Owen Read online

  “Here we go,” Dani said softly, noting his eyelids were closed. “Or, if you want to leave this until later, you can do that. Sleep’s the best thing for you anyway.”

  He let his eyes drift open. “You saw me napping, huh?”

  “It’s the best thing,” she noted, with that bright smile of hers. “And having your friend Nash drop by too. Get yourself some rest, and I’ll check in on you in a little bit. In the meantime, here’s coffee, a sandwich, and a couple cookies.”

  He smiled at that. “Nobody can turn down a cookie,” he declared.

  “Nope, none of us can.” With a cheeky grin, Dani held up her other hand, which had cookies for herself.

  He just smiled, and she quickly disappeared from his room. Something was very special about that woman. He knew who she was in theory, but didn’t know any of her history. Upon his formal acceptance here, Owen had asked Nash a ton of questions, but he had had only so much time to answer those. However, he had promised that there would be time for them to catch up, once Owen arrived.

  Owen hoped so, he really did, because having even one friend here would make this not quite so scary.

  That was really what he’d been all about, coming in so gung ho, because he’d been terrified that somebody would think less of him, terrified that he was heading into a situation that he couldn’t handle, and, therefore, bluster was Owen’s prime defense. Somehow he didn’t think that would work too well here. These people were professionals who had seen it all, probably times one thousand. Transparency and honesty seemed to be key here. Owen let his eyelids drift closed, even as he heard other footsteps up and down the hallway. As long as nobody came in, Owen was good. And, if they did? He would be too far gone into the sleep mode to notice. And, with that, he fell into a deep sleep.

  Penelope Abigail—who preferred to be called Penny—backed up her truck in the parking area, as close to the vet clinic as she could. She understood that they didn’t want the vehicles right up tight against the building, but it was a pain in the butt when she had a lot to unload and then had to carry some of the bigger animals even a short distance. Plus she was here on a constant basis, so often that it almost was her second home. When she got out of the vehicle, one of the women from the vet clinic stepped out. Penny looked up, smiled, thankful for the extra help. With this busy clinic, sometimes they weren’t able to assist Penny. “You’re Robin, aren’t you?”

  Robin smiled in return. “You’re getting good at sorting out who is who.”

  “Are you kidding? I should have had that down pat by now.” She opened up the back of her pickup. “One dog, two cats.”

  “What’s wrong with them?” Robin asked, pushing a trolley out to load the cages.

  “The dog looks like he’s been hit by a car. His back leg isn’t as good as I’d like to see it.” She sighed. “The two cats were abandoned in a corner lot.”

  “Of course they were. Any idea if they’re fixed?”

  “I don’t think so. In fact, I’m guessing we’ve got one pregnant female here.”

  “Right.” Robin groaned. “What would we do without you?”

  With that, Penny just laughed. “We both offer a valuable service, so it is what it is.” She looked up at the floor above. “I wonder if Dani’s in?”

  “You know she will be, if you need her,” Robin said.

  “Yeah, nothing urgent, just checking in with her,” she replied, “Dani and I are friends more than anything.”

  “That’s always good,” Robin replied. “And we definitely appreciate your patronage too.” With that, she pushed the trolley back toward the door, and Penny raced forward to let her safely inside. Then Penny gave Robin a wave, walked back out to her truck, closed the tailgate, and headed toward the main reception area for Hathaway House.

  As soon as she entered, the receptionist, who she thought was Melissa—who also helped out in Stan’s vet clinic—looked up, smiled. “Good morning, Penny. You delivering more animals?”

  “Yep.” She nodded. “These three need medical attention, and then I can probably take them to one of the shelters in town.”

  “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had no need for shelters at all?” Melissa noted.

  “Absolutely. We hope for a better world, where all the animals receive the care that they need.” Penny looked toward Dani’s office and caught sight of her friend on the phone. “What’s Dani’s schedule look like?”

  “Busy as always,” Melissa replied. “You know how that is.”

