Chapter 13

“The shelter we just left. I got in my truck one day and drove, ended up here, eventually. It’s beautiful…in summer and winter. I had to stop to take it in. After breakfast at the diner right across the street, I walked into the shelter. Anne asked me if I was looking for a pet. I told her I didn’t have a home, so a pet…maybe someday. I walked the dogs with her, and was sitting in the middle of the floor with the cats after, crying, like you, when Miss Kitty came in.”

“Oh.”

“She said she’d been looking for some help around the house. Whether or not that was true, I started doing odd jobs in the yard, roof repair, stuff like that, and ended up—”

“Taking my place.”

Baily glanced Del’s way again.

“The place of family too busy to come around.”

“That was never my intention, Del.”

“No. I suppose not. Thank you, by the way, for being there for Grandmother.”

“It was a pleasure…a gift, really. Every day was.”

“You really go to the shelter every day, too?”