Their history can’t be rewritten. But their future…

Bears, eagles and wolf dogs she could handle. But ten years after their split, Nature Times journalist Jimmy Murphy still had the power to rattle Meredith Stone. One look at him and a lifetime of memories came flooding back—and a decade of carefully constructed defenses came crumbling down. Defenses she’d need in order to deal with her grandpa’s latest turn for the worse, her sister’s upcoming wedding and Jimmy’s persistent questions. Why was he probing into her work at the animal rescue? And why did she care so much about what he thought? She’d buried her feelings for him a long time ago…

“You need any help?” Jimmy asked, his voice a different kind of serious.

“No.” She certainly didn’t need any help with the prescriptions. She might, however, need a prescription to get rid of a very real headache named Jimmy Murphy.

“How is Ray?”

Ever the calculating journalist out for information any way he could get it. She’d dealt with people like this before. They had agendas; she had animals to take care of. They had deadlines; she had animals to feed.

Still, it felt different when the one asking the questions happened to be the one who got away.

Dear Reader,

I’ve long been an animal lover. Growing up, I had cats, dogs, rabbits, hamsters, birds, guinea pigs, turtles and fish. Every Christmas from age six to about twelve, I asked for a horse. We lived in the city, and boarding a horse would have cost about the same as what we paid to rent our house. The closest I came to getting a horse was the Christmas I got a bike. My dad said the bike could take me to “almost” all the same places as a horse could. In my twenties, I was a kindergarten teacher. My classroom had birds, fish, hamsters, lizards and, for a short while, ferrets. One night the hamster escaped and attended a school board meeting. Apparently, Goober wasn’t recognized right away for the hamster that he was. We had new rules about pets in the classroom after that. Right now, I’m typing with a cat pressed against my arm. What a great life.

The heroine in Holiday Homecoming is Meredith Stone. She introduced herself to me in Katie’s Rescue, the first Scorpion Ridge book. We’ve all met that person at work, school, church, who is the powerhouse that gets things done. Well, that’s Meredith. She gets things done, mostly when it comes to the animals under her charge. But now, she has to slow down to help care for her grandfather. It’s a time for reflection. Of course, nothing’s that easy.

Jimmy Murphy’s whole world changed when his wife died, and he realized that a vagabond life didn’t work well for his daughter. Now he’s caught between the old and the new. His career still means a lot to him, but his latest story is in direct opposition to what Meredith believes in. Jimmy’s first love was Meredith, and sometimes first loves are meant to be forever loves.

I hope you enjoy Holiday Homecoming. If you’d like to meet some of the Mills & Boon Heartwarming authors, please visit www.heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com. If you’d like to learn more about me, please visit www.pamelatracy.com. I love to hear from readers!

Pamela

Holiday

Homecoming

Pamela Tracy

www.millsandboon.co.uk

PAMELA TRACY

is an award-winning author who lives with her husband (who claims to be the inspiration for most of her heroes) and son (who claims to be the interference for most of her writing time). She started writing at a very young age (a series of romances, all with David Cassidy as the hero, though sometimes Bobby Sherman would elbow in). Then, while earning a BA in journalism at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, she picked up writing again—this time it was a very bad science-fiction novel.

She went back to her love and was first published in 1999. Since then, Pamela has had more than twenty romance novels in print. She’s a winner of the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award and has been a RITA® Award finalist. Readers can find her at www.heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com or www.pamelatracy.com.

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To Aimée Thurlo,

a gifted author who opened her heart to both

people and animals.

We miss you, Aimée.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

“I CAN’T GET a hold of Grandpa. He’s not answering the phone—again.” Meredith’s brother’s tone was more annoyed than frantic. For the last three months, Grandpa Stone had been acting more like a teenager—disappearing for hours, not answering questions directly, grumpy.

“You are still coming, right?” Zack asked.

“I’m just ten minutes from his house.” Meredith pressed on the gas pedal while assessing the dirt road that was more dirt than road. A few miles back some idiot in an old black truck—its windows so darkly tinted she couldn’t see the driver—had almost run her off the road. That was the last thing she needed if Grandpa truly was in trouble.

If...

Raymond Stone was eighty-two, born a little more than two decades after Arizona had become a state. He was hard of hearing, so the phone was more miss than hit lately. Thus her brother’s exasperation.

It was Grandpa’s forgetfulness and wandering, however, that had led to a recent powwow between the two oldest Stone siblings. They had agreed that someone had to stay with him for a while. Family emergencies weren’t Meredith Stone’s forte anymore. But this time it was her grandfather who needed her, and she was the best choice.

The only choice her grandfather might tolerate.

She put her cell phone on speaker so she could talk more easily. “I really hope we’re just overreacting and this isn’t necessary.”

Her brother, Zack, didn’t hesitate. “It’s necessary.”

Ah, the theme of her youth. Necessary was an important word in a household that had a father and mother who were gone too much. Both had been high-end real estate agents working a three city area. When Meredith was young, they’d worked seven days a week because it was necessary. By the time the real estate bubble burst, Meredith was a junior in high school and it was too late to suddenly have mother/ daughter chats or attend father/daughter dances on a Friday night.

Zack and Susan, being the middle and youngest children, had those memories, but not Meredith, the eldest.

Meredith had been raised in an atmosphere where chaos reigned. She, of all the siblings, craved order and control. The drive to excel, make goals and persevere had been necessary for her, as way too often, she’d been the parent. It had gotten her to where she was today: head animal keeper at a small but well-known habitat and at only twenty-eight years of age.

Only once had “necessary” been too high a price. The repercussions from that disaster still kept her awake at night, and it was the biggest reason she’d left her hometown of Gesippi.

She hadn’t gone far.

Zack obviously wasn’t going to say anything else, so Meredith tried once more. “You really think Grandpa needs someone with him all the time? He seemed fine at his birthday party. And he’s made it clear he really doesn’t want me living with him.”

“That party was five months ago.” Zack’s tone changed from worried to resigned. “Plus, he had the whole family doting on him. Even Dad showed up. With the Fourth of July celebration going on, nobody else noticed anything amiss, just me. You didn’t come home two weeks ago for Thanksgiving...”

No, she’d worked instead so that the other employees, the ones with spouses and children, could take the day off.

“All night, Grandpa kept looking over his shoulder as if he was expecting someone. I’m worried he was looking for Grandma. And in the last week, it’s gotten worse.”

Yikes, it was the beginning of December already. Time to decorate for Christmas. Had it really been five months since she’d visited? Bad granddaughter. Bad.

But it was Zack’s nature to fret. As middle child, Zack knew his job description. When they were kids, Meredith had made the rules: bed at nine, lights out at nine-fifteen. Zack had been the nurturer. He’d read Susan her bedtime stories; he checked under beds for monsters. His whole life, he’d expected to find one. He’d have battled it; Meredith would have fed it. Susan would have handed it her doll and ordered, “Play.”

Her parents would have sold it a haunted high-end mansion. The house, of course, would be in foreclosure now.

Zack continued, “Yesterday morning, I stopped by to see how he was doing, and he was clear out past the field. Claimed he was searching for Rowdy. I’m not sure how far he’d have gone if I’d not have showed up.”

Okay, now Meredith understood his worry. Rowdy had been her grandpa’s beloved border collie. Had been being the operative words. Rowdy had died when Meredith was eighteen: a decade ago. He’d died the week after her almost wedding.

“What did you do?” she asked.

“I reminded him that Rowdy had gone on to greener pastures and led him back to the house.” Zack was in his second year of community college and determined to be a doctor no matter how long it took. He’d know how to gently break the news of Rowdy’s passing to Grandpa again.

Raymond Stone had never been without animals, both wild and tame. Under his tutelage, she’d learned how to work with the wild ones: how to mend broken wings, sew stitches in a rabbit’s side and bottle-feed a baby white-tailed deer. She had always been drawn to animals that had no one looking out for them. Maybe because back then, at home, no one had been looking out for her, and she very much wanted someone to.

On Grandpa’s farm, she’d also learned to milk cows, groom horses and feed chickens.

This past week, Meredith, as head keeper at a zoo, had been stepped on by an ostrich, kissed by an orangutan and sneezed on by a bear. She loved it, and she had Grandpa to thank for pushing her toward doing what she loved.

“The dog is another thing we have to worry about. Twice now Grandpa’s gotten up in the middle of the night and tripped over Pepper.”

Pepper was a big, old black-and-white dog. He was hard of hearing, like Grandpa, and no longer had the oomph to do much more than follow Grandpa around and sit and wait. Meredith figured the mutt was part golden retriever, part shepherd and possibly a bit standard poodle. Big dog; big heart.

“Grandpa would be miserable without a dog.” Meredith had no idea how she’d manage it, but she’d make sure Grandpa kept this one. Grandpa needed Pepper just as Meredith needed all of her animals. At last count, she’d cared for one hundred and eleven different species. All of which needed her, many of which loved her. But canines were what she did best.

Right now, she didn’t own a dog. Not really. Yoda, her favorite at the zoo, wasn’t really a pet she should keep in the backyard or take to dog parks. Yoda was a high-content wolf dog: half wolf, half German shepherd. He came when he was called and walked on a leash, but he was a little too wild to keep in her tiny apartment. He required space to run and dig and howl.

Plus, Yoda was the property of Bridget’s Animal Adventure, BAA for short. Except that he, like Meredith, didn’t really belong anywhere. At the moment, he was being sequestered in a barn off the property, away from the other two wolves BAA had because of a territorial battle between them that had resulted in a torn ear, twenty-nine stitches and new digs for Yoda.

