A is for Alpha by Kate Aster

Author:Kate Aster [Aster, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-04-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

~ ALLIE ~

If a stray cat walks by, I’ll be dragged into the street.

I have three dogs attached to me, one in each hand, and a third whose leash has somehow wrapped itself around my ankle. It is the best I can do under the circumstances. Two of my volunteers have yet to show up, and two more texted me saying they’re sick.

Sick. Yeah, right. The sky is the color of the blue topaz pendants that sparkle in the window of the jewelry store just five doors down from where I sit, and a warm breeze is blowing in from the South. It is a perfect day in May in America’s heartland, and I swear I can smell the moist soil being tilled on Len Kroger’s farm a mile south of town.

My deadbeat volunteers are probably lounging on their hammocks, sipping a Starbucks right now, or writing up a grocery list for a spontaneous neighborhood barbeque because it’s just that kind of day in Newton’s Creek. That’s what I’d be doing if I didn’t feel the weight of adorable furry lives bearing down on me every day.

Sinking my back into the uncomfortable folding chair outside Sally Sweet’s Pet Boutique, I watch the slow but steady trickle of traffic on Anders Road, which is pretty much our town’s Main Street.

I like this street because it seems frozen in time. My dad used to tell me that half the stores he had shopped at as a kid were still open here, even if they are struggling now in today’s economy. There’s a five-and-dime across from me where Dad used to buy me balls of cherry blast gum or a pretzel rod for a nickel anytime we visited. It is the kind of street where people always greet me as I sit with my rescued dogs trying to find them homes.

Even after spending half my night wallowing in my humiliation after bailing on the hottest man alive, I’m feeling pretty content sitting out here just like I do every Saturday morning for two hours with my canine friends.

Life is like that. You fall in a pile of mud. You get up. You move on.

I spot Cass hauling ass across the street toward me, dragged by a 75-pound husky mix on a leash. I sigh with relief and longing when I see the cardboard tray she holds sporting three large coffees, mine heavily spiked with cream and sugar if she got my text fifteen minutes ago.

Slow down, Snowball. Don’t make her spill my coffee.

“Sorry I’m late,” she says as she sets the coffee down on the concrete beside me and takes one of the leashes from my hands.

“Don’t worry about it,” I respond, greedily taking the cup and sucking in a hot mouthful of caffeinated decadence. “Thanks.”

“Am I the only one here so far?”

“No. Maddie and Lila are inside with the little ones,” I say as I give a toss of my head in the direction of the pet store entrance. The little

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