WHAT FOLLOWED WAS a dire couple of weeks, taking care of her dogs, trying to salvage the wreck that was Bunji, trying to figure a way she could keep Two Tails running—and finally there was a frank discussion with her bank manager. Who put it to her straight.
‘Your best bet is to put the place on the market right now,’ he’d told her. ‘It’ll never sell as an animal refuge. We suggest you pull the pens down and present it as a possible luxury home. A renovator’s delight if you will, and there are plenty of cashed-up couples who’ll buy it as such. What you get should leave you a little to go on with—enough to rent a place in town and give you enough time to search for work.’
The thought broke her heart, but she was starting to accept it. She was already starting to wind down, figuring how long it would take to rehome the pets she had, how long it would take to walk away.
But not from Bunji.
The little collie was doing brilliantly, though only a vet might say so. To an untrained observer she still looked like a train wreck. The diagnosis of clostridial myositis had been confirmed, and the wound on her thigh was finally starting to heal. Her fur was starting to grow back but she still looked half shaved.
She slept now in a crate by Kiara’s bed. Not because she needed the warmth of the house—the spring weather was warm enough for her to be safe in one of the pens—but because those eyes followed Kiara, almost as an act of desperation. She never whined; she never made any demands. She just looked as though being close was all she asked in life.
It would take months before she could be made presentable enough—trusting enough—to rehouse with Kiara’s usual needy clients. So wherever she went, Bunji would have to come with her, Kiara thought, but the impossibility of finding a rental that’d take her—and the unfairness of leaving such a dog while she was forced to take a full-time job...
The future was filling all her thoughts and she almost missed the blinking on her phone that told her she’d missed a call. It was from Hazel; she’d left a voicemail.
‘I’m heading your way. I’ll fill you in when I get there, but it’s best if I get away from here and I need to go somewhere I can take Ben. I don’t know if that job opportunity’s still there—the one with that guy who needs you to live in and get a rehome settled?—but if it is this might be the ideal time to take advantage of it. I’m more than happy to take care of Two Tails for a week or so.’
She rang her back. Her friend was already driving. She pulled over to take the call, and sounded abrupt. ‘Could you still take that job at...what was the guy’s name? The guy with the niece who wanted Bunji?’
‘He didn’t want Bunji.’
‘But he needed Bunji. And he’ll pay. Kiara, I have... I have a week or so off. I can care for Two Tails if you still want to go.’
What the...? ‘Have you been sacked?’
There was a loaded silence. ‘No,’ Hazel said at last. ‘But...it’s complicated. If this guy is still offering that sort of money...’
‘It was his sister who was offering.’
‘But it’s huge, right? Maybe enough to keep Two Tails going for a while longer?’
‘He doesn’t want a dog.’ How many times had she said that, mostly in her own head, over the last two weeks?
‘So take the week to find out. What’s the alternative?’
‘Hazel...’
‘Just do it,’ Hazel told her.
So she did.