Accidentally All of Me

Harry“You get Winnie off to school okay?” Yara asked me.I nodded. “Just about. It was kind of a rush.”Yara had been so helpful with me since I had taken in my niece. We’d become fast friends in the time that we had worked together, and she would never know how grateful I was that she had stepped up to help me parent when I had least expected to become one.“You picking her up after school today?” she asked, tucking a strand of her cropped brown hair behind her ear. She was wearing the same pair of sensible silver studs in her ears that she always wore, and they caught the light.“Yeah, no meetings on a Monday, remember?” I said. I had put the rule in place when I realized that I was leaving other people to take care of Winnie for me most afternoons. I wanted there to be at least one day a week that I actually got to spend time with her properly, even if I knew she was going to twist my arm to get something everyone else wasn’t enough of a soft touch to hand over to her.“Of course,

RainaI wouldn’t have gotten into this line of work if I had wanted to have time to myself. When Rita and I had invested in this clinic, getting it cleaned up and turned into the practice that it was today, I had managed to convince myself that this would be a chance for me to set my own hours and take a little more time away from work. But in truth, with so much more on the line, it just made it harder for me to take a break and relax.I was constantly running around, trying to make sure that everything was running smoothly and that we were going to make enough cash to get through the next few weeks, and that all our clients were receiving the best care that they possibly could as long as they were with us. It was hard, yes, but it was what I had always wanted. It was work on my own terms, and that work came along with a huge stack of responsibility, too.I spent most of my day covered in cat scratches and dog hair, not to mention the occasional angry peck-mark left by a bird who was

RainaAs soon as he walked out, I picked up the phone and dialed up the kennels to let them know that I would be stopping by later on.“Just so you know, I have an older dog that I’m going to be bringing in,” I told the answering machine. “This is Raina, by the way. Raina Walters. I’ll see you later today if everything goes well.”I hung up and went over to tend to the old, tired little dog that that guy had brought in just a few minutes before.“Hey, boy,” I said softly, petting the rough fur on his head. “Don’t know how you managed to end up here, but you’re in good hands now, okay?”The dog snuffled, as though acknowledging what I was saying to him and thanking me for my effort.“You shouldn’t be thanking me,” I told him gently. “You should thank that guy who brought you in here. And if you could get him to call me, too, that would be great.”I shook my head at myself. I needed to get my shit together. I was asking a dog for help with dating? Yeah, it was hardly my proudest moment.

HarryI knew that I should have been replying to all my emails at that moment, but in truth, I was more caught up in making sure that I had everything covered for Winnie for the next few months.I had no idea how my sister had managed to take care of her by herself for so long. Sure, I had seen the struggle when she had first had her, but I’d had no idea just how much it was going to take out of me on a day-to-day basis.Jesus Christ, the stress of it all. The running around trying to make sure that everything fell into place, that all the bits and pieces came together at just the right moment and just the right time to be sure that everything worked out. She did band and played soccer after school, and that meant I had to make sure there was always someone there who could pick her up and take her home—whether it was Yara, me, or one of the sitters I practically had on twenty-four hour call right now.My sister had worked her ass off to get Winnie this far in life, and it was the leas

RainaI rubbed a smear of blood off my wrist and sighed. Ugh.This had been a whole lot harder than I had thought it would be. Work had been pretty mellow right up until the last half hour. Then someone had brought in their dog, who’d been hit by a car and broken his leg.I’d had to set the fracture and get this poor thing all calmed down and dosed up so that he wasn’t freaking out too badly. I was covered in blood, and all I wanted in the world was to go home, have a hot shower, and clean myself up.But instead, of course, I had to go and get myself ready for my darn date. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t found some way to wriggle out of this since Reed had announced that he had set it up in the first place. I had credited myself with more in the way of guts than that, but I figured this was the only way that I was going to get my brother off my back so I could get back to work again.“You’ve deleted the dating profile thing, haven’t you?” I asked over our coffees the day after he’d