  “Right, I keep hoping that there will be a day when it’s calmer.”

  “We all do,” she agreed. “But, when you run a big business like this, it’s always busy.”

  “I know,” Penny said. “I’m the same way, only my business has me running out of my office all the time. Tell Dani that I’ll take a walk down to the dining area and grab a coffee. If she’s got a few minutes for me when I get back, I’ll stop by.”

  Melissa nodded.

  Knowing the place well, and having made several friends here, Penny walked toward the cafeteria. As soon as she stepped inside, Dennis looked up and hailed her.

  “There you are. I hadn’t seen you in a few days. I was just talking to Ilse about it.”

  “I’m here.” She smiled. “It’s been a busy few days—a busy few months.”

  “It has, at that. How’s life in your corner now?”

  “It’s doing pretty well.” She shrugged. “Just always seems I deal with one of those things.”

  “Yep, one of those things,” he agreed. “Still, it’s all good. So, what can I get you?”

  She shook her head. “Just coffee.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about just coffee,” he argued. “Did you eat? You’ve gotten so skinny on us.”

  “I’m just coming back out of a really bad flu,” she admitted.

  “You’re not one of those people who drops ten pounds a minute when you get sick, are you?”

  “Yeah, I am.” She smiled. “Me and my grandmother have been like that for our whole lives.”

  “I wouldn’t tell too many people about that.”

  “I’m sure they’ll hate me for it.” She chuckled. “Yeah, it’s not made me any brownie points anywhere.”

  “For you, I’ve got parfaits, ice cream, fresh apple pie.” He came from behind the counter and motioned to the dessert table, full of treats.

  She stared at him. “How the heck can you guys even begin to stay skinny here?”

  “That’s not your problem,” he said, chuckling. “If anything, we need to get some weight back on you.”

  She rolled her eyes at that. “The apple pie is very tempting though.”

  “How big a slice?” he asked, his pie server hovering over several of different sizes.

  “The small one.” She pointed, and then her stomach growled.

  He stopped, looked at her, and frowned.

  “I ate,” she replied defensively. “I promise.” But then she looked at her watch and frowned and added, “But it was a few hours ago.”

  Immediately he put down the dessert plate. “How about a big green salad and some fried chicken?”

  She looked at him with added interest and asked, “Southern fried chicken?”

  He leaned forward and whispered, “Is there any other kind?”

  She chuckled. “Okay, two pieces. That would be lovely, thank you. I’m hoping to meet with Dani in a few minutes.”

  “I’ll send her a message that you’re down here,” he offered. “Go outside and sit.”

  “It’s almost dinnertime,” she noted. “I don’t want to be in the way.”

  “You’re not in the way,” he replied, with a shushing motion. “Go, sit.”

  She smiled, picked up her coffee, and headed out to the sunshine. Hathaway House was such a phenomenal thing that Dani had built here. Penny felt some pride growing inside, as she was building her philanthropic enterprises, supplementing funds to many of the deserving charities around town—like Hathaway House. An
d that, in itself, was more than a full-time job for her.

  Her family had money, and so Penny—rather than sitting back, watching that interest money roll in and driving Ferraris, like the rest of her family—she would coax them all to donate to her causes, and now she had set up a series of financial trusts, whereby she doled out assistance as needed to various favorite charities, including animals and veterans mostly. Dani was one of the recipients, as was Stan’s clinic downstairs. Penny didn’t know two people who deserved it more. They were both doing what they could to help those injured, two-legged and four.

  She looked at the entrance to the dining area and saw somebody standing on crutches, looking awkward and tired. As she headed back for a second cup of coffee, she got a closer look at him. He seemed like he was ready to collapse. She immediately walked over and offered some help. “Hey, do you need a hand?”

  He gave her a lopsided grin. “If you could cut my pride back down into something a little more manageable, it would be easier.”

  She burst out laughing. “You know what? I get that, and you probably should be in a wheelchair, but I admire somebody who won’t let circumstances get him down.”

