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"It is a puppy … I … uh … well, someone dropped theht that since Dixie is leaving and taking Dolly with her, and you seemed so fond of her thatand talking too fast but I couldn’t stop the words frohbor’s pit bull, hbor who just happened to be Wheeler’s best friend "Plus, you own a house, so you can have a pit bull or e With so he could be perfect You can take hireat sincetrained" I shiftedup at me like he felt sorry fora al in the city limits so we have to adopt them out because shelters will euthanize them if we can’t find them homes, and no animal deserves that"

He didn’t answer me but he did reach out and take the box from e of the box and started yipping at and sniffing the new person that ithin licking distance Wheeler put the box on the ground and picked up the solid little body and held the adorable animal up in front of his face while the puppy barked excitedly and wagged his stubby little tail "He’s cute"

Oh lordy, was he ever … and I wasn’t talking about the dog

"Uht ed as I unwittingly stu It had been nothing ht in theI shouldn’t know that his now-for hi only a feeeks before they were set to walk down the aisle, and I also shouldn’t know that this wasn’t the first time his woman had stepped out on hi all kinds of ways about what he had been through I knew that Wheeler was a nice guy, one that deserved a bit of happiness while he healed fro heartbreak And really, who couldn’t be happy when they were holding a puppy, especially when that puppy was already clearly in love with hi to hbor

The fact that I lived next door to Dixie was the reason I knew all the gory details of his recent breakup She was his ex-fiancée’s sister as well as his best friend The walls were thin and Dixie was one stranger that I trusted enough to get close to, so I spent a lot of ti ready to ht when Wheeler needed her the most But her boyfriend was there and shein Denver when Church wasn’t

I cleared ers that had a visible tremor in them to my hair I pushed some of it behind lasses sideways I didn’t know if I could handle this conversation eye to eye but it was lasses or look like h I pushed them to the top of my head and froze as his frosty eyes locked on mine They were so cold, they could freeze me from the inside out … instead I suddenly felt ware I’d never been so physically drawn to anyone and it itated I didn’t knohat to do with it I wasn’t in any kind of place euy with the kind of coled future Wheeler had I was only recently able to take care of myself in the most basic of ways There was no way I had it in me to take care of him as well … and that’s what he needed … a wos that wohtless A woht still be in love with

"If you don’t want hi to ask Dixie to take him Dolly can always use a friend One of my coworkers took home his sister and the doc I work for found homes out of state for the other two boys in the litter This little guy was the last one that needed a ho him left alone while the rest of his faed a little and looked away froht of you" Wheeler was looking for his forever home too, I just knew it

He bent down and put the puppy on the ground The stout little anis and nipped at the worn leather of his sturdy and stained boots Wheeler put his hands on his hips as he watched the puppy I was al the abandoned ball of slobber and love had been the right call when those arctic-colored eyes lifted back up towas stopping hiift with open arms

"I don’t know that I have the tiht now, Poppy" He lifted a hand and rubbed it across the back of his neck His any-colored eyebrows pulled into a vee over the top of his nose and the corners of his mouth pulled down in a frown that was too harsh for his pretty face I liked it much better when he smiled and his twin dimples cut deeply into his cheeks

I bit my botto up the back of ht say no but I couldn’t hide the fact that I was disappointed by his decision I honestly felt like he and the puppy would be good for one another, that they could bring a little joy into each other’s lives It stung that Wheeler wasn’t ready to open his heart up again, even when it was to soer to love him unconditionally and irrevocably, unlike his ex

"It’s okay Like I said, I’ll take him holed rinned when he bounded over, tripping over his front legs as he scrambled in my direction "I can take hi out One of the boys at the shop will step up if Dixie doesn’t want another dog"

I heard hito say soether I didn’t know much about Wheeler, but what I did know I liked He was nice He was polite He was thoughtful and he was kind But s, he went out of his way to hold hi because he ithouta word how jumpy I was around people, er than me I hated that I knew firsthand how badly they could hurt me if they had a mind to I hated that I wilted and cowered under their attention, even if it was innocent and friendly The fact that he took care not to spookhim in such an aard position