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Chapter 20
Sitting across from Noelle in the little diner in Holiday Hills was a far cry from the fancy restaurants Brady used to take his ex-girlfriend to in the big city. Charlotte would’ve never thought this place was good enough for her. Not only was Noelle perfectly content to eat at such an establishment, she hadn’t ordered a salad and a glass of water, opting for chicken and dumplings, one of Brady’s favorites, instead.
“So… what made you decide to become a city planner?” Noelle asked as she took a drink of soda.
“Well, it’s always been a dream of mine,” Brady admitted. “I love architecture and engineering, but I also like finance and accounting. I figured this would be a good way to use all of those interests.” He smiled at her and then took another bite of his beef stroganoff. This diner had a wide variety of dishes to keep a person warm on a cold night, and he’d fou
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All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 21
Brady pulled to a stop in front of Noelle’s apartment and turned the truck off, thinking he’d walk her to her doorstep so that she wouldn’t have to risk falling again. He hated to dwell on the fact that she’d slipped earlier. He doubted she’d ever fallen before, or at least not frequently, and had certainly traversed that section of walkway thousands of times, but now that he knew it was a possibility she might fall and hurt herself, he couldn’t help the compulsion to protect her.Only Noelle wasn’t getting out of the truck. Maybe she was waiting for him to come around to open the door for her, like a gentleman. He reached for the door handle, but then she started talking. “Thanks for dinner,” Noelle said.“Sure. Thank you. I’m sorry again that it got sprung on you at the last minute.”She giggled. “That’s my mom.”
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 22
Being quiet in the kitchen in the morning was something Brady had had to get used to. Most days, he was up before his hosts, and he didn’t want to wake them as he went about making his coffee and grabbing a bagel or toast on his way out the door.The morning after he’d had dinner with Noelle, he walked into the kitchen to see Rob there already, sipping some coffee with his robe on over his pajamas, staring at his phone, a groggy look on his face.Studying him for a moment, Brady tried to figure out what was going on. “Good morning,” he said.Rob looked up, his eyes bleary, and said, “Good morning. How are you this morning, Brady?” He stifled a yawn.“I’m good,” Brady said, thinking that was truer that morning than most days. He was looking forward to his lunch meeting, getting on with the Christmas event planning, and of course seeing Noelle and Po
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 23
Arriving at the shelter a little earlier than normal, Noelle pulled into her spot and checked her phone one more time before she went in. Still no response to the message she’d sent the night before. Frustrated, she slipped her phone into her pocket and turned off her car, grabbing her bag and heading to the front door, her keys in her hand.That familiar smell of animals who had been in cages all night hit her lungs. She groaned. What she wouldn’t give for kennels that allowed the dogs to go outside overnight if they needed to! As long as it was secure and there was no chance they could get loose, it would be a great way to make sure the animals that came to her already house trained stayed that way and keep all of them from having to mess where they lived, which most dogs hated.“At least the cats have litter boxes,” she muttered, taking her bag to her office and locking it in a drawer before she took her coat,
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 24
The diner was more crowded for lunch than it had been the night before when Brady had been sitting across from Noelle over dinner instead of with Harry Green in a booth a few down from the one he’d shared with the beautiful animal lover. Harry wasn’t quite as easy on the eyes, but after some initial pushback, similar to what he’d gotten from Martha, he’d started to open up. By the time they were almost finished with their soup and sandwiches, Harry was on board.Taking a sip of his sweet tea, Harry nodded his head. “Everything you have outlined sounds good to me, Brady. The fact that you got Doris Snow to head it up speaks volumes. I don’t have any problem at all throwing my support behind the events. I do think it will be difficult to get Jenkins’s approval, but as long as there’s not a tie on the board, it won’t matter.”“Do you think you can help me get at least two mo
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 25
“Oh, yes! This is him. For certain,” Irma said as she held Pooch in her arms, rubbing his fluffy head. “I would recognize this sweet face anywhere.”Noelle swallowed hard, her heart stopping in her chest. Pooch’s wide, dark eyes blinked up at her, his pink tongue wagging as he took in a familiar face. He seemed perfectly happy sitting on Irma’s lap in one of the rooms they used to introduce families to their potential new pets. She’d asked Irma to take a seat and then went to fetch her little friend. Pooch was so happy to see her, his tail wagging furiously, and she lamented the fact that she hadn’t gotten the opportunity to spend much time with him that day. She’d petted him earlier when she’d filled his water and food bowl, but he hadn't had a walk. Unfortunately, there were just more animals than there were humans to love on them.“Isn’t he just the cutest?&rdquo
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 26
Praying he wasn’t too late, Brady pulled into the closest parking spot next to the door of the animal shelter, ripped out his keys, and ran inside. He glanced around, looking for Noelle, looking for Pooch, but then, the parking lot only held Noelle’s SUV and another car he thought belonged to one of the volunteers, so he wasn’t surprised that he didn’t see Pooch’s owner inside.“Can I help you?” a voice called, as she rounded the corner He recognized the woman as the one who’d been there the other day when came to take Pooch for his first walk. Her face softened as she recognized him, too. “Oh, hi there. Brady, isn’t it?”“Yes,” he said, trying to calm his pounding heart. “I was looking for…. Has Pooch’s owner come yet?”“Oh, I’m afraid you just missed her,” she said, giving him a small smile.
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 27
Stunned, Noelle watched Brady leave, not exactly sure what had happened. Had she said something to offend him? Was it Pooch? Brady’s reaction made no sense to her. She expected him to be happy to see Pooch. While he seemed to be at first, he left so abruptly, she just couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Could it be that he liked the dog and wanted to spend time with Pooch--but not with her? Had she done something wrong?Noelle couldn’t think of anything that she had done that may have triggered that reaction from him since they’d had dinner the night before. Naturally, she would’ve spent all afternoon dwelling on it if she would’ve been left to her own devices, but she had work to do, and these animals didn’t care if Brady had abruptly decided he didn’t like her or not. They wanted to be fed, watered, cleaned, walked, and loved.“Do you want me to take Pooch back to his cage before I g
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 28
“Well, Mr. Rogers, what is it exactly that you are looking for?” Jennifer Morris asked, releasing his hand and offering him a seat in her office.“Please, call me Brady,” he insisted, sitting down across from her as she took a seat behind her desk. “For now, I just need a place I can get into to rent right away. Beyond that, I am looking for a nice home that will be big enough for a family someday. Three or four bedrooms, two or three baths.”Jennifer took some notes on a notepad. “And is there a reason you want to rent first?”“I just want to be able to get out of my friends’ house soon. They’re getting ready to have a baby, and I feel like I’m in the way.”She nodded and jotted that down. “Do you know what sort of architecture you prefer? Do you like a more modern look or something more historical?”
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