  “I fell asleep earlier,” he explained. “When I woke up, I had a leftover sandwich, but it didn’t seem like it was quite enough without a hot coffee to go with it.”

  “I’m about to have some leftovers from lunch myself,” she stated. “I grabbed a seat in the sunshine, if you want to join me.”

  “Sure. I can’t remember the last time a beautiful lady offered to share her table with me.”

  She smiled at him. “I’m Penny. I’m here all the time.”

  “And I’m Owen, a new arrival, as of today.”

  “Owen, you’ve got some pretty good gumption to get down here on your own.” Dennis nodded, as he walked toward them, with Penny’s plate of fried chicken and a big green salad. “I’m Dennis. You need anything from the kitchen, then you just let me know.”

  Penny looked at her plate that Dennis had piled high. “No wonder you work in the kitchen. You can’t count, can you?”

  He grinned at her. “Hey, so I gave you three pieces of chicken instead of two, just in case you get hungry.”

  She shook her head.

  “Is there any more of that fried chicken left?” Owen asked hopefully, then looked at Dennis. “I’m not even sure I’m allowed to be here actually.”

  “Sure you are. Particularly it being day one for you,” Penny suggested. “You can probably get away with all kinds of infractions.”

  “Welcome, Owen.” Dennis reached out a hand to shake. “This is my domain, and I do have more fried chicken. Do you want to sit outside? If not, we’ll move the two of you inside.”

  With that, Penny realized that it would be much better for Owen if they sat close by. “Come on. Let’s go sit here.” She motioned at the nearest table.

  “I could have made it out there,” he protested.

  “You could have,” she agreed. “But then you also must make it back to your room again. We don’t want you falling flat on your face.”

  “Pride cometh before a fall,” he noted. “Unfortunately I’ve seen that firsthand, a time or two.”

  “Don’t kid yourself. We all have.” She then gave him a big smile and added, “Please, join me.”

  Chapter 2

  Penny smiled and watched as Owen awkwardly sat down and then propped the crutches up beside him.

  “I am tired,” he admitted, “but there’s just something odd about being in a wheelchair.”

  “Is it that bad?”

  “Brings up all kinds of bad memories,” he admitted. “I haven’t quite adjusted to accepting that I need it for a time, and then later I can let it go. I just see myself heading down the pathway of my grandfather.”

  “Was he wheelchair bound?”

  Grimly he nodded. “From a disease.”

  “But you?”

  “I walked too close to a land mine.”

  She stopped and stared at him. “I hope you’re kidding,” she replied, her voice faint.

  “I was on the outside of its blast radius. There was a group of us,” he explained. “So I only took a periphery impact. One of the guys lost both legs. He’s still having surgeries, trying to get enough of a stump to sit on. Another one of us died,” he added sadly. “It’s one of those times in life where you just keep trying to get better, but it doesn’t always work.”

  “I get it,” she replied. “Sounds so sad.”

  “It is, but I’m here, and I have mobility, and I have both legs,” he said. “So I really don’t have any right to complain.”

  “Doesn’t stop us though, does it?” she added cheekily. She watched as his smile bloomed across his face.

  “So why are you always here?” he asked. “I figured you must have been a nurse or someone off duty or I don’t know what. Most people here are in uniforms, not in jeans.”

  “I wear many hats.” She chuckled. When he remained silent, as if wanting more, she explained. “I run my own businesses, which cover my many interests.” Again she laughed. “Also I’m loosely a consultant here.”

  Owen raised his eyebrows. “So what do you consult on?”

  She hesitated, then the Major joined them, with his usual boisterous self. “Ah, she’s just being modest, our Penny,” the Major said, bending to give her a kiss on the cheek. He turned to Owen, extending his hand. “I’m Dani’s father, but everyone calls me Major.”

  “Nice to meet you, sir.”

  “And this lady here is our benefactor, our personal social worker, and another animal lover in the fight to save them all.”

  Owen turned in surprise to face Penny. “Wow. Impressive.”