But she shouldn’t be worrying about Yoda right now. She had her grandpa to think about. Still chatting with her brother, Meredith turned off the main road and drove past a dozen barbed-wire gates that guarded farms full of greasewood, paloverde trees and dirt. It took a good three miles before the tiny town of Gesippi came into view. A minute later, she drove by her parents’ house—the biggest in town—and tried to listen while Zack filled her in on the rest of the family.

By the looks of things at her parents’ house, only her mother was home. No surprise, since Mom rarely left. Her job now was cutting coupons and cleaning the house. Dad’s car wasn’t in the driveway. Instead of real estate, he now sold medical products at trade shows, traveling four out of every five weeks, often to different states. Today, she knew, he’d driven into Phoenix for a meeting and Zack said he wasn’t answering his cell phone.

Zack had just given her the update on Susan, who apparently was in the throes of young love, when Meredith pulled into the driveway of her grandfather’s house.

“I’m glad Susan’s happy,” Meredith said. “But I’m here now, and you know how Grandpa gets if you talk to a phone instead of him. I’ll call you in a bit.”

While his grandchildren were busy grabbing at life with both hands, Grandpa was hard pressed to find things for his hands to do. The end of his story was nearing, and no one in the family—especially him—was prepared for the conclusion.

Meredith turned off her phone and pocketed it, then took a deep breath and tried to figure out what to do first. Should she act as if this was just another visit? No, that wouldn’t work. She’d never stayed overnight...not in a decade, anyway.

At eighteen, thanks to Grandpa’s insistence and money, she’d traveled an hour away to Tucson and the university there. After earning her degree in zoology—in three years instead of four—she’d secured a job at a major zoo in California. As the new kid on the block, her responsibilities hadn’t been as hands-on as she desired. Plus, she hadn’t liked being so far away from Gesippi and her family. What if she were needed?

So, after just one year, she returned to Arizona and found work at BAA in Scorpion Ridge, only seventy-five miles from her home. Far enough away so she didn’t keep bumping into her past; close enough to be available to help her family if they needed her.

But since returning to Arizona, she’d never spent the night in Gesippi.

Grandpa knew the reason why, and he’d be suspicious when he saw her bag, so it would be better to just jump right in and tell him the family’s concerns, and that she was staying indefinitely. Yes, that’s what she’d do. Hopefully, Zack would show up in time to help.

She studied the place where her early childhood had flourished thanks to horses, tree houses, creeks and Grandma’s cookies. All the Stone children had basically lived here while their parents worked evenings and weekends. But once Meredith hit fifteen, she’d been more interested in the boy next door and spending time in the tree house and creek with him. She’d also learned to make Grandma’s cookies because he liked them.

The way to a man’s heart and all...

Too bad the young man in question had been so intent on leaving Gesippi, getting an education and making a name for himself as a journalist that he’d managed to break her heart.

Ten years later, her grandfather’s horses were now gone and the tree house was in as much disrepair as her heart. The boy next door had moved away, married, had a daughter and indeed was making a name for himself by writing and filming documentaries.

He was now a widower. Not that Meredith cared.

His shy younger brother was moving on, too, and getting married.

Good, she wished him the best after their misguided relationship.

Switching off the ignition, she shook away those memories and opened the door, pausing before stepping from the car. The house had always been painted white. Grandpa saw no need for any other color. But now, it was weathered and looked a bit like a white-and-gray-speckled egg. Not a pretty one, either. The gutters circling the house were loose and in one place a section was missing.

Luckily, it was a small house, so, if necessary, she could probably do the painting herself these next few months. The Rittenhouses, Luke and Katie, her bosses at the animal habitat, had kindly changed her schedule so that she was only working weekends. They’d told her to take all the time she needed to settle things here in Gesippi. If Zack was right, she might have to take a full leave of absence. She’d heal the house even if she couldn’t heal her grandfather.

“I’ve got the time,” she whispered to herself. “I might even enjoy it.”

She gazed beyond the house to the barns and stables, now empty. Beyond, Grandpa’s land, currently farmed by someone else, spread as far as the eye could see. When she was young, she’d thought it spread to the ocean. When she hit fifteen, she knew it bumped against paradise.

A boy named Jimmy Murphy.

Slamming the door to her SUV, she stepped down not onto the walkway that led to the front door but onto grass that grew across the pathway that led to the front door.

One more thing to do: mow.

“Grandpa! Where are you?”

Used to be, he was at the front porch door before a visitor could even exit the car. It had driven the family crazy. He’d invite strangers in and offer them something to drink, talk their ear off about his family, his animals and his God. But as his hearing worsened, he couldn’t hear cars approaching. Today, if the volume of the television was any indication, he hadn’t heard her arrive, either. She’d wanted to surprise him, but maybe she should have called.

“Grandpa, it’s me. Meredith!”

The screen door was unlocked, so she stepped onto the porch. Grandpa’s jacket hung on a hook by the door. A pair of old brown boots waited underneath. Two chairs faced the windows. Newspapers were spread over one—Grandma’s. The other chair was empty, although Grandpa’s reading glasses and a half-empty coffee cup were on a nearby table.

The door to the house was unlocked also. Meredith pushed it open until she could see into the living room with its olive green couch, antique coffee table and large-screen television, which had a morning-news show blaring. Meredith turned off the TV before hollering Grandpa’s name again.

When Grandma was alive, something half crocheted always waited in a basket on the floor and partly read books lay open over the couch’s armrests. After five years, very little remained of Grandma’s presence, and if loneliness had a smell, this was it. Meredith knew it well.

Somewhere in the distance she heard Pepper bark. Maybe Grandpa was in the backyard where he liked to feed the squirrels; Pepper liked to chase them.

Veering off the front walk, she headed through the grass—which was past her ankles and full of weeds—and to the backyard.

As she made her way to the backyard, she saw more signs of neglect but no signs of her grandfather. Meredith fought the out-of-control feeling threatening to make her turn around, tuck her tail between her legs and flee.

In Gesippi, she was a Stone and had been what the kids called an overachiever, voted Girl Most Likely To Get Whatever She Wanted. No one knew that in high school she’d filled her calendar—along with her siblings’ calendars—with so many things just so they wouldn’t have to go home.

And, even more funny, the yearbook with that predication had arrived the day after she’d lost what she wanted most.

Jimmy Murphy.

Twelve months after that, one rash act had made her rethink who she was, where she was going and why. Thanks to her grandfather, she’d sidestepped a huge mistake with Jimmy’s younger brother, Danny, and she’d left Gesippi. In the years since, she’d rarely returned because while many were forgiving, none had forgotten.

It was only on television that leaving a groom standing at the altar made for good entertainment.

CHAPTER TWO

JIMMY MURPHY LEANED against his shovel and watched as the brown SUV sped across the dirt road, skidding slightly while taking the bumps too quickly. Clearly an outsider who cared little about the vehicle’s alignment.

“Ray expecting anyone?” he called to his brother. Danny was on the other side of the truck, messing with a roll of plastic ditch.

Jimmy had been stuck with the digging and was glad for a break.

“Not that I know of.” Danny didn’t even sound winded.

“Any of the Stones get a new car?”

“Not that I know of.”

Jimmy could have asked a few more questions, but obviously Danny wasn’t in the mood to speculate. He was getting married in less than two weeks, the Saturday before Christmas. Although their mother and Holly, his bride-to-be, were doing all the work, Danny was stressed. Thus, all the Murphys were stressed.

They deserved to be. The last time Danny had tried to get married, his bride hadn’t shown up for the wedding.

Meredith Stone, the girl next door. Both Murphy boys had loved her. But it had been Jimmy who had owned her heart, only to walk away from her. Danny had tried to fill the empty space, but failed. In the end, everyone had gotten hurt.

For years, he and his brother had maintained a polite friendship. It wasn’t until Danny had gotten engaged that the laughter returned. Looking in the direction the car had traveled, Jimmy wiped sweat from his brow. It wasn’t easy pulling a shallow ditch, and what he and his brother were about to do was even more strenuous. Jimmy wished for the millionth time that he was back in California, sitting across from his boss, hashing out his next assignment. But his boss had asked him to take some time after Jimmy had gone over budget and still hadn’t delivered a good story on his last two assignments—a story on pandas in China and bears in Alaska

It was probably overdue. After the death of his wife a year ago, he’d been dragging his daughter to faraway places, gathering stories and losing himself.

But really losing six-year-old Briana.

The grief swelled, threatening to take him to his knees. Instead of letting it consume him, Jimmy stomped his steel-toed boot on the shovel’s edge, driving it into hard dirt by a good inch. Then he did it again, and again, and again.

Still he was mad, mad at a world that didn’t include Regina. Asthma wasn’t supposed to kill a twenty-six-year-old mother who took care of herself and carefully monitored her disease. And it certainly wasn’t supposed to kill her as she went into the bathroom to get her inhaler because she was having a little trouble breathing.

In all, her death had taken twenty minutes. It had begun as a persistent cough when she was in bed one night. When it turned into a short, strangled intake of breath, he’d still not been concerned. This had happened before. She’d finally rolled out of bed, her face taking on the blue, pinched look he knew so well. She hated her asthma, hated that it attacked her without provocation. She’d stoically and quietly walked the length of the room—not wanting to wake Briana asleep on the other side of the wall—and gone inside the bathroom. He’d heard the sounds of the medicine cabinet door opening followed by water running and something else...her hand slapping against the counter maybe.

Then, he’d heard her hit the ground.

He’d been by her side in seconds, doing CPR with his cell phone on the floor beside him so he could scream for help.

Help that had arrived too late.

Briana had slept through the whole ordeal. He’d woken their next-door neighbor to watch his little girl while he followed the ambulance to the hospital. The next morning, he’d had to tell Briana that Mommy was gone, not coming back.

She hadn’t believed him at first and continued to look for Regina, watching the door and the phone.

