Love at First Bark
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Michelle Major
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17,3K
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20
Prologue
Eleven-year-old Cassie Raebourn stood in the waiting room of the veterinary office with what she could only assume was a pit of deep sorrow cracking open in her stomach.
Cassie was a happy kid with a happy life, so the unfamiliar pain that cut across her midsection felt like a physical blow as she watched the heaving shoulders of her classmate. Aiden Riley was clearly trying to keep his emotions in check. His will was an almost palpable force in the quiet of the empty lobby.
She didn’t know him well, but since her family had moved to Crimson, Colorado, at the beginning of the school year, they’d been in the same fifth-grade class. And because their last names started with the same letter, Mrs. Donahue, their teacher, had seated them in the same row.
Aiden mostly kept to himself and didn’t seem to have a lot of friends at school. He and his sister lived with their parents on a ranch outside of town and took the bus daily. Cassie’s father had taken over running the largest local bank in Crimson, and her family lived in a four-bedroom Victorian-era house within walking distance of the elementary school.
Like her parents, Cassie liked living in the mountain town more than she had growing up in Phoenix, their previous home.
It had been on the playground just before the start of winter break four months earlier that she’d seen snow for the first time. The joy and wonder of it had almost brought tears to her eyes.
That was when she’d first noticed Aiden watching her with a kind of reluctant yearning in his dark gaze. She had the feeling he watched her more than she realized. He sat behind her in class, so there was no way for her to check her theory, but she’d catch him glancing at her at odd times during the day—in the cafeteria or at recess. They didn’t talk much, but she felt a connection between them.
His quiet, solemn demeanor was so different from most of the obnoxious, loud boys she knew. And unlike the girlfriends she’d made, he didn’t seem to want her to be anything but who she was on the inside. Most people didn’t look beyond her blond hair, blue eyes and perky personality to understand she wasn’t always the carefree kid they wanted to see. By the way Aiden watched her at school, she had a feeling he knew but seemed to like her anyway.
She hoped he wouldn’t turn around now. She didn’t want him to know that she bore witness to his grief and shared it in some unexplainable way. But she also couldn’t seem to leave him totally alone.
From what she’d gathered, a neighbor had seen Aiden carrying his injured dog on the side of the highway and driven them to the vet clinic where Cassie volunteered a couple of times a week.
She adored animals, but her mom was allergic to any dander, so they couldn’t keep anything other than Cassie’s beloved betta fish and the leopard gecko her parents had reluctantly given her for her tenth birthday.
Aiden’s dog was a scruffy mutt of indiscriminate breed that had to weigh at least fifty pounds. The animal had trembled in the boy’s arms, clearly in pain, and Cassie had seen a trickle of blood staining the dog’s muzzle.
She hated that Dr. Rooney wasn’t in the office that day. Her favorite vet’s partner, Dr. Smith, was competent enough, but he didn’t care about his patients like Dr. Rooney. He didn’t care the way Cassie thought a veterinarian should.
The office was near closing time, so the last scheduled appointment of the day had just left when the neighbor, an older man in faded Wranglers and a dusty flannel shirt, had walked in with Aiden.
Dr. Smith had ignored the boy even though it was clear he was the dog’s owner. The vet tech had taken the injured animal. After speaking to the neighbor in hushed tones, Dr. Smith had closed the exam room door on both of them.
The neighbor had gone into Dr. Rooney’s office to make a phone call, so Aiden was left standing in the waiting room with no one.
Cassie had never personally experienced the kind of desperate loneliness that radiated from the boy she considered a friend even though they probably weren’t. It wasn’t as if she didn’t understand sorrow.
Her parents hadn’t meant Cassie to be an only child, but her mom couldn’t seem to make it through a second pregnancy. Although they didn’t speak of the repeated losses, Cassie understood what made her mom close herself in her bedroom and why her dad sometimes stared out the window with tears staining his cheeks.
She also understood it was her role to be extra happy and loving at those times, and she tried her best to make her mom feel better. Sometimes it even seemed to work, and Melissa Raebourn would slowly come back to herself, her sweet smile returning even if it was wobbly at the corners.
Cassie couldn’t imagine what it would take to entice a smile from Aiden Riley.