  “What brought you here today?” the Major asked Penny.

  “I delivered a dog and two cats downstairs,” she explained. “Stan’s going to take care of them.”

  “Are they yours?” Owen asked.

  “Nope. I operate a charity that helps out animals at vet clinics, rescues, and other well-deserving institutions.”

  “Ah, like the veterans at Hathaway House, by any chance?”

  “One of the things that Dani and the Major have done here is they’ve opened up beds for those who can’t afford it and don’t have any medical coverage,” Penny said. “So my charities like to help out with that.”

  Just then Dennis arrived with another plate of fried chicken, and—instead of a green salad—there was potato salad on the side.

  “Oh my. I hear my stomach calling me. I’ll just go visit Ilse for a minute.” The Major winked at Penny and waved to Dennis, while calling out to Owen, “Nice to meet you, son. Stay the course.”

  Penny watched as Owen stared after the Major, then at the food. Owen looked up at Dennis and asked, “Is this normal fare here?”

  “Absolutely it is.” He proudly nodded. “Also, don’t you let her hogwash you into believing that she doesn’t do much. She’s a hugely valuable part of this place. She donates many hours as a social worker to our patients on an as-needed basis.”

  “I believe it.” Owen nodded. “Apparently you are invaluable too, and whoever is on the staff behind those double doors.”

  “Ilse runs the kitchen, and she’s got a wicked hand with food.” Dennis smiled. “So, enjoy.”

  “That goes for both of us, I guess,” she noted. “We arrived in between meals, so I felt a little guilty.”

  “Like you, I don’t know any better, so I think we can get away with it right now,” Owen said in a conspiratorial whisper.

  Dennis shook his head. “You two are welcome here at any time. So eat up. Tell me what you think.”

  Just as they both chomped down on their first piece of chicken, Dani came around the corner and joined them. “There you are.”

  Owen watched as Penny hunched her shoulders guiltily, and Owen felt his own going the same way. They both stared up at Dani, waiting. She took one look at their faces and laughed. “Talk about two-year-olds c
aught in the act,” she said. “And where the heck did you get fried chicken from?”

  They both looked at each other, at her, and then at Dennis.

  “You had fried chicken today?” Dani asked. “And you didn’t tell me?”

  “You didn’t show up for lunch,” Dennis said, shaking his head. “How am I supposed to do anything, if you don’t appear on the spot?”

  “Maybe,” she muttered. Then she groaned, walked to the coffee station to grab a cup, and returned to join them again. “You guys are quite the picture.”

  “You want a piece or two?” Penny asked, offering her plate.

  Dani hesitated, and Penny urged her again. “Go ahead. I asked for two pieces, and he gave me three.”

  “Yeah, but he also probably saw that you had dropped ten pounds. Are you feeling any better yet?”

  “I am. Otherwise I wouldn’t be eating.”

  Dani smiled and nodded.

  Owen watched in amazement as he was accepted as part of the conversation with the owner of Hathaway and somebody who was obviously a friend as well as an investor, somebody who donated to the animal clinic in the lower floor of this place, as well as donations to cover free beds for veterans. Nash had given Owen somewhat of an explanation about how that worked. Owen was looking forward to seeing the animals when he was stronger.

  In the meantime he devoted his attention to the fried chicken but kept his ears open, as the two women discussed horses, patients, and business. Finally he pushed back his empty plate. “I wasn’t sure I’d survive without food immediately.”

  “I’m surprised to see you here at all,” Dani noted. “When I left you last, you were closing your eyes for a good nap.”

  “And I woke up hungry,” he noted. “That happens a lot.”

  “Me too,” Penny said. “Particularly now.”

  “Yep, your blood sugar,” Dani added, with a chuckle.

  “So you keep telling me.” She shrugged. “According to the doctors, nothing is wrong.”

  “No, maybe not. Except for stress. But, as long as you look after yourself, you’ll stay healthy,” Dani said, with a smile.