Lowcountry Life by Melissa Storm

Author:Melissa Storm [Storm, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Partridge & Pear Press

Chapter 22

Abigail

Abigail texted Gavin to update him on the puppy mill bust, their vet visit, and her upcoming return to church. Almost immediately after she pressed send, her phone buzzed with an incoming call.

“Wow,” Gavin said, not even bothering with hello. “All that in the space of twenty-four hours? You definitely don’t do anything halfway.”

“I guess not,” she answered with a laugh.

Mama Mary cocked her head to the side as if trying to listen in to the conversation, which only caused Abigail to laugh harder.

“So you get to keep the dogs?” Gavin asked. Hope filled his voice, and the sound of a whirring drill accompanied it as well.

“Are you…? Are you doing a root canal while talking to me?”

“Maybe a little bit. I have you on speaker,” he confessed without sounding the least bit apologetic.

“Gavin!” she shouted, plopping down onto her bed with a soft whoosh as the down repositioned itself in her comforter. “That’s awful. You need to be one-hundred percent present for that. Your poor patient is probably terrified.”

A muffled moan came from the other end of the call, and she couldn’t tell whether it was the patient’s way of expressing pain, terror, or laugher.

“Oh, sure,” Gavin joked, drawing out that last word an unnatural length.

She could just picture him rolling his eyes, and it made her feel light and easy despite all the awful things that had happened in her life the past few months. They said that time healed all wounds, but sometimes it felt like going back in time was the only way to move forward. Perhaps that was why she was so sentimental, as Gavin had deftly pointed out.

“It’s not like I’ve done a million of these before, but okay. Have it your way,” he said with a dramatic and clearly faked sigh. “By the way, I’ll be there with you and the dogs on Sunday, too. Okay, bye!”

He hung up before she could protest, presumably returning his full attention to his latest root canal victim.

Okay, well, I guess that’s that.

She’d be seeing Gavin again on Sunday. Perhaps his presence would make the visit a little easier on her. Now she just needed to find a way to fill her time between now and then. It was only Tuesday, after all, and Sunday seemed a mighty long way off.

She leaned back against her headboard and let out a long, beleaguered sigh.

Mama Mary popped up from her bed and trotted over. Her petite paws hugged the edge of the mattress as she whined and begged for Abigail to pick her up.

“You can save fifty-seven dogs from a puppy mill, but you can’t even jump onto the bed,” Abigail said with a chuckle as she lifted the Chihuahua into her arms. Mary’s triumphs and challenges spoke to Abigail in a way little else had. Even though the small things were hard, that didn’t stop her from achieving big—some might say impossible—feats. Could that be a lesson for Abigail’s own life? And for Gavin’s, too?

“You know what?” Abigail told her canine friend.

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