Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
He hoped Reese didn’t do something stupid like get caught spray-painting on public property, get into a fight, or get caught with marijuana, all just a few of the things that had happened over the last year. “Nothing. Call me if you need me. Maybe we can go out to dinner when I get home.” They’d been in Harmony just about a week but hadn’t done much yet. Every time he asked, Reese wasn’t in the mood.
“Maybe—oh, Pop’s calling!” Reese snatched his cell phone off the coffee table, wearing the biggest smile August had seen on his face in he didn’t know how long. “Hey, Pop. What are you doing?” Reese said as he disappeared in his room, closing the door behind him.
“Bye, Dad. I love you. See you this evening!” he mumbled to himself, saying what he wished Reese would say to him. Butter rubbed his leg, so August gave her some scritches. “At least you love me.”
He headed to work, trying not to let himself feel too down. It wasn’t personal. Logically, he knew Reese loved him. He just missed his pop and blamed August for the divorce. He’d always tried hard to get Lewis’s attention, even when he was younger. Lewis had worked more and traveled, and even though August had always had his career too, he’d always been there. Reese had never had to fight for August’s attention. He’d never needed to miss him. Plus, Lewis had always been more fun than him. He’d let Reese get away with more. August would punish him, and then Lewis would come home, feel guilty for being away for work, and would take him out even when he was grounded or tell August to lighten up.
They’d been a mess from the start, and he hadn’t even seen it.
He let himself enjoy the rest of the ride to work. When he went inside, the receptionist smiled at him. “Dr. Reynolds, right?”
“Hi. Yes, it’s me.” He reached over the counter to shake her hand.
“We’re real excited to have you on board. I’m Janet, and this is Lori.” She pointed behind her to who August assumed was one of the vet assistants.
“I’m glad to be here.”
“You can go back through that door. Dr. Quinn is waiting for you.” August thanked her and then was on his way.
He’d interviewed virtually, so this was the first time he would actually meet Dr. Quinn. She was a nice woman who gave him a warm smile the second she saw him. Animals were barking and meowing from the medical area on the other side of the patient rooms.
It made him smile. This was familiar. He would lose himself in animals, who always loved you and never looked at you like you let them down.
CHAPTER TWO
Clint
Clint cocked his arm back and threw the tennis ball for Midnight and Sweetie, his two dogs. They ran after it, racing to see who’d get there first. Sweetie won. He’d had Midnight, a black Lab, for a long time, and then Sweetie, a stray, ended up on his property. Midnight had gotten her pregnant, and when Clint couldn’t find Sweetie a home, he’d kept her too.
She brought the ball back to him, and he rubbed her head. “Aren’t you a sweet girl.” It was where the name had come from. He hadn’t been sure what to call her at first. He just knew she was sweet and he was always telling her that, so it stuck.
He played with them for a while, letting them run off some energy before calling them for the house. Clint lived and worked on his property. His home was an older two-story farmhouse too big for his needs but that he liked, and beside it was a large building where he did his welding. He was technically a welder and still took jobs doing that, but mostly, he ran his business—Clint’s Custom Steel—where he made just about anything and everything. He loved creating new designs. Right now he was fond of making different kinds of windmills for people’s yards.
He put the dogs in, then grabbed his keys and headed into Harmony. He was meeting Colby Covington for dinner at Mama Adaline’s, a local diner.
The Covingtons were well known throughout Briar County. They had a farm in Harmony, where their main attraction was their goats. If there was something you could do with goats, the Covingtons did it—painting, yoga, movies. Their farm stayed busy with different activities throughout the year.
Colby was the youngest Covington in his generation. Monroe was Colby’s older brother and the one Clint used to be closest with. But he and Colby had started hanging out fairly often the past year or so. Roe was often busy with his son, Wyatt, and with his partner, Holden. Clint and Colby were both still single, neither of them ever having been married, and they didn’t have kids.