And it was fun.
The moment Josie walked into the animal shelter with Shannon, she could see that the teenager was completely captivated with the various different types of dogs that had been given temporary homes there. Mesmerized, the teenager didn’t know where to look first.
“Where did they all come from?” Shannon wanted to know.
“Some were abandoned, some were found wandering the streets, a few were handed in by their owners because the owners were too old or too infirmed or too poor to take care of them properly any longer. There was a sad case a few weeks back where the authorities found out about a backyard breeding operation. When they went to shut it down, they found the dogs in pretty bad shape. This little lady,” Josie said, bending down to remove one cockapoo puppy, Harlow, that had sunk her teeth into the hem of Shannon’s jeans, “was part of that group.”
The five-month-old cockapoo wiggled to get free once Josie managed to separate the puppy’s teeth from the bottom of her jeans.
“Want to hold her?” Josie asked, holding the puppy out to Shannon.
“Can I?” She seemed barely able to contain herself.
The puppy leaned over toward her as far as she could while still in Josie’s arms. Her little pink tongue flicked over Shannon’s cheek.
“I think you have your answer,” Josie laughed.
The transformation was almost breathtakingly quick. In amazingly short order, Shannon ceased being the belligerent teenager with a giant chip on her shoulder and transformed into a soft, caring young teenager who just wanted to help take care of, and in some cases help socialize, the dogs—puppies and full grown alike—that had only recently been brought in to the shelter.
As Josie watched, she saw Shannon’s better qualities emerge. Displaying a patience Josie was certain that the girl’s uncle had no idea she possessed, the teen began drawing out not only the newly found puppies but some of the older dogs as well.
It was amazing to watch.
Josie could see that a number of animals took to Shannon. The teen certainly took to them. In one instance, Shannon managed to coax an undersized German shepherd out of the corner where she was hiding. Audrey, which was what they had named her at the shelter, seemed to try to all but withdraw into herself. It was as if the poor thing were attempting to “melt” out of sight.
Without any prompting from Josie, Shannon began talking to Audrey in a soft, gentle, soothing voice. The teenager made no sudden moves toward the dog, she just kept on talking until she could get the rather small German shepard to leave the corner where she was attempting to hide. It took a few more minutes before Audrey became brave enough to move a little closer toward the teenager.
After what seemed like an eternity, the dog allowed Shannon to finally stroke her. Shannon was fairly beaming as she glanced up at Josie.
“Look, Josie, I think she likes me,” Shannon said in a low voice, calling the woman’s attention to what was happening. The teen had managed to get the dog to respond to her.
“Oh, I know she does. Nobody else has been able to get near her like that, and you just managed to do it in under an hour,” Josie told the girl, extremely pleased.
“Really?” Shannon asked, thrilled at her own accomplishment. She felt a sort of pride that she had never experienced before. It was as if she had found her calling.
“Really,” Josie assured the teen.
Eventually, she realized that they had been there a long time. Glancing at her watch, Josie saw what time it was. As much as she hated taking Shannon away, she knew that she should be getting the girl back. Not only that, but she needed to be getting back to Grant and Rebekah. She knew they wouldn’t say anything to her, but she had been gone for close to four hours and Rebekah was probably in need of a break.
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to be getting back, Shannon,” she told the girl.
“Can’t we stay just a little while longer?” Shannon begged. Josie thought that the teen looked as if she was prepared to go on petting the puppy she currently had in her arms for hours.
“I’d really love to, honey. But in addition to volunteering here at the shelter, I am also helping out my brother and sister-in-law take care of their twins. Lily and Lucas are still little itty-bitty things, but they have really powerful lungs. I’m pitching in to help until they at least get a little bigger.” She looked at the teenager, hoping the girl understood.
Shannon reluctantly nodded and got to her feet. She looked at the puppy wistfully. “Can we come back some time?”
“Oh absolutely,” Josie promised.
The teenager pressed her lips together then hesitantly asked, “Soon?”
