Because of the Baby(51)

Almost immediately she was struck by a sense of sadness that so many pets had lost their owners because of the tornado or other hardships. In the days following the storm, her focus had been Skye and Grace. She’d spent all her time at the hospital, either working or alternating between the two intensive care units. Except for the damage done to the hospital’s west wing and the branches down all around in her neighborhood, Lark hadn’t seen the town’s widespread devastation.

Stories had filtered through the hospital of the fine job Stella Daniels had done working with FEMA, the National Guard and local agencies to bring in the help they needed. The Texas Cattleman’s Club had stepped up and organized many of the cleanup projects around town. Colby Richardson and his partner had brought their construction expertise from Dallas to assist in the repair and rebuild efforts.

All this made Lark wish she’d pitched in more.

“Hi, Lark. Thanks for coming.” Megan came out from the back, her smile welcoming and addictive. “Let me show you around.”

The tour was brief and informative. By the end, Lark was really glad she’d come. “What do you want me to do?”

“We’ve got a couple dogs that aren’t adapting very well to being locked up. They’d love a twenty-minute walk.”

“That sounds easy enough.”

The first dog she walked was a beagle mix named Bugsy that started out by dragging her down the street. Before she’d left, Megan had handed her a pouch with dog treats and offered a brief lesson on loose leash training. By the end of the twenty minutes, Lark was surprised that the dog had stopped sniffing every tree and bush and was paying attention to her.

“Nice job.” Megan approached while Lark was returning the dog to its pen. “Feel like trying another?”

“Sure.”

The next dog Megan picked for her was an Australian shepherd. The shelter manager described the dog’s color as red merle. She had a mottled blond and chestnut coat with touches of white.

“Aussies are incredibly smart and used for herding,” Megan explained. “Nicki was Agnes Baker’s dog. Agnes’s place was hit by the tornado and she was badly hurt. I know it just about killed her to leave Nicki behind when she went to live with her daughter in Dallas, but there was no way she could take her along. For a couple months I’d hoped that Agnes would make a full recovery and come back to Royal, but her healing is progressing slower than anyone hoped.”

Suddenly Lark was fighting back tears. “Oh, that’s terrible.”

Megan nodded. “Nicki is a great dog. Where we run into problems with her is that she’s too smart for most people. And she’s used to a lot of exercise, so she gets destructive if left on her own for eight or more hours a day.”

Lark dropped to her knee beside the dog and smoothed Nicki’s thick coat. As if sensing her sadness, Nicki nudged her nose beneath Lark’s arm and their gazes met. The Aussie had the most beautiful golden eyes dotted with blue. And intelligence sparkled in them.

“She likes you,” Megan said.

“You sound surprised.” Lark fondled Nicki’s ears and the dog half shut her eyes.

“One of the reasons I’ve had trouble placing her is that she doesn’t warm up to people. The two who took her home on a trial basis did so because of her coloring and her intelligence. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into.”

What was supposed to be a twenty-minute walk turned into half an hour. Unlike Bugsy, Nicki understood the concept of walking on a loose leash. She showed little interest in the tantalizing scents along the way, but kept her attention mostly on Lark. And this wasn’t due to treats either, because she’d forgotten to grab the pouch on her way out of the shelter.

Absolutely smitten, Lark was reluctant to put Nicki back in her pen. She took out three more dogs, all with various levels of leash training, but couldn’t stop thinking about the Aussie. After promising to return the following week, Lark drove home, wishing she’d followed her instincts and adopted the Australian shepherd.

But Megan’s comments stuck in her head. A dog like Nicki needed to stay busy. She couldn’t be left alone for eight hours, much less the twelve Lark worked. Granted, right now there was someone home all the time with Grace, but Lark couldn’t ask Keaton to help out. And it wasn’t as if he was going to be around forever. When Skye woke, she would take over responsibility for Grace and Keaton would return to his cabin. Or perhaps even the Holt ranch house.

The thought of that caused a lump to form in Lark’s stomach. She’d known all along that this was a temporary situation. But knowing was different than facing the reality. Especially when she and Keaton had been dancing around the consequences of committing to a serious relationship.