She squirts some into all our hands, then we divvy up the hot dogs and chips. I open Jackson’s bag of Cheetos, and he hands me his bun, which he doesn’t want. He’s content to just munch on his plain hot dog and bag of chips.
Sienna and I use the packets I grabbed to doctor up our own hot dogs.
“You just got one hot dog?” she asks me.
I shrug. “I’ll eat more at home later.”
“I figured you’d need more for…” She motions up and down my body. “For all of that.”
“All of that?” I say questioningly.
A faint blush touches her cheeks. “Yeah, all that.”
“It’s Cash,” a girl’s voice rings from behind us.
We all turn to see Evelyn running toward the dog who was lying down, staring at our food, but now has his sights set on the little girl. Her dad, Austin, walks over behind her.
Evelyn buries her fingers in the dog’s fur, giving him a kiss on the top of the head.
“You know Cash?” Sienna asks after swallowing her bite.
“Hadley was with him at the dog park, and she let me play with him,” she says with a big smile. The dog honestly looks like he’s in heaven with Evelyn showering him with attention.
Sienna laughs. “I’m not surprised. She loves that dog.”
“I do too,” Evelyn says. She spots Jackson, sitting at my side. “Hey, Jackson.”
“Hi,” he says with a small wave.
“You alright down there?” Austin laughs, seeing me on the ground.
“Shut up,” I grumble. “You wish you were as tall as me.”
He shakes his head. “I’m just fine, thank you very much.” He puts his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Tell all of them goodbye. We need to go.”
Her small arms wrap around Cash’s neck, giving him a big hug. He almost knocks her over as his big body leans into the embrace. Pulling away, she gives the rest of us a quick, “Bye!” before she skips off.
“See you guys later,” Austin says and follows her.
Before I even have a chance to turn my head back to our little circle, Jackson blurts, “Daddy, can we take a puppy home?”
Sienna and I share a look.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Sienna
OCTOBER
I crack my neck,trying to stay focused on the email I’m attempting to read for the fourth time. This is the part of my job that I hate.
Animals are the easy part. The paperwork, emails, grants, finances—that’s the stuff that I really could do without.
I have Hadley and a few other employees who are a huge help around here, but the majority of this type of stuff still lands on my shoulders.
Maybe I can eventually get an administrative assistant who can tackle some of these more unsavory tasks.
I hear the bell over the front door ring. Deciding the email is probably a lost cause, I make my way out of my office and to the front desk.