Meanwhile, he’d numbly called the dentist office where Regina had had an appointment the next week. Then, he’d found the number of the woman in charge of Regina’s book club. Finally, he personally visited the gym where she’d taught aerobics part-time and cleaned out her locker. There he’d accidentally encountered the grieving dark-haired personal trainer who’d known Regina was married but didn’t care.

His wife had been having an affair.

Jimmy blamed himself. He’d been passionate about the wrong things, had been gone too much and loved too little. He wouldn’t make the same mistake with Briana.

He wouldn’t mess up love a third time.

Still, he didn’t want his family to know how broken he was, so instead of screaming his frustration at life, he asked his brother, “Think this irrigation technique will work?”

Danny said something under his breath.

“Wasted effort?” Jimmy queried.

“No, it will work.”

Jimmy and Danny’s parents lived five miles away, just down Pioneer Road. While their dad, Mitch Murphy, ran a cattle and sheep operation, his brother Matthew—where they were working today—farmed beans, squash, corn and whatever else struck his fancy. Against his wife’s wishes, right now Matthew also rented a few acres from Ray Stone.

The women in Jimmy’s family held long grudges.

“Not Ray’s fault the girl ran off” was Matthew’s feeling.

Jimmy agreed. Not Ray’s fault. It had been Jimmy’s for not being mature enough to listen to Meredith, to think things through, give her time. She’d been all of seventeen when he’d asked her to leave with him.”

He’d thought she’d said “No, I can’t” because she didn’t want to be with him. Only later, after he’d been in school awhile, lived a little, grown up, had he realized it had been a “No, I can’t right now.”

But it had been too late to change things by then. She’d stood up his brother at the altar and had left Gesippi. Seemed both he and Meredith had run away.

“If you’re sure it will work,” Jimmy said after a moment, referring to the irrigation technique. Danny had been quiet for too long.

“I’m sure the concept will work.” Danny came around the truck, a bright yellow roll of plastic ditch now on the back of his quad. “I’m just not sure if I have enough plastic.”

Something about bright yellow stripes running down the center of cornstalks didn’t work for Jimmy. Gesippi, Arizona, was once home to the Tohono O’odham and Akimel O’odham Indians, expert crop growers who would laugh at Danny’s efforts. From the nearby Santa Catalina Mountains, to the Saguaro National Park, to every lake in between, Jimmy preferred natural beauty. Yellow plastic–striped rows of corn just didn’t do it.

“I’m thinking,” Danny said, “that I’ll stop the quad at the end of a row and walk the plastic down.”

“Walk?”

“Well, more like unroll,” Danny admitted. “Maybe just the first few to get a feel of how I want it placed and how it’s going to settle.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Nothing right now. I’ll anchor it on the quad. Shouldn’t be too hard to unroll.”

“Okay, see you back at the house.”

Jimmy could tell him that this was a two-man job. The roll would get stuck and one brother would need to run back to untangle it while the other pulled and straightened. But if Jimmy volunteered to stick around, he’d not be able to ride down the road and satisfy his curiosity about the SUV. Clearly the mysterious SUV was connected to Raymond Stone, and that both worried and relieved him. Strange how quickly Gesippi had settled around Jimmy, tapping him on the shoulder and reminding him that he could leave the small town but the small town wouldn’t leave him. He and Briana, his daughter, had only been back a week, which had been plenty long enough for Jimmy to notice that Ray’s body was weakening, his mind was somewhat confused and he was uncharacteristically grumpy.

As they were Ray’s nearest neighbor, Jimmy’s aunt and uncle had plenty to say about Ray being alone. Mostly how lately they sometimes saw the beam of his flashlight in the middle of the night and heard him shouting in the distance. “As if he’s calling for someone or something,” Aunt Shari had said.

He wondered if he should go over there. Jimmy didn’t care what the Stone family thought of him; he’d more than paid for his decade-old lapse in judgment. Looking over at Danny, Jimmy felt a moment’s guilt. Actually, Danny had paid more dearly. But maybe now with Danny getting married to the right girl this time, the relationship between the Stones and the Murphys would start to heal.

Besides, Jimmy loved Ray Stone as if he was his own grandpa. The man had taught Jimmy to sit a sheep, wrestle a steer and ride a bull.

His mind made up, Jimmy headed for his white Dodge 250 truck, brushing his hands on his shirt. He thought briefly about going inside and washing up, but if he did, Aunt Shari would either want to feed him or want to know what he was doing.

As he approached, he noticed the brown SUV was parked in front of the house. That told Jimmy the driver was a return visitor. A stranger would have stopped just past the road.

He parked behind the SUV as the porch door opened and a slender girl came out. No, not a girl, a woman. One he knew well. Meredith Stone, all long golden-brown hair, pink sweaters, and endless energy and smiles.

At least that’s how he remembered her.

Today her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail, and her hoodie was black. Judging by the way she hurried down the front walkway toward him, the energy was still there, but the smile was gone.

This wasn’t good.

He almost opened his mouth to tell her how not good her sudden appearance was. Now was the worst time for her to return, just weeks before Danny got married.

Danny still avoided mentioning her name.

Heck, sometimes Jimmy couldn’t choke it out, either.

But before he could say anything, Meredith skidded to a stop right in front of him, panic in her eyes, and said, “I can’t find Grandpa.”

CHAPTER THREE

WHILE JIMMY CALLED his aunt Shari and quickly gave her the rundown, Meredith paced. She hadn’t changed, not one bit, in the years since he’d seen her last. Today, she was like a two-year-old colt, not quite broke and wanting to move. She wanted to search some more, with or without him.

Hanging up, Jimmy said, “Aunt Shari will get a hold of the neighbors. We’ll spread out and cover more territory. Don’t worry, we’ll find him.”

“My brother’s on his way,” Meredith said. “He’s trying to get a hold of my parents. I—I didn’t know who else to call. I was about to call your uncle, when you drove up.”

Considering that the Stones and Murphys had been neighbors for more than thirty years, she shouldn’t have hesitated. “You can always call my dad, me, my uncle—” he looked her right in the eye “—my brother.”

“I’m so flustered,” Meredith muttered, “that I couldn’t remember a phone number for anyone in your family.”

Any other day, any other moment, Jimmy might have smiled. There’d been a time when Meredith had talked to both him and his brother on the phone daily, either talking or texting. Usually she’d been trying to organize their day to her liking. He’d always reorganized. Danny had actually followed her directions.

But now she looked ready to cry, something she didn’t do easily. He knew that firsthand.

“I’m usually spot on in an emergency,” she muttered.

He knew that, too. “You’re sure Ray’s not in the house?”

“I’m sure. The house wasn’t that hard to search.”

No, Jimmy had to agree with that. There were three bedrooms, which made up half the house. A kitchen, bathroom and living room made up the other half.

“You went downstairs?”

“I did.”

She’d never much liked the basement, Jimmy remembered. It was half finished, which bothered her to no end, and most of it was dirt walls. Sometimes snakes managed to get in.

Though that had never bothered Meredith. She’d just caught them, taken them outside and let them go. He’d helped her—and fallen in love. Who wouldn’t fall in love with a girl who thought snakes deserved a second chance?

“Pepper keeps barking,” Meredith said impatiently. “I can hear him in the distance. I’ve shouted his name until I’m hoarse. I tried to follow the sound, but I can’t figure out where he is. Once I thought he yelped, like he was hurt, so I decided to come back and get help. On top of everything else, I had to keep searching for a location to get cell-phone reception.”

Jimmy checked his own phone again. All the bars showed and the signal was strong. “You want to stay here at the house and wait, or come with me?”

She didn’t hesitate. “I’m coming with you.”

As they stepped out the back door, in the distance Jimmy, too, could hear Pepper’s barks.

“Sounds like Pepper’s well past the end of the field.”

Meredith agreed. “At least to the foothill.”

Surely Ray hadn’t walked all that way. Jimmy had stopped by to check on him just two days ago. Ray’d had trouble just getting up from the easy chair and heading to the kitchen for a snack.

But Meredith was already moving through the backyard and toward the sound. “I don’t get why Grandpa would come out here.”

Jimmy thought for a moment. “Maybe he did what we’re doing. He heard Pepper barking and wondered if something was wrong.”

Meredith had never acted like a rich girl when her parents had had money. She’d preferred being out here with her grandparents and with him and his brother. And right now, she followed Jimmy and didn’t mind that her shoes were getting dirty or that her hoodie was getting snagged.

It had been almost a decade since he’d seen her this close. His family, though, had kept him informed a bit. He’d been in Australia doing a crocodile story when the Stones had thrown Ray a big eightieth birthday two years ago. Jimmy hadn’t received an invitation, but his mother had told him about the event. She’d said Meredith looked good and was doing what she loved.

Mom was wrong. Meredith didn’t look good; she looked great.

Meredith spoke up. “Maybe I should have kept looking for him.”

“You did the right thing, coming back for help,” Jimmy reassured her as she stepped around a paloverde tree and almost lost his balance as the terrain started to slope.

“The right thing is finding him.”

“If you’d found him injured, you wouldn’t have been able to get him home on your own and even more time would have been wasted.”

“He might not even be with Pepper,” she muttered. She muttered a lot more than she used to, that’s for sure. “He might be out looking for Rowdy, and Pepper’s just out here playing with us.”

“Rowdy? He’s been dead for—”

“Almost ten years,” Meredith finished. “Zack says he had to remind Grandpa of that fact just the other day. Grandpa’s getting forgetful.”

“Or maybe Pepper’s out here on his own and your grandpa went into town.”

“Leaving the television on? His breakfast plate still on the kitchen table? Plus, Zack organizes all Grandpa’s trips into town. No, Grandpa’s next doctor’s appointment isn’t for a month, and that’s a specialist in Phoenix, and Zack is taking him.”

