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Chapter 42
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2021-03-11 12:41:23Noelle hadn’t seen Brady anywhere. She’d spent most of the parade looking for him, walking down the sides of the street, trying to spot him amid the bundled up viewers, leaping up to try to see over the heads of men much taller than her. If Brady was there, she hadn’t seen him.
The thought that she should call him entered her mind, but she didn’t do it. What would she say? Sorry I accused you of doing something you’d never do--again? No, until she figured out how to apologize, she wasn’t going to just call him and hope the right words popped out of her mouth.
With a sigh, she took one more look around. The downtown area had basically cleared out. She did see one lone figure she recognized, though. Drawing in a deep breath, Noelle approached Mayor Jenkins who had that smug smile on his face. “Good evening, Miss Snow.”
“Is it?” she asked, trying to keep her ange
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The small tuft of black and white fur disappeared behind the leg of an unexpected passerby, only a hint of his red scarf appearing for a moment as the dog dodged behind a lamp post, disappearing entirely for a few seconds before reappearing further down the crowded sidewalk. Brady Rogers wound his way through people leisurely walking from one shop to the next, making the most of the mild, early December day when the temperature was in the high forties, instead of the low thirties, or colder, which it usually was in Connecticut this time of year.“Hey! Stop!” Brady shouted again, accidentally clipping the jacket of a dad walking alongside his wife and kids as he hurried after the little dog. “Pardon me,” he said, glad he hadn’t knocked the man off balance. So far, there hadn’t been any head on collisions or casualties, but as the crowd thickened, and the dog got further away, Brady feared he might take out one of the ol
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Brady heard a voice say, “Well, look at you! Aren’t you just darling!”His eyes followed the sound of a middle-aged woman’s chirp as she continued to dote on what he quickly saw was the little thief. She was sitting with her back to him on one of the benches, a cup in one hand, her other hand stroking the fur of the little tramp.Quickly, Brady trotted over, a stitch in his side, despite his frequent exercise routine. “Thank goodness,” he murmured as he noted the scarf was no longer trapped in the dog’s teeth. It was lying next to him on the bench. Even from a few feet away, Brady could see it was soiled with mud, perhaps some oil from the road, but it wasn’t torn. That was something.“Oh, is this your dog?” The woman slipped her hand beneath the red collar around the dog’s neck, and for the first time Brady noticed the collar was the exact same shade as
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The black lab bounced on the concrete floor in front of her, yanking playfully on the blue leash wrapped around Doug Gibson’s hand. The two children at his side did not look nearly as cheerful as the pup, tears in their eyes, as they stared at a spot near Noelle’s shoes. She didn’t blame them. She felt the same way on the inside, and this wasn’t even her dog.“Mr. Gibson,” she said, attempting to keep her voice even, but anger was beginning to seep in. “This is the fourth dog this year.” She took a deep breath and placed her hands on her hips. Then, realizing that might look hostile, which is how she felt, but not how she wanted to appear, she folded them, then changed her mind again and dropped them to her sides--rigid.“I know that, Noelle,” he said, shaking his head. “But my wife keeps getting ‘em off of Craigslist,” he said with a shrug. “I keep tell
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The chime behind Noelle had her spinning around again. She prayed it was a family there to adopt a pet, but when she saw a stranger holding a fluffy ball of black and white fur, she assumed the worst. “Can I help you?” she asked as another volunteer, the only other one working that Saturday afternoon, Clara Lincoln, came up to her elbow.Noelle had a feeling she should just let Clara, an older woman with the patience of a saint, handle this one, but when the man spoke, he said, “Hi, I was told to ask for Noelle.”“That’s me,” she said, trying not to notice the jade green eyes and the square jaw of the man before her. “How can I help you?” She folded her arms, not caring if she suddenly looked rude. Her anger at Mr. Gibson was no longer festering. It was surfacing, and she was about to explode if this man said what she had to assume he was about to say.“Well,
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Brady had just finished taking a few notes on his smartphone when he heard a familiar voice. “Well, if it isn’t the new city planner!”Turning around, Brady saw Mayor Joe Jenkins headed his way, a smile on his face barely visible between the large gray scarf wound around his neck and the matching wool cap pulled down to the top of his dark framed glasses. It wasn’t quite cold enough out here for all that, in Brady’s opinion, but the mayor was a small-framed man, at least ten years older than Brady, so probably in his late thirties, maybe early forties, and it was possible he chilled easily.“Hi, Mayor Jenkins,” Brady said, offering a wave but then clasping the extended, mitten-clad hand of the leader of the local government. “How are you?”“I am well, Brady. Very well,” he said, overly formal. “Are you out here looking at the sight of the new parki