Josie had no intention of drawing this out. That would be cruel. It was obvious that the teenager enjoyed working with the animals, especially this last bunch.
“How does the day after tomorrow sound?” Josie asked the girl.
“Tomorrow sounds better,” Shannon countered, watching Josie’s face hopefully.
“I can’t come tomorrow,” she told Shannon. “I’ve got other responsibilities. But the day after definitely sounds doable. Unless you’re busy, of course,” Josie said tongue-in-cheek.
“No, not busy at all. The day after tomorrow sounds great,” Shannon said enthusiastically.
“Is ten o’clock enough time for you to do your chores first?”
Shannon looked somewhat less than thrilled to be reminded about the chores her uncle had her doing, but she answered Josie’s question without hesitation. “More than enough time. I can be finished by nine if I get up early.”
That, Josie surmised, was Shannon’s plan.
Josie nodded. “Then I’ll be at your house at nine to pick you up,” she promised. She was rewarded by an exceptionally wide smile from Shannon.
Slipping her arm around the girl’s shoulders as they left the shelter, Josie told her, “You did a great job today.”
Shannon looked really surprised by Josie’s declaration. It seemed like she wasn’t accustomed to being on the receiving end of a compliment, or any sort of positive feedback, really.
“I did?” she asked, her eyes widening.
“Absolutely. Bethany Robeson, that’s the shelter’s director,” she said, mentioning the name of the newly hired director, “was very impressed with you,” Josie told the teenager. The woman had come by, as was her habit, to check on the volunteers. “She wanted to know if you were going to come by again to work with the dogs, particularly the shier ones.”
Shannon’s eyes were sparkling now. “She did? What did you say?” she asked eagerly.
“I told her that you were. She wanted me to let you know that you’re welcome to come by the shelter any time. She said that the shelter could really use more people like you,” she added, knowing that everyone liked and needed approval.
Josie noticed that the girl was walking on air by the time they got to her car in the parking lot.
She remembered how tough this age had been for Hannah, how much she’d craved affirmation. Hannah hadn’t always been willing to accept it from Josie—usually replying with “You have to say that because you’re my mom”—but if Josie could mention some teacher or mentor who’d pointed out how well Hannah was doing, her daughter would beam for days. Thankfully, they’d finally gotten to a good place in their relationship where compliments didn’t have to come secondhand. Josie slipped out her cell phone and sent her daughter a quick text, just letting her know how proud she was of her. Hannah must have seen it right away, because she soon tagged it with a heart. And now Josie was the one who couldn’t stop smiling.
All in all, she thought as she got into her vehicle, this had been a very successful undertaking.
Working with the dogs was good for Shannon and Shannon was apparently good for the dogs, too.
“She really said that?” Shannon questioned happily, wanting to hear the words again.
“She did indeed,” Josie assured the teenager.
Belatedly, Shannon got into the car on the passenger side and settled back in her seat. Snapping her seat belt, she looked at the older woman. “Josie?”
“Yes?” Josie asked, not really knowing what she was about to hear.
“Thanks for bringing me.”
The words were almost mumbled. It was obvious that this wasn’t a common thing for the teenager to say, which was why it meant even more to Josie.
Smiling at Shannon, Josie replied, “Thanks for coming.”
And just like that, the floodgates burst open and Shannon began asking all sorts of questions about some of the various dogs she had encountered at the shelter. The girl sounded, Josie thought, like a regular teenager—a happier one than the one she had first met.
Josie couldn’t help hoping that the girl’s uncle wouldn’t inadvertently do or say anything that would wind up raining on Shannon’s little parade.
True to her word, Josie came by two days later at exactly nine o’clock to pick Shannon up and take the teenager back to the animal shelter. Shannon told her that the pickup time was going to have to change. Her uncle was enrolling her in high school and she wouldn’t be home until after three.
“But I still want to help out at the shelter,” Shannon stressed eagerly.
“I’ll see about changing my hours around,” Josie promised.