“And he wasn’t expecting you?”

She shook her head. “We were afraid if he knew I was coming, it would upset him. I’m...” She hesitated. “I’m moving in for a while.”

“Good. He needs someone.” Jimmy upped his pace, refusing to take the time to consider how having Meredith next door again might affect the balance of his family: Danny getting married; Jimmy home again but intending to leave as soon as the next story, next locale, called.

He followed the barking as it grew louder, more frantic, and Meredith had been right, it seemed to come from different directions: right, left, straight ahead. It echoed, too, and he overheard Meredith say, “Almost sounds like two dogs.”

No wonder she’d turned around when she’d been searching by herself.

“Ray!” he hollered. He followed that by whistling for Pepper.

Only the dog responded, with a strange echo.

Jimmy’s cell phone sounded. Instead of a hello, he answered with, “Tell me what’s happening?”

“There’s a bunch of us in Ray’s living room,” Danny said. “Where are you and what do you want us to do? We’ve called the sheriff, and Dad’s all for organizing a search.”

Meredith stepped next to him, closer than she’d been in years. Tears shimmered in her eyes, just below the surface. Jimmy wanted to reach out, touch her, but he knew she’d step away, so he didn’t. Instead, he said, “We’re about five minutes north of Bandit Hideaway. We can hear the dog but can’t seem to get to him. I’ve got the first-aid kit with me.”

Danny said something Jimmy couldn’t hear, and then Zack Stone took the phone. “Doc Thomas is on his way and bringing his dog. Zeus loves Pepper and will lead us right to him.”

“Hope Doc gets here soon,” Jimmy said, ending the call and then sharing the information with Meredith.

They spent the next fifteen minutes investigating different paths and trudging through underbrush. Jimmy felt the first inklings of real fear. No way should Ray have come this far alone. The man was a veteran of not one but two wars, had been part of the volunteer fire department and lived alone at age eighty-two. Two days ago he’d showed no signs of poor judgment. He’d been distracted, yes. Almost as if he was expecting someone.

But Ray wasn’t careless and didn’t take chances.

“If we don’t find the dog or Ray in five minutes, we’re heading back to the house to regroup—”

Two things happened then.

First, they rounded a corner and found Raymond Stone. He lay on the ground, conscious, but obviously in pain.

Second, Ray wasn’t alone.

* * *

“THAT’S A WOLF!” Jimmy stopped so quickly he almost stumbled.

Meredith stepped in front of him. She didn’t need him to go all heroic, not right now. “It’s a wolf dog. Just stay still. Grandpa, are you all right?”

“I will be if I can get up without that fool animal attacking me.” Ray held a stick in one hand. Even though he now had two rescuers, he still shook it at the animal.

“Did he bite you?”

The wolf dog barked, thinking Grandpa wanted to play.

“He nipped me on the leg. It was enough to knock me down, but he didn’t break the skin. Pepper lit into him after that.”

Pretty impressive for an old dog. Glancing around, Meredith found the mutt hovering a few steps behind Grandpa, shivering, limping, but still ready to fight if his owner was threatened.

“Stop waving the stick,” Meredith said. “He thinks it’s an invitation to play.”

Grandpa dropped the stick to the ground.

To Jimmy, Meredith said, “I’m going to deal with the wolf dog, lead him away from Grandpa. You help Grandpa, make sure he’s all right, no broken bones.”

Jimmy stared at the animal. “Wolf dog? You’re kidding. How did one get way out here?”

“Since she’s got a collar, I’m thinking she must have escaped from her owner. Let’s hope she’s trained.”

“How do you know it’s a she?” Jimmy asked.

“I’m guessing.”

Walking sideways, Meredith slowly moved closer to the wolf dog. Behind her, Jimmy knelt at Grandpa’s side and helped the elderly man to a sitting position. The wolf dog kept looking at Grandpa, clearing wishing that he would start playing with her again. Meredith wasn’t sure what the wolf dog thought about her.

A bird chirped in the otherwise silent world. The wind picked up, blowing Meredith’s hair into her eyes. She resisted the urge to pat it back into place. Instead, crouching down, she moved even closer to the animal. Now the wolf dog was on alert. Her eyes stayed on Meredith, and her tail stopped wagging. The wolf dog didn’t know whether to meet Meredith’s eyes and try to establish dominance or whether to be submissive. When Meredith got within a foot of the wolf dog, she halted, waiting to see what the animal would do.

“I’m not sure this is wise,” Jimmy said.

Meredith agreed with him, but... “Look at the collar. It’s tight, hurting her. We can’t let her run off without trying to help her.”

“We need to help your grandfather first,” Jimmy pointed out.

“I’m fine,” Ray said.

That the wolf dog hadn’t run off indicated that she had been a pet. But the tightness of the frayed collar suggested that she’d been in the wild for quite a while, probably abandoned or maybe an escape artist that the owner hadn’t found.

Or looked for.

It made Meredith furious.

Her favorite animal in the world was a wolf dog named Yoda. But if Meredith had her choice, Yoda would be a dog, nothing else. Breeding wolves with dogs was a risky endeavor. Most people who chose a wolf dog as a pet got rid of the animal within a year. They were hard to train, expensive and destructive.

By the time the owners realized the commitment involved, the wolf dog was no longer a cute puppy but a demanding teenager quite willing to eat a couch.

Forget about shoes. A wolf dog could actually chew his way out of a wire cage.

Shelters didn’t want them.

Neither did zoos. They didn’t quite fit anywhere.

Slowly, the wolf dog’s tail went between her legs, and she turned her head away. Meredith didn’t wait for another sign. She reached for the collar, praying she’d not lose any fingers. The collar was too tight for her to get a grip, but she managed to force the wolf dog to look her in the eyes. After a moment, the wolf dog sat, lay down, then finally put her head down to rest.

Meredith let go of the collar.

“You’re either a miracle worker or stupid,” Jimmy said.

Meredith wasn’t a miracle worker, but she wasn’t about to admit that what she’d done was a little stupid. “How’s Grandpa?”

“I can answer for myself. Help me up.”

“Right, Grandpa.” Meredith left the wolf dog and headed for Grandpa, going down to her knees to stroke his forehead. “Where do you hurt?”

“Everywhere but the bottom of my left ear. Help me up.”

They’d just got him to his feet, though he was clearly favoring one leg, when Pepper starting barking. A group of people, dogs and horses appeared from behind a small hill. Afraid the loud noises and sudden movements would spook the wolf dog, Meredith turned to her.

She was gone.

But it only took a groan from Grandpa to convince Meredith not to pursue the wolf dog. Jimmy got Grandpa to his feet and slowly the trio started toward the noise.

Meredith’s brother met them halfway and the two men hoisted Grandpa between them.

“Don’t ask me to get on a horse,” Grandpa said.

When they finally made it to Grandpa’s house, it echoed with people. Meredith’s brother went right to the phone, trying to get a hold of Doc Thomas, who’d not made it to the house yet.

“He’s got a sprained ankle at least,” Zack predicted. He was more than annoyed that Grandpa refused to go to the hospital in Adobe Hills.

“You’ve already iced it,” Grandpa called from the bedroom.

Zack ignored Grandpa’s protest. “Doc says he wants you in his office at two o’clock tomorrow.”

Grandpa muttered something Meredith couldn’t quite hear. He’d gotten crustier in his old age.

“We’re having a family meeting on Friday. Today changes everything,” Meredith said.

Zack took Grandpa back to his bedroom, propping Grandpa’s foot up, taking his temperature, giving him an aspirin and making him comfortable. When they were little, Meredith had rescued animals, but Zack had fixed them. Their little sister, Susan, had stuck bows in the animals’ fur. Jimmy, of course, had made up stories about them.

Leaving Grandpa with Zach, Meredith headed for the kitchen. Sitting at the table was Danny Murphy, bigger than she remembered and missing the smile that had driven the girls wild in high school. Of course, it had been a long time. Maybe the smile was a thing of the past.

Jimmy sat next to him, tapping the table with his fingers, looking as if he wanted to be anywhere but where he was.

“You say this dog was part wolf?” Danny’s brown eyes met Meredith’s green ones. She couldn’t ignore the stoic expression on his face or how straight he sat. Because of her, he clearly felt like a stranger in her grandpa’s house.

But then, so did she.

“Probably more than half,” Meredith said.

Danny leaned forward. “Could it kill a cow?”

“Did you lose one?” Meredith countered.

“You didn’t tell me you’d lost any cattle,” Jimmy said.

“I’ve lost three head.”

“Were they old or young?” Meredith asked.

“Both,” Danny said. “Two were just calves and one was old, losing her teeth and all. I expected her to die, though, not disappear. Why?”

Meredith thought for a moment. She was mostly familiar with the behavior of wolf dogs in captivity, but she could generalize. “Wolves do go after calves, but they generally leave cows alone. Cows don’t act like prey.”

“She’s right,” Jimmy said. “A cow tends to look danger in the eye and ignore it. Confuses the heck out of predators. Plus, for a wolf, given the size of its mouth, it’s hard to find a place on a cow to grab on to. Cows are big. Kinda like trying to bite into a whole watermelon using your teeth. Wolves prefer something a little smaller.”

Meredith stared at Jimmy in disbelief. “And you know this how?”

“I specialize in doing documentaries on wild animals and writing for Nature Times magazine. I know just as much about animals as you do.”

“I know you write for Nature Times, but wolf dogs aren’t endangered. There’s no reason for you to have researched them.”

“Wolves are endangered, so I’ve done plenty of research. When we went multimedia and started doing documentaries, we started small. The gray wolf was one of my first stories.”

