Page 58 of Wild Card
He would say that. The poor guynevergot any. No wonder he was always so wound up.
“Drew is super cute,” Nova put in. “And he definitely has a thing for Bailey. Back when everyone thought we might be dating, he used to tell me how lucky I was to have him.”
“Aw,” Emory said. “That sounds really sweet. Maybe you should ask him out?”
“I don’t think so,” Bailey said. “He’s not really my type, and he’s transferring to the University of Nebraska next year, anyway. Not much point to starting something.”
Holden perked up. “Well, it’s not like you can’t go to the same college next year.”
Bailey shifted. “I don’t know. I just don’t see myself going there.”
“Don’t count yourself out before you even apply,” Holden said. “You’ve got the grades.”
Bailey gave me a fairly desperate look. “So, did you ever go to the animal shelter with the deputy like he wanted?”
“Yeah, on Monday.”
“And?” he pressed.
I wasn’t sure that Bailey really cared about it that much. But he was clearly looking to change the subject, so I took pity on him.
“Dalton was hoping the shelter could make what I do more official.” I shrugged. “They don’t have the resources to expand their foster program, though, and I don’t like the way it’s set up. I don’t want to take pets to the shelter to be locked in cages first and then eventually released to my care. I want to save them that trauma and have them go straight into a good home, you know?”
Holden nodded, glancing down at Banshee. “That would be the ideal situation. Is something like that even possible?”
“I don’t know, but it would really benefit the shelter because they’re at capacity, and their funding was cut.”
“That’s awful,” Emory said, voice full of sympathy. “Do they take donations?”
“I would think so. Not sure. Plus, you could help by adopting.”
“More dogs?” Gray said. “I live in fear of losing my balls as it is now.”
“Taz is not goingto eat your balls,” I said dismissively.
“He’s vicious!”
Emory chuckled. “I’ll protect your goods, babe. Don’t worry.”
“Of course, Holden could just adopt Banshee, and that’d free me up to take in another dog…”
Holden made a startled noise. “I thought…” He swallowed. “Don’t you want to keep her?”
“She likes you. She’s content over here. And let’s be real.” I put my hands over Sugar’s ears so she wouldn’t hear this next bit. “Banshee is a bit high-class to be living in a junkyard with the rest of us mutts.”
Holden’s mouth twisted. “I don’t know.”
“Just think about it.” I scratched behind Sugar’s ears. “It might be good for both of you.”
Emory set down his fork and dabbed his mouth with a napkin. “I still can’t believe they cut their funding.”
“I know, right? Someone should talk to the city council.”
Emory nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, but if the budget’s set, it might not do a lot of good right now. Allison runs the Riverton Community Foundation. They provide local grants. Plus, she’s great at hunting down state and federal grant opportunities. She might be able to help.”
“Really? That would be great.”
“I’ll text her,” Emory said. “We’re meeting up for drinks Friday. You should come along. Maybe you two can talk about it.”
