Page 9 of Clearly Charmed

‘He really is going to be fine,’ I said.

‘I get it, but this reassures me.’

The room went silent again as I tidied up the floor and counters.

‘Nice diplomas,’ he said, tipping his chin to the black frames that hung on the wall. ‘Undergrad and vet school at Colorado State. Did you like it there?’

‘Fort Collins is a wonderful town. Lots of locally owned shops. Good food and people. I guess it reminded me of this place. Why it felt a little like home.’

He worked his teeth over his bottom lip. ‘Have anyone special there?’

His attempts to probe my relationship status were getting more pitiful by the second.

‘I was with someone for four years, but we wanted different things and broke up.’

He did a poor job of hiding the spark in his eyes. ‘Did you always know you’d come back to Harvest Moon?’

‘Yes. My sisters are here. My grandmother, who you just met, practically raised us. She’s getting older, and I wanted to be close.’

‘Was that one of your sisters at the house tonight?’

‘That’s Lia. She’s a firefighter/EMT and also volunteers with the county SAR team.’

‘SAR?’

‘It’s short for “search and rescue”. She’s been with the team for ten years.’

I never spoke about my personal life with owners, but I found myself at ease with Bryce in a way I hadn’t with any man in a while.

‘And does she… Well, Mo said she has gifts too.’ He shook his head like he couldn’t believe his own words.

His questions reminded me why I didn’t share personal information with owners. Lia was right. I did need to have another talk with Mo.

‘I don’t discuss my sisters with strangers.’

Hearing the sharpness in my voice, Bryce turned his attention back to his dog. ‘Thank you for helping Indy,’ he said softly. ‘He’s gotten me through a lot of difficult times lately.’

He went back to stroking his dog’s head. ‘It’s just my mom and me. She was close to her brother. Spent a lot of time here after I went to college. She was always encouraging me to visit. To spend more time with her and my uncle Rich. I always had an excuse. A better opportunity.’ Hard lines pinched around his mouth. ‘Sounds shitty, right? A mother who does everything for her only child, and a son who can’t spare a single minute for her, because he’s too caught up in his own life.’

I wanted to say he was lucky to have a mother who was present. Who wanted to spend time with him, but I stayed quiet, not wanting to think about Belladonna and all the ways she’d failed me and my sisters. How I would have given anything for her to be the kind of mother who wanted to be around us.

An unsteady breath slid past his lips. ‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to unload on you. It’s only that for a moment tonight I thought I might lose Indy, and it scared the crap out of me.’

He gave his dog another loving look, and it made my heart tug. Since I was a child, I’d been drawn to animals. I’d had the incident with the goat, but long before that I’d felt a strange pull toward all kinds of creatures. They were always present in my dreams. Hopping across my path on the trails. Appearing like strange and gentle guardians when I walked by the lake.

When I was young, Grandpa Beau regularly took me to see the horses at George Spellner’s farm. As soon as we arrived, the animals crowded against the walls of their corral like they wanted my attention. For hours I was entranced by the way the horses pranced around the paddock. Stayed still as statues as I offered them apples from the palm of my hand.

That love of animals is what also drew me to Max at vet school. He was a tall, stocky guy who looked like he could lift an entire refrigerator, but when he worked with a bird, lizard or any kind of small animal that he could set in the center of his giant palm, his voice went gentle. His eyes softened as he examined the creature. He used to give me that same kind of serene gaze when we lay together in bed, until at some point he decided I wasn’t what he wanted anymore.

‘It’s interesting how animals weave their way into our world. Give us comfort when we least expect it.’ I sat next to Flora on the floor. ‘Your fear is totally understandable.’

Bryce leaned back against the wall, and Indy had enough energy to inch forward on his paws and lay his head across his lap.

‘Indy. The name suits him,’ I said.

‘That wasn’t me. He was abandoned behind an American Legion Post in Pasadena. The veterans took him in. Fed him. Called him Independence. Indy for short. They were all too old to keep him, so they took him to a no-kill shelter. I found him there a few weeks later.’

I moved my hand down to Indy’s mouth to check his gums again, which were finally pinking up.