She didn’t remember that, or remember that at one time Nature Times had only been a magazine. Usually she agreed with what his pieces, at least when it came to disappearing habitats and hunting for sport or seizure. But then he’d climb on his animals-belong-in-the-wild soapbox, and criticize zoos for making tigers lose their natural inclination to hunt, or making chimpanzees depressed, or forcing bears to wear silly hats and tutus.

Okay, she didn’t have to read or watch him. She’d just been drawn to. She’d loved him, after all.

And still missed him.

She’d been engaged to Danny, but it was Jimmy who had been the love of her life. And if she was being honest, he, James Henry Murphy, was the reason she was still single. No one made her feel the way he had.

Even though he’d more than once written about the cruelty and injustice that wild animals suffered in captivity, never once acknowledging that there were sanctuaries like Bridget’s Animal Adventure, which actually saved animals’ lives.

But then, he’d always been a bit tunnel-visioned, seeing what he wanted to see. Isn’t that why he’d refused to wait for her?

CHAPTER FOUR

IN THE END, sitting at the table in Ray’s tiny kitchen, Meredith convinced Danny that the wolf dog had probably not been responsible for the disappearance of the calves or the adult cow. A pack of full-blooded wolves maybe, Meredith had allowed, but a lone wolf dog, no.

And not one wearing a collar and leaving no carcass.

Jimmy’d seen wolves in the wild. They were cunning, creative and callous when hungry. He did, however, agree with Meredith that calves were a more likely target. He also was somewhat sure a lone wolf could do the job, too, especially on an old or already wounded bovine.

But this hadn’t been a wolf, not really. It had been a wolf dog, the first one Jimmy’d ever seen.

He’d have to Google them when he got home tonight. Maybe little Gesippi, Arizona, would have a wild-animal story to offer, an assignment that would appease his boss—who was already acting as if Jimmy was on his way out instead of merely taking a break—and give Jimmy something to document, both in words and film.

It worried him that his last two shoots had been less than stellar. It worried him even more that his boss wasn’t phoning and asking him for new ideas.

On the other hand, Briana was actually smiling again. Something she’d not done much of during the year he’d dragged her to exotic locales. No, during their travels she’d been well-behaved but almost eerily silent. Nothing like the happy child she’d been before...

She missed her mother; she missed having a permanent home and friends; she missed having a routine. So, for her sake, Jimmy tried to be glad about being home. And in those moments when she smiled and talked a million miles a minute about her new friends, it was all worth it.

Jimmy thought of his own friends that he rarely talked to, the people that he’d allowed to slip out of his life. He was glad he’d been able to visit Ray twice since he’d been home. The first visit had been for old times’ sake. The second had been because Jimmy had realized that visiting Ray Stone was a now-or-never venture.

But both visits had been slightly off-kilter. Ray had been twitchy, insisting they sit on the porch and rarely taking his eyes from the road, though he claimed not to be expecting company. Jimmy had chalked it up to a by-product of old age.

On his first visit, neither brought up Meredith’s name, as if instinctively knowing she was off-limits. On the second visit, Ray had been a bit more forthcoming, talking about Meredith and how she was faring, and expressing some concern that she still felt she had to stay away from her home.

Gazing at her now across the table, Jimmy had to admit that Meredith was even more beautiful than he remembered.

She’d always filled a room with her personality and passion. That hadn’t changed. Back when they’d been dating during most of his junior and all of his senior year, there were moments when he couldn’t imagine his life without her. But there’d also been times when she’d almost consumed him, made him lose who he was, made him question if he could compete with her.

Which he shouldn’t have cared about because he’d loved her...but he had. His brother had never felt that type of angst. Danny would have followed Meredith anywhere, happily, without question. And he hadn’t questioned her when she’d agreed to marry him. He’d been unable, or maybe unwilling, to believe that Meredith didn’t love him.

“I’m heading home.” Danny pushed himself up from the chair, his face still stoic, his demeanor tired. Younger than Jimmy by just one year, he looked five years older.

“I really appreciate all you guys did,” Meredith said. “Grandpa, well, he’s special.”

Danny nodded even as he exited the kitchen. Jimmy wasn’t sure why he stayed; there was nothing else to say. And sitting in this kitchen with Meredith wasn’t something he should do. For her to move back to town a mere eleven days before Danny’s second attempt at marriage and just as Jimmy’s life was falling apart was a cruel fate.

At some point Meredith would challenge Jimmy about his job. He was highlighting the changing and vanishing habitats of wild animals. He was saving the world for the next generation, as Ray had taught him to do, albeit on a smaller scale. She managed a man-made habitat that put wild animals behind bars and robbed them of freedom.

If there was to be a debate, he wanted to start the round. “So, you work in a zoo?”

“You’ve been keeping track of me,” she accused.

“Someone told me last week.” Though Jimmy had already known.

“It’s a habitat, not a zoo, and a dream job,” she stated, looking him full in the face. She’d always been sure of herself. “I work with all the animals, but the wolves and the birds are my main charges. I have a wolf dog.”

“You own one?”

“No,” she corrected herself. “We have one at the habitat. I named him Yoda, so yes, I’m perfectly capable of handling one.”

“I saw that today.”

She shook her head and gazed out the window. He knew she was wondering where the wolf dog was and that she was bothered by the fact it still wore a too-tight collar.

“You’re going to search for her?”

“Not tonight, but if Grandpa’s better tomorrow, then yes.”

“Do you remember how to get around?”

“It hasn’t been that long,” she said indignantly.

“Ray says you haven’t stayed here for any length of time in ten years.”

She gave him a dirty look. Ten years ago, she’d been putting together a wedding. The I do’s would have been at the Gesippi Church; the reception would have been here at Grandpa’s. They’d not planned on a honeymoon. Neither’d had the money. Meredith must have found some money, though. She’d managed to take off right before the wedding, find an apartment in Tucson and start taking classes at the university.

He’d always been afraid to ask why she’d made the decision to accept Danny’s proposal but then to leave him right before the wedding, but maybe it was time to put the wrongs of the past behind them. Tonight, maybe he’d find that he hadn’t been to blame.

“In all these years,” Jimmy said, “I don’t think anyone, at least in our family, knows why you stood Danny up.”

She gazed at him, eyes hooded, chin jutted out in defiance. Oh, she’d apologized, said she was sorry. Had written Danny a letter explaining that she was too young and scared to get married.

She’d never acted young and scared. She’d always seemed years more mature than her age. As for scared, she’d pick up a snake before he would.

For a moment, she waffled, wanting to change the subject. But she was still the stand-up girl he remembered from his youth. She’d never played games like the other girls. She’d always known exactly what she wanted and how to get it.

“I didn’t love him, not the way you’re supposed to love the man you marry.”

“But you said yes when he proposed, you set the date, people were actually in the church waiting for the wedding to begin.”

She looked tired suddenly. Part of him wanted to reach out, move the stray strand of hair away from her eyes, see if it still felt like lightning when he touched her.

Her cheeks flushed. “When I agreed to marry Danny, I thought maybe love, the happily-ever-after kind, would grow between us, in time. But I had a conversation with someone very wise who made me realize that I was cheating myself and Danny,” she admitted. “It wasn’t fair to him. He deserved more.”

He’d always wondered if she’d gone from loving him to loving his brother. Now, hearing her say that she’d never loved Danny, he should feel a sense of freedom. Instead, he felt loss.

She looked at him expectantly, clearly waiting for a reply.

“I used to believe in happily-ever-after, too,” he admitted.

“Used to?”

Before he could answer, someone in the living room called her name. She almost knocked over the kitchen chair in her haste to exit the room.

He walked to the door and watched as she stood amidst her family, somehow apart from them, as if she believed she didn’t quite belong.

But then, he didn’t belong here, either. Jimmy made his way out the front door and to his truck. No one tried to stop him.

* * *

SUNLIGHT SPLASHED THROUGH the window. Meredith groaned. Really? Christmas was in two weeks. Surely the weather could pretend a chill. She’d slept until almost nine. Unheard of. Back at BAA, she always rolled out of bed at four, knowing she needed to get the animals ready to face the day.

Today it didn’t matter, though. Grandpa was still asleep. Last night had been a lot of excitement for him. Her, too, but some of the excitement she could have lived without.

She let him sleep a while longer, busying herself with returning phone messages; walking the property looking for the yesterday’s wolf dog, and finally by making breakfast. It was ten before she finally woke him up.

“I usually just eat cookies for breakfast,” he confessed.

She always had a big breakfast. She’d learned her first week at BAA that sometimes there was a chance for lunch but sometimes instead there was a grumpy camel to soothe, a depressed black panther to cheer up, a peacock with a injured wing to repair, or enclosure malfunctions to fix.

“A decent breakfast will do you good,” she scolded. “How do you feel?”

“Like I fell off a wagon and then it ran over me.”

“Perfect, then you’re not numb,” Meredith said, loading a plate for him. “How’s your ankle?”

“Doesn’t hurt. And where that fool dog nipped me isn’t sore at all. It’s my back that’s sore.”

“Zack made a two o’clock appointment for you. I figure we can go into town about noon, grab some lunch at the diner, and then head to the doctor to make sure you’re all right.”

Grandpa winced. “I don’t need to go into town. I’m sore. When you’re eighty-two, you get to be sore. It’s called old age.”

“If you’re spry enough to chase after a wolf dog and then fight it off with a stick, you don’t get to use old age as an excuse.” She put two plates on the table and then sat down across from him.

“I didn’t chase after that wolf dog. I heard some noises and...” His voice trailed off and for a moment Meredith wondered if he would continue. Then he added, “I thought...it was Rowdy.”

“Rowdy’s been dead for—”

“For more than a decade. I know.” He slowly folded the paper and put it next to his plate, his face looking pinched and stressed.

“You feel all right, Grandpa?”

