Also by Debbie Burns
A New Leash on Love
First in the fresh, poignant Rescue Me series from award-winning author Debbie Burns
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Copyright © 2018 by Debbie Burns
Cover and internal design © 2018 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover design by Dawn Adams/Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover images © bbernard/Shutterstock, GlobalIP/iStock/Getty Images
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The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Ida Greene’s Homemade Apple Pie
Author’s Note
A Sneak Peek at My Forever Home
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Back Cover
To Dad,
Thanks for serving, and for all the great little things ever since.
“Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”
—Orhan Pamuk
Chapter 1
Kelsey Sutton had been on more home visits than she could recall. Most had proved to be run-of-the-mill experiences. Others were memorable for one reason or another. Never before had one brought to mind a jungle rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas.
But here it was, mid-September, and this afternoon’s peculiar home visit had the Christmassy tune flowing through her mind. Four fluttering finches. Or maybe there’d been five in that cage. It was hard to tell with all the floating tufts of down. Three squawking macaws. How long will my ears keep ringing like this? Two unique homeowners. Weird. Let’s face it. They were weird. And a corgi in a hurry to leave. Poor, sweet little Orzo.
The whole fiasco made Kelsey more committed than ever to finding the precocious little corgi the perfect home. As lead adoption coordinator for the High Grove Animal Shelter, that was her current mission.
As she turned from the house’s brick walkway onto the sidewalk, Kelsey was thankful she’d parked a few blocks away on the car-lined city street. She needed a minute or two to walk off her did-that-really-just-happen feeling. Orzo, who was typically a stop-and-sniff sort of fellow, was all too willing to keep up with her brisk pace. The only looking around he did was the occasional glance up at her, as if to make sure she hadn’t fallen behind. His unusually serious demeanor made her laugh off her disbelief.
She didn’t have to be a dog whisperer to know the residential Rainforest Café she’d just left wasn’t meant to be Orzo’s forever home. No amount of cajoling would have called him out from behind her legs. Hands down, it was Kelsey’s most unique home visit ever. A dense jungle scene was painted on the far wall of the living room, and two enormous faux trees flanked the sides of it. Elsewhere, the house was adorned with more bird and jungle pictures, decorations, and furniture than Kelsey’s active imagination could’ve conjured up. Especially for a house smack-dab in the middle of the United States. But the over-the-top decorating hadn’t been what bothered the puppy-faced, five-year-old tan-and-white corgi.
What troubled the normally easygoing dog was the incessant, ear-piercing squawking and thunderous flapping of three upset macaws who weren’t at all in agreement with their owners’ desire to bring a dog into their family. By the time Kelsey had called it a wash and hoisted the terrified corgi into her arms, the air was so chock-full of downy feathers that she felt like she was trapped in a snow globe.
Thank goodness they’d decided to do this home visit. Kelsey’s shelter prided itself on finding forever homes for the animals they took in. Potential adopters had to pass an interview, plus reference and background checks. When they did, home visits weren’t typically required. These homeowners, two sisters, had passed all three. In that short time with them, it had become clear the sisters were animal lovers. However, during their interview, Chance, the shelter’s resident blind cairn terrier, had sniffed something amiss. He could read people better than any animal or person Kelsey had ever known. It was unofficial shelter policy to take Chance’s reactions to potential adopters seriously, so this afternoon’s appointment had been made. In this case, he’d probably been smelling the exotic birds.
“I promise you, Orzo,” Kelsey said as they reached her bright-yellow Corolla and she clicked the remote to unlock the doors. “We’re going to find you the perfect home.”
As soon as she had the back door open wide enough, Orzo made an impressive jump considering his short legs, forgetting that earlier he’d needed a boost.
“I’m going to make sure of it,” she added, leaning in to scratch his back. She saw a pale-blue tuft of down sticking up from underneath his collar and pulled it free. “And even though you had a turn last week, you’re coming home with me tonight.” Orzo’s tail began to wag like a piano metronome set for high speed.
Kelsey’s decision to take a different shelter dog home every night had started by accident a few years ago. After moving out of her parents’ house and renting an apartment, she was excited to adopt a shelter dog of
