Accidentaly Divine Dakota Cassidy (e manga reader .txt) 📖

probably one of the hardest things I do here. Aside from the special-needs animals, having to ignore what’s right under my nose sucks, and Justin’s a good kid. Quiet, hesitant, but good and really great with the animals.”

This poor kid and poor Dex, caught between a rock and a hard place. “So I suppose they picked me because I have some experience with this sort of thing?”

He shrugged as though it was of no consequence, and he did it for her benefit because he knew it was a sore subject. “Maybe. I can’t speak for the people in charge upstairs.”

Right. “Is Justin here?”

“Not yet, but he will be later in the early evening.”

Deciding she was going to mull over Justin and how she planned to offer suggestions to Dex on how to handle the situation, she drove her arm through his.

“Okay, then I’ll come back tonight and you can introduce me. For now, take me inside and smother me with furbabies, huh? But hurry up, I have to be back at work in a half hour because I have an appointment with Vera Headly, and I think we all know how annoyed that woman can get if I’m not on time for an appointment. We have to set up the meet-and-greet with the new instructor for synchronized swimming. She’s been riding my butt about it for days, but it took me this long to actually find someone willing to deal with Vera. Apparently, she has a reputation amongst the synchronized swimming community.”

He winced comically. “What happened to the old one? Gayle was her name, wasn’t it?”

George threw her head back and laughed. “Hah! Novice. She ran Gayle out of town on a rail three instructors ago. The last one was Merrilee, who I don’t think is ever going to recover from the tongue lashing she received from Vera for being late—once.”

“Then don’t let me hold you up. I wouldn’t want Vera to eat your face off. How about you come back tonight and have dinner with us? It’s pizza night, and the kids who come in from four to seven would love to meet you.”

“Will Justin be here?”

“He will.”

“Then it’s a date. Wait. Not a date-date. A deal. It’s a deal,” she stuttered, her cheeks flaming hot.

“Deal, date. Is there really a difference?” he teased, making her feel less like an idiot.

She laughed as they made their way along the rocky path to the farmhouse to hide the fact that her stomach was in a big knot about this boy Justin, and the idea she’d been called upon to help him was scaring her witless.

Chapter 16

The ladies helped clean up the remnants of the remaining pizza they’d just finished, packing it away in Dex’s fridge, while George sat in the dining room surrounded by four or five dogs (she’d lost count), three cats with various disabilities, a partially paralyzed guinea pig, and three teenagers.

Justin, who sat at the big rectangular wood table, scarred from so much use, hadn’t said much tonight. He’d mostly sat with the dogs, staying on the fringes of the conversation while he stroked a two-and-a-half pound earless Chihuahua by the name of Blip.

Rather than pressuring him to chat, she scooped up Dex’s personal pet—a cat named Susan—and reveled in stroking her soft fur.

Dex mentioned Susan was particular about who she let hold her, typically only allowing Dex or Justin to cuddle her. Of course, Nina was a shoe-in for the cat’s affection. Susan had swirled her tail around Nina’s long calves and it was love at first sight, surprising no one.

Nina was a tough customer, but her love of anything helpless, especially animals and children, left a corner of George’s heart hers and hers alone. Marty and Wanda weren’t far off. Their ease with these kids Dex cared so much for made her fall even more in love with them than she already was.

They were now happily playing a board game amongst a throng of dogs and cats. Wanda didn’t appear to care at all that she had dog hair all over her skirt, or that one dog who’d just made a comeback from parvo was drooling on her shiny, low-heeled shoes. She stroked their heads and cooed at them, laughing with the kids and joking with the other women.

Marty played with a cat with no back paws, dangling one of her bangle bracelets under the glow of the light in the living room and giggling when the feline attempted to swat the shiny baubles.

But Susan had also taken a shine to George, and hopefully, this was the perfect opportunity to show Justin she could be trusted.

Grinning at Susan’s sweet face, she asked, “Has anyone told you how gorge you are today, Susan? Because if not, let me be the first.”

The sweet feline purred for all she was worth, tucking her face into George’s hand.

“She had cryptococcus,” Justin said quietly.

George smiled and nodded as she made note of how clean Dex’s rescue/home was. It wasn’t pretty, no, but it was well kept.

“Is that the disease known as terminally beautiful?” she asked.

For the first time that night, Justin—tall, lanky, dark-haired and fresh-faced, even with all his troubles—gave her a half-smile as he looked at her from across the old oak table. “Some would say she’s ugly because of it.”

She looked him in the eye and grinned. “Well, whoever ‘some’ is, they’re wrong.” Holding up Susan, George cuddled her close. “Right, Susan? Sometimes, you have to look behind the exterior and inside at their hearts, and your heart is beautiful.”

Justin leaned over the table and scratched Susan on the head with a vague smile. “She’s got plenty of heart, that’s for sure.”

George glanced into the kitchen, where Dex, tall and handsome, was making coffee for the adults, the worn countertops chipped and stained, the stove ancient and avocado green.

“Do you like volunteering here, Justin?”

He gave her a pensive stare at first, but then a slow smile spread across his sweet face as he tucked Blip into