Chapter 10

Taking the dogs for a walk was one of the best parts of Noelle’s day, but she didn’t get much time to do it. In fact, there were so many dogs in the shelter at the moment, most of them didn’t get a walk except for every other day or so. The dogs they kept separate from the others, in the back, the ones that they didn’t feel safe adopting out, rarely got to go outside at all. As Noelle stood in front of their cages, having just refilled their food and water bowels, all she saw was sadness in their eyes. Even the ones that continued to growl at her after all of the weeks, months, and years of being there, pulled at her heartstrings. It was so sad that there was nothing she could do to help them.

The sound of Rhonda, the only volunteer who’d made it in that day, humming as she cleaned out the cages in the front had Noelle’s outlook shifting. A smile came to her lips, one that stayed there as she walked back out to the mai