No, that wasn’t exactly true. She knew what he needed the same way she knew her own name. He needed his dog to recover and survive whatever had happened to it.
The two ladies who worked the front counter were whispering among themselves about the kind of man who would beat an animal so badly. They were talking about Aiden’s father, and Cassie quickly understood that she could hate a person without ever having met him. Then she said a silent prayer that Dr. Smith would do better than she expected.
She also hated seeing Aiden’s struggle to keep himself from breaking down. She’d seen enough people come into the vet office in the past four months to know that waiting was the hardest part. Waiting alone was simply wrong.
Without thinking about it, she walked over and stood beside him in front of the closed door, linking their fingers together. He didn’t pull away as she might have expected. Instead, his hand gripped hers like she was the only thing tethering him to this world.
It felt like hours, but in reality, it was probably minutes later that the door to the exam room opened. Dr. Smith appeared, and before he said a word, Cassie knew he hadn’t been able to save Aiden’s dog.
“Somebody hurt that animal badly,” he said, and Aiden went rigid.
“It wasn’t me,” he said through gritted teeth. “I would never hurt Sam.”
“He passed away naturally on the exam table,” the vet continued, and Cassie wanted to scream at him to shut his mouth.
The words weren’t going to help the devastated boy still holding her hand.
“It’s a blessing,” Dr. Smith said, “because I would have had to put him down and that costs money I don’t think you have, son.”
How was that supposed to help Aiden feel any better? Dr. Rooney would never have been so callous, but she could tell that Dr. Smith was blaming Aiden for whatever had happened to the dog. It hadn’t been his fault. He was devastated by the loss of his pet.
Where was the neighbor? Where was somebody to protect him?
“Who did it, son?” the vet demanded. “Who hurt that dog?”
“Sam!” she yelled. The doctor’s head snapped back. “He told you his dog’s name is Sam. Sam was his friend.”
The vet’s bushy brows drew together. “This is none of your concern, Cassie. Why don’t you go back to the kennels and check if any of them need to be cleaned?”
She felt tears sting the back of her eyes. She didn’t want to be dismissed or to leave Aiden alone, but he dropped her hand suddenly, like the contact burned him.
“Aiden?” The sound of a woman’s desperate voice had them all turning.
Cassie had never seen Aiden’s mother, but there was no doubt that she was standing in the clinic’s doorway. She had his same dark hair and eyes, although hers looked haunted. Her upper lip was cut, and one cheek appeared swollen and red.
“Ma’am, was that your dog this boy brought in?” Dr. Smith demanded, totally ignoring her distress and injuries.
“Can we call the police?” Joanie, the receptionist, asked. Dr. Smith hadn’t bothered to offer even though the dog hadn’t been the only one who’d been abused that day.
“Sue, what’s going on? Do you need help? Has Eddie been drinking?” The neighbor had come out of the office at that point, but Aiden’s mother ignored his questions and kept her gaze on her son.
“Your sister’s in the car. We’re leaving for good this time.”
No! Cassie wanted to shout. She might not have known Aiden Riley well, but her hand in his had meant something to her. It changed something between them. Although she was too young to understand the rapid beating of her heart, she knew it was important. He was important.
Aiden took a step forward, then turned and met her gaze. She could tell he didn’t want to leave, either. He felt it—whatever was between them. He saw her for more than a happy smile, and she recognized a kindred soul in his dark, sorrowful eyes.
For a moment, Cassie thought he would tell his mother he wanted to stay. But he gave a slight shake of his head and walked away.
“We can help you, Sue,” the neighbor said.
“Ma’am, I’m happy to call the police,” Joanie offered again.
Dr. Smith just stood there looking uncomfortable. Dr. Rooney would have fixed this mess. He would have made it so that Aiden didn’t have to go.
Cassie refused to believe he was leaving for good. She wanted to get to know him. She wanted him to be her real friend.
Without looking back, he followed his mother out into the crisp April day. It would warm up in Crimson in a few weeks, but spring came late to the high mountains of the Rockies.
Surely she’d see him again. Somebody who had the potential to change your life even if you couldn’t explain how couldn’t just disappear from it. Or could they?
