Hometown Fireman. Lissa Manley

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СКАЧАТЬ been an option. Hopefully, that would change as soon as she had her housecleaning business up and running, but without the benefit of no rent, things would get dicey.

      Ally’s stomach clenched. How could this disaster have happened, just when she’d thought she’d finally found a good place to put down roots after so long without them?

      Ever since Sue had described Moonlight Cove to Ally when they’d been in foster care together, Ally had wanted to move here. The town had seemed to embody everything she’d ever wanted in life but never had—a close-knit community and small-town values—all topped off with an idyllic, peaceful life that had been absent from her life for as long as she could remember.

      She’d been dreaming of living here forever.

      When she’d heard from a friend that the Washington Coast area around Moonlight Cove was in dire need of dog rescue organizations, she’d thought her castle in the sky had become a wonderful reality. Especially when Sue offered Ally her uncle’s house rent-free when she’d heard about Ally’s aspirations to start a dog rescue here.

      For once in Ally’s life, things seemed to be going her way. Ha. Now her dream had turned into a nightmare.

      She cast her gaze through the back window of Drew’s truck, making sure Rex and Sadie were okay in the canopied bed. Both dogs were looking out the closed back window, happily watching the scenery go by in typical dog fashion.

      “They okay back there?” Drew asked as he put the truck in Park.

      She looked over at him, not for the first time admiring his strong chin, prominent brow and close-cropped, wavy dark brown hair. Very good-looking in an outdoorsy, why-don’t-I-cut-you-some-wood kind of way. “Yeah, they both do all right in cars, although Rex usually wants to sit in the front seat of my sedan.” Or, rather, the sedan she used to have.

      He turned off the ignition. “I’m so sorry about all this.”

      “Thanks” was all she could say. She hadn’t been able to afford renter’s insurance, so she only hoped some of her stuff would be salvageable. Not that she had much...but still. For the first time in a very long time, what was hers was hers.

      Now it was all gone.

      As she climbed out of the car, she fought panic; if her years in foster care had taught her anything, though, it was to try to find the good in almost any situation. To that end she thanked God that she and Rex and Sadie had escaped from the house safely.

      Drew came around the truck. “Is it okay to let the dogs out?”

      “Go ahead and open up, but let me get their leashes on just in case. They don’t know their way around here, and I’d probably have a meltdown if one of them ran off.” Even though she had lots of experience dealing with all kinds of setbacks, the fire was a doozy of a stumbling block to the life she’d planned on building here. A girl could only handle so much stress in one day.

      Drew opened the liftgate and the two dogs greeted her with wagging tails. As soon as Drew moved closer to Ally, Rex froze, his teeth bared, and rumbled a low, threatening growl.

      “Don’t worry, buddy,” Drew said, backing up, his hands raised. “I’m not the enemy.”

      Ally hooked the nylon leash to Rex’s collar. “Please be patient with him. He’s had a rough go.”

      “What’s his story?”

      Rex hopped out of the truck and stood patiently as Ally hooked Sadie’s leash on her. “Someone called the police to report that a dog had been tied up on a stake in a yard for weeks on end at a suspected meth house in my neighborhood in Seattle. He’d been without water for a while and was really underweight. They seized him from the owner and took him to the county animal shelter. I sprang him and brought him with me when I moved here.” She’d fed him plenty, and he’d put back on most of the weight he’d lost.

      Sadie jumped out, her fluffy tail doing its perpetual wag. Honestly, she was one of the sweetest dogs Ally had ever met, so full of trust, so optimistic, despite what she’d been through.

      “And what about Sadie?” Drew said.

      “She was a stray Animal Control picked up—I think she was probably lost when someone was here for the weekend.” From what Sue had told her, Ally knew that Moonlight Cove saw a lot of weekend visitors this time of year. “No one claimed her, so I got her out of the pound and brought her home.”

      Ally moved away from the truck so Drew could close the liftgate.

      “So do you plan on keeping them?” he asked, backing up a step, clearly keeping his distance from Rex.

      A cold wind ruffled her hair, causing a shiver to run around her neck. “Realistically, I can’t keep all the dogs I plan on saving.”

      “You think you’ll be able to let them go?” he asked as he walked up the gravel pathway that led to the front door.

      “I’ve thought a lot about that, and I know it will be hard.” Agony, actually; dogs had always offered her unconditional love, and there was no question she’d get overly attached. That was just how she was. “But ultimately saving them is more important than how difficult it will be for me to let them go to good homes.”

      His reply was precluded when the front door opened and a woman dressed in flattering jeans and a bright red boatneck sweater stepped out onto the porch. She was tall and slender, and her unstreaked auburn hair was styled in a smooth chin-length bob that accentuated her fine features.

      Undoubtedly, this was Drew’s mom, though she looked so youthful Ally wondered if she’d had Drew in her teens.

      She waved as she arrived at the top of the wooden stairs. “Ally, you poor thing.” Her face was pressed into an expression full of what Ally imagined as motherly concern, though that was just a guess; motherly concern had been in short supply in Ally’s life. Nonexistent, actually.

      “Mom,” Drew said, “as you’ve figured out, this is Ally York.” He turned to Ally. “Ally, this is my mom, Grace Sellers.”

      Without hesitation, Mrs. Sellers stepped closer, and for just a second, Ally was afraid she was going to hug her. She reflexively stiffened and pulled back a bit.

      But as it turned out, Mrs. Sellers simply took Ally’s free hand in hers and squeezed it warmly, resting soft, kind eyes on Ally. “Oh, I’m so glad you and your pups are okay!” She patted Ally’s hand. “Welcome.”

      Thrown a bit off stride by the effusive welcome, Ally said, “Thank you, Mrs. Sellers.”

      She pulled away. “Oh, pshaw. Please call me Grace, or I’ll feel old.” She looked down at the dogs, moving forward a bit to pet them. “Well, look at these two darling dogs....”

      Drew put out a stiff hand to hold her back. “Watch out, Mom. The black one isn’t friendly.”

      “Actually, he’s friendly with women,” Ally said.

      Grace, obviously used to being around dogs, slowly reached out a hand for Rex to sniff. His eyes bright and soft, Rex sniffed away, and after a few seconds, Grace ran a hand over his smooth black head. “Oh, what a good boy you are.”

      Rex’s СКАЧАТЬ