He made a face instead of answering. Before he picked up his fork, he put his gnarled hands together and bowed his head. Meredith did the same, trying to remember the last time she’d prayed before a meal. It had been a while. She usually was too busy filling up the hours and days on her calendar to think about taking a moment to thank God for all she had.

After the amen, Grandpa took a bite, forced a smile and swallowed before saying, “I still miss that fool dog. I just knew that I’d heard something. By the time I realized how far I’d gone, there the animal was. You’d have gone looking, too, had you been here. And don’t think I don’t know that you were out there early this morning searching.”

“I got that determination from you.”

Instead of being pleased, Grandpa scolded, “I don’t want you out there wandering alone. It’s not the same kind of place it was when you were a kid.”

“I’m fine.”

“No,” he said. “You need to listen to me—take care.”

She nodded, not understanding or agreeing but knowing she had to appease him. He’d rarely looked so stern when talking with her.

Satisfied, he said, “There were too many people here last night, so I didn’t get the chance to ask. That thing I went after really was a wolf dog, huh, like Yoda?”

“Yes, I’m certain of it. She had the long legs of a wolf and I recognize the snout. I must have walked back and forth across two miles this morning, but I couldn’t find her. She’s skittish. I’ll try again tomorrow.”

“Skittish?” Grandpa asked.

“Yes,” Meredith answered. “Plus leery. You’ve heard me talk about Yoda.”

“The wolf dog you use for public relations back at BAA. Your favorite.”

Meredith always felt a little guilty when people remarked that Yoda was her favorite. She loved all the animals, even BAA’s grumpiest camel who liked to spit on her. But she and Yoda did have a special bond.

“Obviously, you managed to get him to trust you.” Grandpa finished his orange juice, but he’d only eaten a tiny corner of of the hash browns she’d prepared, maybe two bites of one sausage, and he’d scrambled the eggs a bit more so she’d not notice he’d not even tried to eat them.

Hmm...

“He was my first assignment. Somewhere, under all Yoda’s fear, was a dog who wanted to be loved.”

Grandpa pushed his plate away. “You always had a way with animals. Remember Blackie the cow?”

“I remember her following me around.”

“She trailed behind you whenever you were on horseback. Your grandma and I always considered Blackie somewhat of a guardian. We thought if you fell off, she’d drag you home with her teeth. Now, finish telling me about Yoda and wolf dogs.”

“Well, your visitor looks a lot like Yoda, maybe a bit bigger. I figure she’s at least half wolf. If I had to guess, I’d say that she was here searching for her owner.”

That seemed to worry Grandpa. He’d been starting to relax, just a little, but now he went back to the pinched look. Meredith hurriedly added, “She was most likely a pet, one that got a little too hard to handle and so her owners tried to release her into the wild.”

“I don’t think so.” Grandpa sounded sure.

“It happens more than you’d believe.”

“So,” Grandpa said, “ignorant people drop an animal like Yoda off in the forest thinking maybe he’ll find a wolf pack in Arizona? I don’t think I’ve seen wolves in the wild in the last fifty years.”

“And whoever released our wolf dog didn’t take the time to remove her collar. That’s just wrong.”

“Maybe they just didn’t care.”

“I hate to think that,” Meredith said. “I’d rather believe that the wolf dog got loose and couldn’t find her way back. Maybe somebody’s looking for her.”

Grandpa gazed out the window. “I doubt it. That wolf dog’s owner might be sending a message, a warning.”

“What? Grandpa, why would you say that?”

His lips pursed together. “I just know.”

Meredith wasn’t sure about this sudden change in Grandpa’s mood, but pressing would probably just make him more irritable. “Whoever lost the wolf dog had good intentions,” she said. “They just get overwhelmed.”

Meredith could manage a whole animal habitat without getting overwhelmed. And yet she’d not been back in Gesippi but twenty-four hours and she already felt the crush of responsibility. This elderly man sitting across from her was the only one who’d truly understand.

“It was strange having both Jimmy and Danny in the kitchen talking with me.”

“Danny’s moved on,” Grandpa said. “His fiancée’s nice. I’ve talked to her a time or two. Her name’s Holly. She rides her bike up and down Pioneer Road on occasion. She likes my chickens.”

“He deserves happiness.”

“Always,” Grandpa agreed. “You talk to Jimmy about anything special?”

“He asked why I didn’t marry Danny.”

“What did you tell him?”

“The truth. That I didn’t love Danny that way.”

“Did you tell him who you still loved?”

Standing, she gathered up their breakfast dishes and asked, “Do you need help getting to your bedroom and getting dressed?”

“No. And don’t try to change the subject.”

“I’m not trying to change the subject. I am changing the subject.”

No way was she going to talk about Jimmy Murphy. Ten years put a lot of dirt over the casket of unreturned love.

Grandpa waited a moment, then nodded. In the time it took Grandpa to stand, walk to his bedroom and shut the door, she finished clearing the table, washing the dishes and putting everything away.

The phone rang just as she set the towel on the edge of the sink. Her first impulse was to answer it, but this was Grandpa’s place, and she needed to remember that. After a moment, she heard him answer.

“This is Ray Stone... What? I can’t hear you. Speak a little louder.” She was about to knock on his bedroom door and offer to help, when apparently whoever was on the other end must have made himself heard.

“No,” said Grandpa, “I’ve not lost a wallet or any money. Really? That’s interesting, but my wallet’s on top of my dresser. I’ve no idea why my phone number would be in a wallet containing that much money.”

The conversation ended, and when Grandpa didn’t call for her, she decided it wasn’t her place to pry. She headed for the small hallway bathroom and brushed her teeth, redid her ponytail and then went outside to sit in Grandma’s rocking chair and call Luke Rittenhouse. Next to her, he understood Yoda the wolf dog most and would be able to help her with this new animal.

“We can’t take another wolf dog,” he said, surprising her. Used to be, he’d open BAA’s doors to any animal. “Yoda’s struggling to find his place, and he’s been at BAA for years. Technically, wolf dogs are not wild animals. They’re pets.”

“So’s your beloved iguana.”

“My iguana is a not-so-wild wild animal that someone attempted to turn into a pet. Your new wolf dog is a hybrid, so it clearly falls under the pet category. I know there are rescue—”

Meredith protested, “You know as well as I do that there are more wolf dogs than there are people and places that will take them. We’ve already done the legwork with Yoda. And this new one will be harder. She’s been in the wild. Yoda never was.”

“First you have to find her,” Luke said calmly. “Then we’ll worry about what to do with her.”

“Easy for you to say,” Meredith muttered, frustrated.

Luke laughed before asking her a few questions about the birds and giving her an update on Ollie the orangutan who, like Meredith’s grandfather, was losing the battle of aging.

The moment she hung up she realized that Luke hadn’t told her how Yoda was faring. Which meant there was something Luke didn’t want her to know.

She started to redial, but Grandpa shuffled out from his bedroom. He’d lost weight. She could do something about that, like make him eat a second helping of her hash browns and three bites of sausage. He had less hair. She didn’t care; he was still handsome. His hands shook. After a moment, The Price is Right blared on the television. Grandpa’s favorite show.

“I don’t need to go see Doc Thomas,” he stated. “He’s just going to tell me to take a pill if my back hurts and to baby the foot and try to stay off of it. Use my walker more.”

“You should use your walker more,” she scolded. She’d said she wouldn’t pry, but her curiosity got the better of her. “Who was that on the phone?”

For a moment, she thought Grandpa wasn’t going to answer, but then he said, “The sheriff. Someone turned in a wallet. My number was written on a piece of paper inside.”

“Who’d you give your number to?”

“Nobody I remember.”

She let him watch television while she cared for the chickens. It wasn’t all that different from taking care of Crisco the bear or Ollie the orangutan. She fed, watered and cleaned their bedding. The only thing she did that she couldn’t do with Ollie or Crisco was gather eggs. The five chickens ignored her, not even appreciating the fact that she was making sure they had plenty of shavings.

After doing a few more odds and ends, she took an hour, put on clean clothes and woke Grandpa up.

“I wasn’t sleeping,” he insisted.

“Maybe not,” Meredith appeased, “but you do need to get up and out, eat something besides cookies and make the family happy.”

“I always make the family happy.”

“Not true.”

“You’re one to talk,” he grumped.

“I’m the one most like you.”

That earned a smile and got him out the door, into her car and agreeable.

About halfway to town, he asked, “So, why were you in Gesippi last night? And why are you the one driving me around today?”

It took Meredith a good three blocks to answer. She didn’t want to give him room to argue. “I’m here to stay with you during the week. Zack will stay with you on weekends.”

“Because I fell! That’s silly. I fall all the time.”

“Yes, Grandpa. You fall all the time. And we want to be there to make sure you always stand up. What if I hadn’t shown up last night and realized you were missing? Would you have eventually gotten up? Or would you have spent the night out in the cold? And maybe still be there now?”

“It’s December in Arizona. Doesn’t get really cold.”

“You didn’t use to lie,” she accused.

“And you used to listen.”

“I’m staying.”

“No, you—” he started to protest.

“I’m staying because I love you.”

“And because I love you, I want you to go on with your life.”

“You are my life.”

He didn’t respond; he stared out the window as tears pooled in his eyes. She didn’t know if he were happy because he was loved or miserable because he needed to rely on other. What she wished was that he’d reach over and pat her knee, give her some sign that he appreciated what she was doing and recognized the need.

Gesippi hadn’t changed much in the ten years since Meredith had stopped calling it home. Sure, she’d been back a time or two. But she’d mastered sneaking into town for a few hours and then hightailing it back to Scorpion Ridge. Today her trip into town would take much longer.

