the doorknob with only two fingers, turns it with the speed of a sloth, and opens the door in slow motion.

"See? I'm learning," he says with a grin so cocky it makes me want to throw a pillow at him. It would scare Mr. Muffin, though, so I don't.

"Why the long face?" he asks, keeping his eye on the knob to cushion the door as it falls closed.

"Everything is fine." I exhale sharply and cuddle Mr. Muffin to my chest.

"She's been calling around companies all morning trying to find donors or sponsors for the sanctuary, and only got ‘no’s.’" Hannah confides in him, like the traitor she is.

"At this point, my Plan A to finance the sanctuary is finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow," I say with a sigh from the depths of my soul, extending my legs. "And when's the last time you saw a rainbow in the winter?"

"Never," he says and shakes his head, making snowflakes fly off his hair. Much to Luna’s delight, who jumps out of Hannah's arms in an attempt to catch one. "You might have more luck exploring local treasure maps.”

“Any recommendations?” I could go for a treasure hunt.

“Not off the top of my head. Why do you doubt the Christmas market will come through?"

"Because your sister is the most distrustful person I know."

"Hey, can you two please not talk about me as if I'm not here?" I wave my hand in front of Hannah's face. She grabs my wrist and moves it out of sight.

"She doesn't believe it'll even happen and clearly doesn’t trust her fellow Kinsteaders." It’s clear Hannah is only teasing me, but I can’t let that stand.

"Don’t put words in my mouth. I do trust them. But-" I pull my wrist out of her grasp, set Mr. Muffin on the couch, and stand up to pace the reception area. "We're talking about a huge fucking sum here. Even if Rebecca sells a thousand pralines, even if Rae does fifteen charity paintings, it doesn't guarantee someone would buy them.” I stop and lean my back against the counter.

“Hell, at this point we don’t even know if there will be a Christmas market. All my savings went into this.” I make a vast gesture around the room. "And the down payment. I don't exactly have anything to fall back on if this goes wrong. So excuse me for planning for the worst to happen."

"So, what exactly was your plan for when you got to the sanctuary?" Evan takes my place on the couch and crosses his arms in front of his chest.

"Well, if I had the sanctuary, it means Mrs. Bernard would have access to her money." I sigh and run my hand over my face. “We do have enough donors to cover food for the animals and get a basic living out of it, you know as much, right?”

"Yeah, I'm not sure that's going to cut it long term though." Evan rolls his eyes, and even Hannah shrugs.

"I'm sorry, Brooke. I have to agree." Hannah watches Mr. Muffin jump off Evan’s lap and hobbling away. "We need to sit down and make a proper long-term strategy to keep the shelter running."

"So you want me to give up on the sanctuary?" I lift my chin at the two of them, fighting tears. A part of me knows it would be a smarter choice to wait until everything is more reliable. But when will that be? And when will I ever be able to get such a perfect property for it?

"No!" Evan gets up, puts his hands on my shoulders, and marches me back to the couch to push me onto it. "We're saying you need a strategy to make it happen and stay afloat."