Chapter 40

The week both seemed to fly by and drag as Noelle tried to stay focused on her work. It was difficult, standing in the back room of the shelter, seeing Pooch’s empty cage and not having any idea what had happened to him. She just prayed that, wherever he was, he was having a nice Christmas. It wasn’t what she’d hoped for when she’d first met the little dog. If she was honest, over the weeks that he’d been at the shelter, she hadn’t just started to hope that Pooch would end up with Brady; she’d hoped they both would. That she and Pooch would both become a part of Brady’s family.

But now, on Christmas Eve, as she finished topping off the dogs’ food and water, knowing it would be a little later than normal when she came in the next day, she had to bury those wishes deep. Not only had Pooch been adopted by a different family, it had been almost a week since she’d spoken to Brady, and she wasn’