Downtown Gesippi was three long blocks. Tyler’s Antique store was the biggest. Old-time Christmas decorations graced its window. A combination drugstore and restaurant was next to it. Someone was out front ringing a bell hoping for donations. A Native American trading post, the Crooked Feather, had opened when Meredith entered high school. It had a wooden plaque in the front window advertising Victor Lucas as proprietor. He’d obviously not found a moment to decorate for the season. His daughter, Kristi Lucas, had been in Meredith’s grade but had dropped out of high school. A tiny movie theater, which played movies months after their release, offered a film Meredith had meant to see. Already a giant Christmas tree was in the tiny park by the school. A big sign notified the public that Santa would be visiting on Christmas Eve.

“You want anything from the drugstore?” Meredith asked.

“Cookies.”

She laughed. “Anything besides cookies.”

She parked in front of the drugstore and hurried around to help Grandpa out. The wind added a bit of red to his cheeks. Impulsively she reached up to pat one. He caught her hand with his and smiled.

“I’m glad you’re here, Merry.”

She’d not been called that in years.

Unfortunately, he added, “But you needn’t put your life on hold to take care of me.”

She didn’t bother to respond as she followed him into the Drug and Dine.

“Hey, Ray.”

“Keith, good to see you. Thought we’d stop and get something to eat.” Grandpa didn’t mention that Meredith had had to nudge him out the door to get here. “Not that I’m hungry. The granddaughter, here, thinks I should eat more.”

Keith, wearing a Santa hat, came around the counter. “I heard you had an adventure last evening. So, Meredith, you say we have a wild wolf dog running loose?” He led them to a table and held Grandpa’s chair out. Once Grandpa settled, Keith handed them menus and asked, “Is this something we should call the county sheriff about? Could someone get hurt?”

“The wolf dog was more interested in playing with Grandpa than eating him,” Meredith said. “The odds of someone getting hurt are slim.”

“Jimmy Murphy’s sure taken an interest in what happened last night. He came in this morning and wanted to know if anyone had dropped off any Have You Seen This Dog posters.”

“What for?” Why was Jimmy asking questions? He’d not even been overly concerned about the too-tight collar.

“He said something about recognizing a good story when one dropped in his lap.”

Now Meredith knew exactly what she’d say to Jimmy if he ever challenged her commitment to Bridget’s Animal Adventure. She might be working with animals that would be happier in their natural habitat, but to her they were more than stories.

“What did you tell him? Has anyone been looking for a lost dog?”

“I sent him over to the library. If anyone had been asking around, Agatha Fitzsimmons would have heard about it.”

“The library’s still open?”

“Every day but Sunday from ten to three. What’ll you have?”

Meredith ordered while Grandpa said, “The usual,” before shuffling off to the bathroom, looking as if he could topple at any minute. Keith stayed close behind.

Looking around the Drug and Dine, Meredith noted that not much had changed. Keith stocked a little bit of dry goods and a whole lot of tourist paraphernalia. The only things completely new were all the cell-phone displays.

She wondered how much the Gesippi library had changed. It was housed in three rooms under the courthouse. It had half windows that started at the ceiling and that teased with just a little natural light. But Agatha Fitzsimmons, who’d once managed a library in Washington, D.C., had made it something special. During her teens, Meredith had spent a lot of time perusing the young-adult section. Agatha had also made sure a good number of animal books were on hand for a questing Meredith.

Agatha had to be about the same age as Grandpa, if not older.

Unfortunately, while Meredith had been a favorite hometown girl, Jimmy had been a favorite hometown boy. Agatha, who’d not had any children of her own, had attended the high school’s Friday-night football games just to cheer for Jimmy.

When Jimmy left and Meredith came in to show off her engagement ring from Danny, Agatha had called her a stupid girl.

That was the last time Meredith had traipsed down the stairs to the Gesippi library. It wasn’t until many years later that Meredith realized Agatha had been right.

Grandpa returned. “Food not here yet?”

“No.”

“Penny for your thoughts.”

She couldn’t tell him the truth, couldn’t tell him that Jimmy’s presence in town was making her uncomfortable and bringing forth memories she’d tried to bury for so long.

Memories of a love that wouldn’t stay buried.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE MEDICAL CLINIC was the first house on a residential street. A big golden retriever was asleep on the porch. He, too, wore a big Santa hat. “That is Zeus,” Grandpa introduced.

The living room was the reception area. “Each of the bedrooms functions as an examination room,” Grandpa informed her. “I’ve been in all of them.”

It hadn’t existed during Meredith’s youth. When she’d broken her nose, thanks to a horse merely lifting its head, she’d had to go to Adobe Hills, a good fifty miles to the east. When Grandpa was young, though, Gesippi had boasted a small hospital. It had also had a working copper mine. The old hospital, built in nineteen hundred and twelve, stopped taking patients in nineteen hundred and thirty-two and was now a restaurant, aptly named the Hospitable; the copper mine gave tours to tourists.

“This is a good place,” Grandpa said. “You’ll like Doc Thomas. Just eight years ago, he moved from Phoenix and retired.”

“Only it’s not so quiet and I didn’t get to stay retired.” Doc Thomas looked old enough to retire, thanks to a white beard and thick white hair. But he didn’t act old enough. His smile appeared genuine and his eyes danced. He wore bright green tennis shoes and a T-shirt advertising The Rolling Stones. He was Santa on vacation.

“You should be a movie star,” Meredith said.

“I get that a lot. Then people find out what I really do and the questions start coming.”

“People want free advice,” Meredith guessed.

“Yup. They’ll say, ‘Hey, Doc, I got me a cold,’ or ‘My sides been hurting, right here. Do you think...?’ Or my personal favorite, ‘I’ve been throwing up in the morning and don’t want my coffee. You don’t suppose...’”

Grandpa finished up, “So he decided to open a clinic and now he isn’t quite so retired.”

“Not when I have a fool like you for a neighbor,” Doc Thomas agreed. “What were you doing chasing down a dog at your age?”

“Seemed like a good idea at the time,” Grandpa mumbled as the doctor led him down the hall to one of the bedrooms.

There was no receptionist to hand Meredith a three-page form to fill out. She could sit on the couch and thumb through one of the magazines, read the Christmas cards taped to the wall or...

“Grandpa, I’m going to run an errand. Call me when you’re finished.”

“I want to be finished now,” Grandpa called back.

* * *

JIMMY MURPHY SPENT his morning working with his dad and decided no way would there ever be a documentary about the plight of sheep. So he spent his afternoon researching wolf dogs and keeping up with what was happening at Nature Times. More to the point, who was getting the assignment that should be his.

No, not entirely true. Part of him was grateful when his boss suggested he take some time off, for Briana’s sake. Now he could pick her up from school.

Just before three, he found a parking place outside Gesippi Elementary, where he could see Briana when she exited, and took out his notes about wolf dogs. Then he called his boss and gave an enthused three-minute spiel on his idea for a new piece.

“Wolf dogs would be a small draw.” Thom Steward, Jimmy’s editor, didn’t even pause before answering.

“That’s because not many publications even bother to mention them. We’d be one of the first.”

“You’re grasping at straws. I can’t take this idea to our producers. I’m glad you are taking a break, you can do better than this.”

It had been three years since any of Jimmy’s ideas had been turned down. He was good at his job, dependable, and had the kind of relationship with Thom that if the editor didn’t give him an assignment, all Jimmy had to do was shoot off an idea. Thom had rejected Jimmy only once, and that was because someone else was already doing the story.

“I’ve been researching the problem, and wolf dogs suffer the same fate as big cats and monkeys. They’re taken as pups, raised, and then when they grow into their own, many are abandoned.”

“How is that a story?” Thom asked.

“No one I know of, in North America, would abandon their pet lion on public land. But, because these animals are part wolf, they’ve easier to walk away from. That’s my angle.”

Finally Thom hesitated. “Okay, it’s Christmas and I’m feeling generous. Send me a proposal. I want to see some footage, though. You’re gonna have to sell me on this idea.”

Jimmy agreed and promised him a solid pitch before New Year’s. It was the first time Jimmy had ever ended a conversation with Thom feeling less than talented.

And there was no one he could complain to. His crew was in China, and while they liked and respected him, if they thought their bread and butter was with the new guy, they’d be polite at most if he called and did some digging.

His brother might have listened had the wedding not been in just over a week.

From his car, he could see the comings and goings of Gesippi’s townsfolk. He watched as Meredith hurried down the street and went into the courthouse, most likely heading for the library. She wouldn’t get anything from Agatha on wolf dogs that he hadn’t already gotten.

He’d first fallen in love with Meredith because of an animal: a silly goat that escaped its pen nearly every day. Zack had been thirteen, Meredith twelve. The goat, aptly named Stupid by Jimmy, had a favorite fence spot, one that ran between Meredith’s grandpa’s land and Jimmy’s uncle’s. Stupid wanted whatever was on the other side. He’d stick his head through the railing, and then because of the way the fence was built, he wouldn’t be able to get his head back out.

The first time that had happened, Jimmy’d been mad, especially when Meredith, all wild blond hair and know-it-all opinions, had easily helped Stupid get free.

The next time, he’d let Meredith help, understanding even at fifteen that it was better to have Meredith on his team than to try to compete with her.

Maybe a similar approach could work for him now....

* * *

GESIPPI’S COURTHOUSE WAS in the center of town. Meredith remembered her third-grade teacher marveling that it had been built in 1899. Apparently being built in 1900 just wouldn’t have had the same distinction. The town’s budget had been stretched too thin during the construction. There had been plans for a split staircase and an outdoor pavilion. Today, there was a single staircase and instead of a working clock, there was just a clock facing. The time always read six o’clock. Back then, that was when work started, and if one was lucky, it was when work ended.