Shannon beamed.
The girl enjoyed herself even more than she had the first time she had gone to the shelter. A little more familiar with the way the shelter operated now, Shannon was less self-conscious. The teen seemed to feel that much more secure in approaching and working with the puppies.
A new batch had been found on the street and brought in just the day before. Shannon took an active part in socializing the puppies.
Josie was very happy that the teenager could work without needing any sort of close supervision. The girl, Josie thought, was a natural. Shannon truly seemed to have found her niche. Socializing the puppies brought out the absolute best in the girl.
Josie could notice the change in the teenager immediately. She wondered if Declan would as well.
It would definitely give them something to talk about when she came for her second lesson, Josie mused. Of course, the lesson was still several days away. She couldn’t wait, even though she knew she had a lot to get done before then.
Her life was extremely busy and chock-full of work from one end to the other. Helping out with the twins took up a lot of her time, plus she also made an effort to get involved in the community, including making friends with Grant and Rebekah’s neighbors and unloading her baking on everyone in a five-mile radius. Back in Florida, she’d run a catering business, and cooking—most especially baking—had become her default way to de-stress and work through her thoughts. She couldn’t get out of the habit, and now she’d earned a reputation for being the one to bring over a pie to a neighbor sick at home, or to make brownies as a treat for a three-year-old’s birthday. With all of that, plus volunteering at the shelter, when it came to the riding lessons, Josie felt as if the days were just dragging themselves by one frozen second at a time. Getting to the following week for her second lesson felt as if it was taking forever.
But finally, at long last, that day arrived.
Full of anticipation and eager to get started, Josie arrived early.
Declan was nowhere to be seen, either in the stable or at the corral. But to her surprise, Shannon was there. The girl had obviously gone out of her way to stop by at the stable.
Shannon didn’t even pretend to be surprised to see the woman she now thought of as a friend.
“You here to see my uncle?” she wanted to know. There was a trace of curiosity with a little underlying suspicion in her voice.
“Not directly,” Josie told the girl. She definitely didn’t want the girl thinking there was anything romantic going on between Declan and herself. “I’m here for my riding lesson. Your uncle said he could give me my second lesson today.”
Josie looked around the area, but there was no sign of the man. She should have called to confirm, Josie thought, disappointed.
“You don’t think he’s forgotten, do you?” she asked Shannon.
It would be a little awkward, Josie thought, hanging around the stable if Declan turned out to be occupied elsewhere and didn’t come. She really should have called. Josie upbraided herself.
“Uncle Declan doesn’t forget anything. Ever,” Shannon told her, emphasizing the last word.
Josie wasn’t sure if Shannon meant that as a criticism or was just stating a fact she found annoying for some reason.
“Then I guess he’ll be here,” Josie said.
The words were no sooner out of her mouth than she saw the handsome cowboy crossing the field and walking toward them.
“And there he is,” Shannon told her, pointing to her uncle. Instead of making herself scarce, Shannon started talking quickly. “I just wanted to tell you that I had a great time helping you the other day.”
The deep sincerity in Shannon’s voice made Josie smile. “You weren’t helping me, you were helping the animals at the shelter,” she pointed out tactfully.
“Can we do it again tomorrow?” Shannon asked eagerly just as Declan reached them.
“I’d love that,” Josie answered then told her, “I’ll be by to pick you up at the same time.”
“Cool.” Shannon’s smile grew wider. With that one parting word, she made her way past her uncle, still keeping her smile in place. And then she headed back toward the house.
“You ready for your second lesson?” Declan asked by way of a greeting, skipping right over any sort of a salutation.
“Absolutely,” Josie answered.
She made no effort to hide the eager enthusiasm in her voice. She had actually dreamed about riding last night. She vaguely remembered that Declan had been in the dream somewhere, but the part that had really caught her attention was that she was riding through a field with the wind in her hair. It had felt very liberating.
“All right. This time you’re going to saddle your horse, too,” Declan told her.
