Chapter 13

“Yeah, I love it, too. Born and raised here, you know. After I finished school, I thought I’d have to work for Dr. Johnson if I wanted to move home again. But Rayna and Etta had just opened the clinic and it was a perfect fit.”

“Why’d you leave the clinic? If it’s not too personal.”

He shook his head and stared off into the middle distance. “It’s not. I just…” He tugged at his hat again. “I promised someone I’d follow my dreams. I loved working at the clinic and it was great. But working with dogs, training, and taking care of them, that’s where my passion lies. So I made it happen.”

“That’s great.” I had to clear the emotion from my throat. Because obviously there was a much bigger story, I wanted to ask, wanted to find out what put that moment of sadness in his eyes, but we weren’t close enough yet. It felt like an invasion of privacy.