Meredith took out her cell phone. It was two-fifteen. She had forty-five minutes until Agatha locked the door and turned the sign to Closed. But Meredith might only have ten minutes before Grandpa called her to come pick him up at the doctor’s. She hurried up the front stairs and opened the door. The front entry was empty except for a sign that gave directions to the different offices and goings-on. Meredith turned left and went down some narrow stairs painted concrete blue. There were posters on the walls, some older than she was. All advertised books and some were signed by authors. Before she reached the bottom, she could hear voices. One she immediately recognized as Agatha’s, the other voice sounded as if it belonged to a girl.

Stepping into the main room of the library was like finding a lost treasure, one you didn’t realize the value of until you held it again.

Even the smell was magical.

“I’m telling you,” an indignant voice declared, “she took a book without checking it out.”

“It’s fine, dear. I know her father. We’ll get the book back.”

“But—”

“It’s more important that a child reads than it is for a book to rest on its assigned shelf just because of the rules.”

It was a conversation Meredith might have had with Agatha back when she’d haunted the library.

“Someone’s here,” the young voice said.

“Good.”

“But we’re only open for thirty more minutes.”

“Ah, Jessica, when you let go of your love for rules, you’ll be much happier.”

“Or not,” Meredith said, stepping into the center of the room where a girl of about twelve was bent over a library cart. Agatha leaned on the cart, looking at a book that had seen better days. She hadn’t changed at all. Agatha was about a foot shorter than Meredith and so slender she could probably nap on one of the library shelves and not fall off. Her hair was shoulder length and not even Grandpa could remember when it hadn’t been pure white.

“Two old friends in one day,” Agatha said. “Jimmy still emails me. You I have to keep track of on YouTube. I liked what your zoo did with Crisco the bear. That was quite a story.”

“It was,” Meredith agreed. “We suspect someone wanted to harvest his organs and that’s why Crisco was taken from his mother. A dried gallbladder can sell for five figures overseas. The paws are worth money, too.”

The young girl looked interested. “Really, why?”

“Mostly medicinal reasons. Some people believe the paw will make you healthy, while the gallbladder...” Meredith paused. The gallbladder was especially tempting to males in some cultures. But Meredith wasn’t sure she needed to share that.

“What do you mean?” the young girl queried, obviously of a different mind-set.

“Jessica,” Agatha said quietly, “since we’re only open for a few more minutes, and since I have Meredith here to help, you can leave early.”

“But this lady doesn’t know what to do.” Aghast at the prospect of leaving her job to someone ill-qualified, the girl forgot about the bear’s gallbladder.

“Oh, trust me, she knows,” Agatha said. “Meredith was you fifteen years ago.”

“Has it been that long?” Meredith whispered.

“Yup. One day you were my helper. The next day you’d discovered Jimmy Murphy and suddenly the library was a distant memory.”

“The man who was just here,” the girl said.

“Yes, now scoot. Meredith and I have some catching up to do.”

The girl wasn’t happy, but she knew to mind Agatha. With a quick hug to Agatha, she was out the door and stomping up the stairs.

“Did you come by to see me or do you have the same question as Jimmy?” Agatha nodded toward the cart, and as if she’d never been away, Meredith took a stack of books and headed for the shelves. Though she used to recognize by title where they belonged. Now she had to use their call numbers.

“Originally, I just wanted an answer to the same question, but now I realize seeing you is more important.”

“Glad you’re finally starting to put your priorities straight.” Agatha didn’t sound convinced, not completely. Changing the subject, she added, “I’m also glad you’re here to stay with Ray. He needs you. Something’s been bothering him these last few years and it’s not because he’s missing his wife or his absent son.”

“Yes, I’m seeing that.”

“You take care of him. He’s precious, you know.”

Meredith did know. Her grandparents had sacrificed to help raise their grandchild, help pay their way through college, and more.

All without complaint. If they’d not been willing to help, her life would have been very different. She’d have married Danny and stayed in town, the dreams of her siblings more important than her own.

Grandpa had paid her tuition, every dime. She was paying him back but knew that he put her money right into Zack’s and Susan’s college fund.

It probably only helped a little.

“Ray actually got a library card right after you went to college. Did you know that?”

“I didn’t realize he liked to read,” Meredith confessed.

“It was only on the one topic,” Agatha shared. “He went through all my books on Native Americans, especially those dealing with the Tohono O’odham and Akimel O’odham tribes.”

“That’s strange.”

“I figured he must have watched a documentary on them or something and become interested. I enjoyed researching the subject for him. I’ll miss that.”

“What?”

“I’m retiring next year.”

Meredith’s hands stilled. The book she’d been shelving was stranded in midair. Too many things were changing in her life and too quickly.

“You’ll hate it.”

Agatha chuckled. “I’m sure I will, but it’s time.”

Meredith finally shelved the book and then quickly worked through the ones still on the cart. Finished, she started to move the cart but stopped when she noticed Agatha was using it to hold herself up.

“Let’s sit for a minute,” Meredith suggested.

“No, it feels better to stand. I sit and my butt starts to hurt. If I’m standing, it’s my back, but I can handle that. Here, put this away too.”

It was an aged copy of Black Beauty.

“You checked it out five times,” Agatha said. “Remember?”

“I want to read it again. Maybe this time the fox will get away. Can I get a new library card today?”

“Just take it and make sure you return it. We won’t tell Jessica.”

Meredith’s cell phone beeped. After checking the screen, she tapped the answer key and said, “Grandpa, can I come get you now?”

“Better hurry before Doc decides to do any more prodding.” Something distracted Grandpa, and he hung up before Meredith could ask anything else.

“Ray’s gonna be okay?” Agatha asked when Meredith put her phone away.

“For now, he’s okay. Just forgetful.”

“Aren’t we all,” Agatha shared.

“Agatha, you never forget anything, so I do want to ask. Has anyone been looking for a dog, really a wolf dog?”

“No. Jimmy says he’s called the sheriff, talked to the newspaper editor over in Adobe Hills, plus his cousin who publishes the tabloid here. He had to promise to be interviewed for an article. Then, he even went driving around to see if there were posters up anywhere. Together we did an online search for wolf pups for sale. We did find some nearby, but no one answered the phone when we called. And no one’s reported a missing dog. I called a couple of librarians I know from Adobe Hills and Scorpion Ridge, but outside of a runaway Chihuahua, nothing.”

Recognizing she was at a dead end for now, Meredith helped Agatha close up the library, turning off lights, locking up, just the way she had more than a decade ago. Agatha lived just three houses down from the courthouse, so Meredith waved goodbye as Agatha walked home.

Meredith fought the wind as she got back into her brown SUV. There was a storm brewing, and not just in the air. Just what did Jimmy think he was doing, researching the wolf dog? He was going to make this a mission. That’s what he was going to do. Televise the plight of the wolf dog and the injustices it suffered. Get his stupid byline and then take off again.

Well, she wasn’t going to be his star of the month, and neither were Yoda or the wild wolf dog.

Grandpa and Doc Thomas were sitting on the porch when Meredith drove up. While Doc helped Grandpa down the ramp, Meredith opened the passenger-side door and took and stored the walker in the back. When Grandpa found his seat, she said, “Doc, I’d like just a moment.”

Doc Thomas met her at the end of the car. She shut the hatchback and whispered, “He’s not eating. Maybe four bites at breakfast and not even that at lunch.”

“You hear that, Ray. Your granddaughter says you’re not eating.”

“I eat when I’m hungry, and she hasn’t made me pancakes.”

“You’re going to need your strength during the next few months if you want to get better, Ray.”

To Meredith, Doc Thomas said, “His ankle’s fine. I took an X-ray of his spine, though, and I didn’t like what I saw. You watch him close. If he slows down anymore—” both of them looked at Grandpa, who was still settling himself into a comfortable position “—I want you to get him into Adobe Hills and to a specialist. I know he has an appointment in January, but it would be good if you can get him in earlier. If he’s to keep living on the farm in the middle of nowhere, he has to be able to walk—no matter how slowly.”

Doc Thomas said a few more things, mentioned rehabilitation and even surgery.

“I can walk,” Grandpa groused.

“At the moment,” Doc Thomas said so softly that only Meredith heard. His expression told Meredith a diagnosis she wasn’t ready to hear.

Yes, he was eighty-two, but, well, he was Grandpa. The thread that held the family together in so many ways.

As they drove home, he was quiet, too quiet, not even commenting on her driving. Usually he held on to the door handle and commented, “How fast are you going?”

Meredith kept shooting him glances, hoping he’d open up, tell her she was driving too fast or something. When he didn’t, she tried talking to him. “Do we need to fill a prescription?”

He nodded.

“You want to do that now?”

He shook his head.

She’d been communicating with animals for years now—spent more time with them than people, really—and was used to figuring out problems without the exchange of words. But Grandpa was about as easy to read as a hedgehog.

Either he was overly tired or something had upset him. Or maybe it was a combination of both.

“I just want to get home, Merry.”

When they finally got to the farm, she helped him out, opened his walker and then followed behind him as he walked unsteadily to the front door. Pepper came limping from the side of the house, greeting them with a wiggling body. Then, with doggy wisdom, he slowed down even more to walk sedately beside Grandpa.

Grandpa didn’t even acknowledge him.

But she knew something was really wrong when he walked past the television and went into his bedroom and shut the door, leaving both Pepper and her in the living room.

Meredith tried to soothe Pepper. “Come on, boy. I really need you with me, and Grandpa wants time alone.” She spent the rest of the late afternoon and evening walking Grandpa’s land. She found the remnants of a tree house and an old shoe that had probably belonged to Zack. By the time she headed back to Grandpa’s, melancholy had set in. She’d started off looking for the wolf dog but, if she were honest, she’d ended up looking for Jimmy.

She just wasn’t sure which Jimmy she was searching for, though: the idealistic boy from her youth or the man from yesterday who asked too many probing questions.

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