“Is my horse still going be Marigold?” Josie wanted to know. She followed Declan into the stable, mentally crossing her fingers that he would say yes.
He glanced over his shoulder. “You want another horse?”
“Oh no,” Josie answered a little too quickly. “I really like Marigold. She’s a very gentle horse. It’s almost as if she can sense what I’m feeling.”
“All right, then it’s settled. You’re riding the same horse. If something works,” Declan told her, espousing one of his more strongly held beliefs, “don’t try to mess with it.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Josie told her instructor. She knew better than to smile. The man might get the idea that she was having fun at his expense, and she really wasn’t.
Declan bought her over to the far stall. Midnight stood waiting to be saddled as well. Both horses were located next to one another.
Declan saw the quizzical expression on Josie’s face. “I figured we could saddle our horses together.”
She knew what he wasn’t saying. That if she had any questions, she could get them answered just by observing what he was doing.
She noticed that Declan had already placed both her saddle and his on the upper edge of the stall. Both were within easy access. Blankets and bridles were there as well, next to the saddles.
The next moment, Declan was getting started without so much as saying a word to her.
Josie quickly positioned the blanket then hefted the saddle. It seemed heavier lifting than removing it, she noticed. Silently telling herself not to drop the saddle, she placed the saddle on top of the blanket. Successful, she carefully tightened the cinch beneath Marigold’s belly, sneaking a look over at Declan. He was watching, and he hadn’t said anything to stop her, so she assumed that meant she was doing it right.
Satisfied that the saddle would remain in place, Josie went on to put the bridle on, getting the bit in place and then easing the crown of the bridle over the mare’s ears.
Finished, Josie turned around to see that Declan had already finished saddling his horse well ahead of her.
Their eyes met. Declan nodded at her.
“Good,” he said.
The single word of praise felt almost heady to Josie. She instinctively knew how rarely he bothered with it.
“All right, let’s go out,” he told her, leading Midnight from the stable and into the corral.
Josie did as he said. She fully expected that she would be mounting her horse once they were out in the corral. But Declan turned toward her and surprised Josie by giving her a compliment. Not about the way she had saddled her horse. The praise he uttered revolved around her treatment of his niece.
“You realize that you worked a miracle with Shannon,” he told her.
Taken completely aback, Josie looked at her instructor and blinked. She had probably just misheard. “Excuse me?”
“The kid’s been walking on air since you brought her back from that animal shelter. She’s been waiting for you to come by from the minute she finished her chores. And that’s another thing,” he went on, mounting his horse. “I don’t have to get on her case to do her chores. She actually does them first thing right after she gets up. Of course,” he continued with a shrug, “she’s still complaining about the slow internet signal her phone’s been getting, but I guess you can’t have everything.”
Mounting Marigold, Josie had to bite back a laugh. She didn’t want Declan thinking that she was laughing at him. “No, I guess you can’t.”
“Don’t see why teenagers are so attached to the damn things anyway,” he complained. He had no use for phones in general, much less one that did all the fancy things he’d read about.
“It’s their way of communicating,” she tried to explain to Declan.
He snorted dismissively. “You ask me, sitting down and having a healthy conversation with someone who’s in the same room as you should be good enough for them.” He had even had a few of those conversations with Shannon lately. He found himself looking forward to having more.
“When you’re lonely,” she told him, “it can be nice to know that you can reach out to someone else and get a response,” she explained.
“Well then, they should find something to occupy themselves. You can’t be lonely if you’re busy,” Declan told her. Before she could say anything in response, he changed the topic. “You want to go ride out to the meadow?”
The thought of going on a longer ride than they had during their first lesson immediately caught her attention. “I’d love it.”
“Then let’s go,” he told her.
The words were no sooner out of Declan’s mouth than he kicked his horse’s flanks and took off.
Caught off guard, it took a moment for Josie’s competitive spirit to kick in. She found that she had to really hustle in order to keep up with her instructor and not fall behind.
She found it incredibly exhilarating.