Page 36 of Abbe's Angel

“For two years.”

“Did you have a dog?”

Abbe laughed. “He’s allergic to all kinds of animal dander. Cat, dog, horse, you name it.”

Rafe’s head turned to her in surprise. “How’d that work? I mean, you’re always covered in some kind of fur—”

“Geeze, thanks,” Abbe said, offended.

“No, I mean,Idon’t care, but if he was allergic, what did you do?”

“I had to shower as soon as I got home and change out of my work clothes. I kept them in a separate hamper.”

“I’m guessing he never came to visit you at work.”

“Nope.”

“But he supported your work at that shelter, right?”

Abbe made an iffy gesture with her hand. “He loved what I did, in theory. He’s an activist, you know. Vegan, very involved with animal rights and the environment and social issues. He’s like a professional protestor,” she said. She saw Rafe’s mouth tighten like he was holding back saying something. “What?”

“Nothing,” he growled, obviously annoyed. “You’re not a vegan, are you?”

“I tried it for a while, but it wasn’t right for me,” Abbe said. “Still, I rarely eat meat, and chickens flat out deserve to die—”

“Woah!” he said, shocked. “Tell me how youreallyfeel.”

Abbe raised a hand, pausing him so she could qualify her last statement. “Nothing deserves to suffer. I’m careful to choose free-range, pasture-fed animals. But. Chickens are evil and should be food.”

“Someday you have to unpack that for me,” Rafe said, shaking his head. “But back to your ex. He only loved what you didin theory. He didn’t visit you at work and he didn’t actuallylikeanimals. How did he feel about you pouring so much of yourself into the shelter? Because you give your heart and soul to that place.”

Abbe tipped her head to the side considering. “Honestly? I think he kind of thought my grandmother’s house could have been used to better ends.”

Rafe snorted. “His ends. It’s a great property. What’s it worth? Just over three million?”

Abbe’s jaw dropped. “How did you know that?”

He smiled. “We do a lot of real estate investment,” he said. “It’s my job to know stuff like that.”

Abbe was still dumbfounded. “I’d never be able to guess that if I didn’t actually pay the property taxes myself. I don’t even know the price ofeggsright now,” she said, wondering if there was something wrong with her.

“Because your value system isn’t based on money,” he said, smiling at her. “Back to the house. Your ex didn’t want it to be a shelter.”

Abbe shook her head, chewing on her lower lip. “He wanted us to live there after we were married. He said we should turn it back into a residence, and I should work at Rachel’s shelter.”

“Who’s Rachel?”

Abbe smiled just thinking about her. “She’s sort of my mentor. She’s the one covering for me this weekend.”

“Got it. Thank you, Rachel,” he said like he was ticking off a box in his head. “Continue.”

“There’s nothing else to say, really. We dated for six years, lived together for two of them, and we’ve been broken up for over a year now.”

Rafe did some fast math. “You met him when you werenineteen?” he asked, sounding put out.

“Yeah.”

“That’s really young.”

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