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.”

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,

“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

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

The delete button on her keyboard was getting quite the workout. Every time Noelle went to make a post announcing Pooch’s availability, it just didn’t sound right, and she ended up deleting it and starting all over again. She didn’t know why; he was ready to find his forever home. All she needed to do was put up his picture, a few sentences about his temperament, and there was a good chance he’d be gone in a matter of hours.That was the problem, though. Noelle didn’t want Pooch to be gone. Not with just anyone, anyway. She wanted to know for certain that Pooch would be in the perfect home, with the perfect family.That wasn’t true either, though. She wanted Pooch to be with her. Or Brady. Or both of them. That wasn’t going to happen because she wasn’t with Brady. Not to mention, as quickly as he’d taken off out of there the evening before it was clear that something was wrong. Since