Home to Seal Point & Still the One by RaeAnne Thayne

Author:RaeAnne Thayne [Thayne, RaeAnne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488097614
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWO

Fifteen minutes later, Lainey pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. As a rule, Lainey avoided hospitals. She brought Pita in with her, needing the distraction and companionship the dog offered. After a quick lecture about the importance of therapy dogs in rehabbing patients and a crisp twenty slipped to the young girl at the desk, she and Pita walked down the narrow hall, the clip of the dog’s nails on the linoleum floor the only sound.

The entire building smelled of ammonia and something sweet—like those hard butterscotch candies she’d find buried in her Nana’s purse. Lainey climbed the steps to the third floor and stopped at Vera’s door. As if sensing something unusual, Pita tugged at her leash. “We’re both stuck here,” Lainey whispered.

Lainey heard her mother before she saw her. Vera’s breath came out in raspy puffs, not quite a snore but in a rhythm that announced sleep. Sunlight filtered through venetian blinds on the other side of the bed.

Lainey approached, her grip tightening on Pita’s leash until her nails dug half-moons along the inside of her palm. Vera lay on her back, the left side of her face drooped noticeably and one arm curled at an unnatural angle as it rested on the covers.

Her mother was a force of nature, a whirling dervish who accomplished more before noon than most people did in a week. She looked tiny and frail in the big bed, her skin as pale as the white hospital sheets.

“Oh, Mama.” She’d whispered the words but Vera’s eyes flew open.

“You came,” she began, her voice garbled. Only one side of her mouth moved, and it was an obvious struggle to form the words.

Lainey inched forward, wrapping her fingers around Vera’s tightly clenched hand. “I got here as soon as I could.” She kissed Vera’s sunken cheek, the skin paper-thin against her lips. “Don’t talk if it’s too hard.”

With her good hand, Vera tapped the leash looped across Lainey’s palm.

It took her a moment to realize what her mother meant. “I’ve got a dog. For the moment.”

As if on cue, Pita jumped onto the foot of the bed and carefully made her way to Vera’s side.

“Pita, off,” Lainey said in a harsh whisper.

The dog wasn’t huge—blue heeler mixed with more random breeds—but she was no lapdog. Instead of climbing down, she sniffed the covers then curled into a ball, resting her head against Vera’s hip.

“Pita, no.” But when Lainey pushed at the animal, her mother’s good hand swatted at Lainey then settled on Pita’s back. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. The dog sighed and snuggled closer.

Lainey shook her head. Vera’s way with animals was legendary. It’s what propelled her how-to book on training shelter dogs into a national bestseller. Even Oprah had called for help with a spaniel adopted from a puppy mill raid.

Rescuing and rehabilitating unwanted animals had become her mother’s great passion after Lainey’s father died. Lainey knew that would be the hardest part of the stroke, putting her work on hold until Vera regained her strength—if she ever did.

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