Page 74 of The Rescuer

The squawk in her voice told him she wasn’t happy with the answer. “So you’re saying it’s legit? We haven’t seen anything in the clerk’s portal yet … Oh, I see. Right. We’ll take a look later today. Here’s the thing, though. Reece and I didn’t mean to get married. It was a mistake. You have the power to marry people. Can’t you annul them too?” A moment ticked by, and Neve let out a defeated sigh. “Then what are our options for undoing this?” She stuck her head out of her office, surprising him. Instead of glaring at him for eavesdropping, she motioned him inside and kept talking. “I see. I appreciate the offer, Alma, but I think we’ll look for a lawyer on our own. There’s one more matter that needs to be resolved. About the rings …” She trailed off and was quiet. Reece could hear words on the other end, though he couldn’t make them out.

Neve’s shoulders curled around her, like a bird folding its wings into itself. “No, Reece and I understand. And there’s no way to scrub out the engraving, I take it? Okay. Well, thanks for returning my call. What’s that?” Her eyes locked on to Reece’s. “Yes, he certainlyishandsome. I’ll give it some thought.”

He leaned against the doorframe. “Doesn’t sound like it was the news you wanted to hear.”

“It’s not the newseitherof us wanted to hear. The marriage is legit. Between a skeleton crew at the clerk’s office and a record number of marriages, they got bogged down. But it should be up by the end of the day. And the rings—”

“Can’t return them when they’re engraved?”

“Yeah. We’re stuck, any way you slice it. I questioned how they were able to get them engraved so quickly, and she said they engrave right there in the store, and that their man—a second cousin, apparently—is very efficient. She was quite proud of that. She also mentioned that we didn’t seem to mind because we were content to ‘snuggle and enjoy our cocktails.’ Of course cocktails were involved. Cocktails are the whole reason for this … this debacle. She did offer up the name of an attorney—her brother.”

“Of course it’s a relative,” he guffawed.

Somehow the news didn’t weigh him down like he’d expected it would. He didn’t feel trapped, didn’t feel dismay. In fact, he didn’t feel bad at all about their screwed-up circumstances. But he had little time to ponder his turn of emotions because all hell broke loose as a woman tore inside the clinic in full-on panic mode.

Reece and Neve rushed to meet her.

“My dog! He ran through a barbed-wire fence, and he’s bleeding everywhere! Please save my dog!”

Neve went into vet mode, placing a soothing hand on the woman’s shoulder. She was pure efficiency with a healthy dose of whisperer. “Where is he?”

“In the c-car! I didn’t want to move him and make it worse. Oh, please! He’s hurt bad.”

“The doc will take good care of him. You’ve come to the best,” Reece assured the woman. He meant every word. Faint surprise flickered in Neve’s big blues right before he sped out to get the dog.

Later that evening, Reecelay on his bed, petting Mr. Whiskers as the cat sprawled across his lap in the guest bedroom, not a care in his fuzzy little head. Neve was hanging out at the clinic to be sure the injured dog could handle the aftereffects of the anesthesia from its surgery. He’d needed stitches to close some nasty lacerations.

Reece was currently taking a break from orientation videos for his new job in Vermont.Anotherbreak. Staying focused on the chore was getting tougher by the minute, and he pulled up the wedding video on his phone, like he’d done time and time again in the past week. He marveled at how he and Neve fit each other like two halves of a locket. And that kiss. God, he wished he could remember all of it.

His mind wandered to whether Neve would like the salad he’d whipped up and his go-to Italian-concoction casserole currently warming in the oven. It strugglednotto go to the pictures that continually haunted his dreams—the ones of her sleeping between soft sheets in nothing but her creamy, touchable skin.

Maybe he should get up and uncork a bottle of red to go with the meal. He forced himself to run through the small selection in his mind. Since living with her, he’d learned Neve preferred chocolate milk or red wine at home, saving the tequila drinks for the Miners Tavern, and not nearly in the volume he’d once believed she consumed.

They had been sharing the cooking and cleaning, but he wanted her to put her feet up after her long day at the clinic. Maybe they would watch a movie after dinner or play a board game by the fire. They’d fallen into the simple pattern ever since he’d moved in—ironically, not unlike that of arealmarried couple. Conversation could be light, slip easily into serious, and at times be comfortably nonexistent.

Mr. Whiskers adjusted to Pearl by hiding or pretending she didn’t exist—which was pretty much how he treated everyone unless he wanted his ears scratched. Had anyone told Reece he’d be living in this surreal pseudo state of domestic serenity, he would have examined them for a concussion.

Mr. Whiskers stared up at him with his one green-gold eye as if reading his every thought.

“Yeah, buddy. These digs aren’t too bad, huh? Where do we go after this, you ask? Back to the apartment, I guess, as soon as Charlie gets everything put back together.” Charlie was back from his honeymoon but was playing catch-up on other projects and hadn’t had a chance to finish the plumbing work at Miners Tavern. Not that Noah was in any hurry to re-open the bar. He was still off honeymooning with Hailey and had planned to keep the tavern closed anyway, so the timing dovetailed nicely with the disaster.

Selfish bastard that he was, though, Reece hoped Charlie didn’t get to the repairs anytime soon. Helikedbeing in Neve’s tranquil home and sharing her routine. The peaceful vibe gave him a chance to let his hair down, to breathe, to simplybe—a luxury he hadn’t enjoyed since his carefree high school days.

“Whether we move back to the tavern or stay here, though, I’ve gotta find you a forever home. Neve likes you—I can tell—but you’re not crazy about Pearl, so staying here won’t work long-term.” The cat made a chittering noise that could have been a feeble meow. “You know it’s true. And I like you too, pal, but I can’t take you with me to Vermont.” There came that familiar sinking feeling again. It sat like a knot of heartburn in Reece’s chest every time he thought about the move.

From what he’d observed so far about his new assignment, they ran a tight operation, which he appreciated. While San Juan had been great to work for, its small size and makeup of volunteers meant details occasionally fell through the cracks. Yet he struggled to muster excitement about joining Stowe. What choice did he have, though? The only Colorado outfit he truly wanted to be part of was his old one, currently under the command of Chelsea Selkirk.

It’s the change to a new environment that’s bugging me, that’s all. No doubt because it was amassivechange.

On top of the upheaval facing him, other questions loomed, throwing a kink into his otherwise blissful existence. For instance, what asshole was behind trying to destroy Neve’s clinic and her livelihood? Was it the same wacko who had stolen her drugs?

On a more personal level, how were they going to resolve this accidental marriage they found themselves in?

Rustling in the living room told him Neve was home. The wallswerethin, and he could hear nearly every movement she made. Setting Mr. W aside, he sprang to his stockinged feet and shoved them into sneakers before leaving his room.

“Something smells good.” She beamed at him with excitement as she pulled off her coat.

He stepped lively to help her, but she had it off before he could reach her. “Just some comfort food for a cold night. How’s the dog?”

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