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Most evenings, Noelle was so tired after she got home from work, she could hardly wrestle up the energy to nuke a microwave dinner. Tonight, however, she felt different for reasons she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Rather than spending a lonely Saturday night in the small apartment she lived in above her parents’ garage, she decided to actually enter the house and borrow her mother’s oven. It wasn’t as if Doris was likely to be using it. Noelle couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her mother cook anything, but she had a feeling it had probably been last July, for her stepdad’s birthday. Cliff loved a good pork tenderloin, and even though Doris made a fuss anytime anyone asked her to cook anything, she had made it for him. Despite her protesting, her mother was a good cook, when she could be bothered with turning on the oven.Noelle double-checked the timer she’d set on the stove and turned around
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Noelle hadn’t seen Brady anywhere. She’d spent most of the parade looking for him, walking down the sides of the street, trying to spot him amid the bundled up viewers, leaping up to try to see over the heads of men much taller than her. If Brady was there, she hadn’t seen him.The thought that she should call him entered her mind, but she didn’t do it. What would she say? Sorry I accused you of doing something you’d never do--again? No, until she figured out how to apologize, she wasn’t going to just call him and hope the right words popped out of her mouth.With a sigh, she took one more look around. The downtown area had basically cleared out. She did see one lone figure she recognized, though. Drawing in a deep breath, Noelle approached Mayor Jenkins who had that smug smile on his face. “Good evening, Miss Snow.”“Is it?” she asked, trying to keep her ange
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Noelle was doing her best to keep from yelling. Clearly, Kelsey had made a mistake, and being angry at her wasn’t going to bring Pooch back or make her feel any better. “Do you remember what they looked like?” Brady asked, his tone much more controlled than Noelle’s would've been if she would’ve tried to speak at the moment.The teen shrugged, as if she actually didn’t even care that she’d made a huge blunder. “No. They were kinda old. Maybe your age.”Brady’s eyes widened, and Rhonda scolded her granddaughter. “Brady’s not old, Kelsey!” she said. “Would you say the couple was in their late twenties or early thirties?”She shrugged again. “I don’t know. The lady had long dark hair and a big tummy. The guy had short brown hair and a black coat. That’s all I remember. Can we go now?”“
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Getting all of the animals unloaded and in spots where they were both comfortable and warm had been a challenge, but Noelle managed with the help of Rhonda and a few of the other volunteers. Along with Pooch and Blacky, she’d brought six other dogs and four cats, animals she thought had a good chance of finding new homes. They were all bright-eyed and happy to be out of the shelter. A couple of them, including Blacky, barked at every person who came by, even on the road away from where they were set up in a parking spot next to the sidewalk on the main strip. The road was closed to cars now that the event was beginning, and the merchants had all had a couple of hours to bring in their wares--or their friends as was the case with Noelle. She was satisfied that they had a good spot for traffic, near the hot cocoa stand and the kettle corn. It smelled great, that was for sure. Now, all she needed was to find some animals a good home.“Well, they
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Saturday was a beautiful day. Noelle awoke to see the snow had stopped overnight, and while it was cold enough outside to keep the ground from becoming wet and sloshy, it wasn’t frigid either.She was up bright and early, headed to the shelter to take care of the animals before she went to the downtown area to help with the Christmas decorating. The kittens were thriving, Goldie was almost one hundred percent healed, and Pooch was his adorable self. She almost spent too much time playing with him, which would’ve made her late, but she was able to pull herself away from the cute pup in time to make it downtown by 10:00, the time her mother had asked everyone to arrive.In the backseat, Noelle had several boxes of Christmas decorations to donate to the cause. She’d stopped by the local hardware store the night before to buy a few boxes of lights and plastic ornaments, on top of the ones they’d generously donated, b
