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answer?” she asked, raising a brow.
    “Past is past. Need work and need somebody to take a chance on me.” He read subtle astonishment in her face, and he heard the faintest intake of breath. Nobody else would’ve caught it.
    “I like your honesty. To put my cards on the table likewise, I’m not exactly overwhelmed with applicants. I’ll call your references, and if they recommend you, I’ll offer you a two-week trial. We’ll see how it goes.”
    “Sounds good,” he said.
    Zeke pushed to his feet and offered his hand. It was a privilege he’d offered nobody since his escape. After being poked and prodded and having no say about anything, now he wanted complete control over who touched him. She curled her warm fingers around his and it felt like a fist around his heart. Letting go of her hurt.
    With a nod of farewell, he turned. But she stopped him again with that sweet molasses voice. Her careless interest would cut him wide open, if he didn’t watch out.
    “Have you always been so quiet?”
    He’d lost some of his old life while they had him locked up. Things were blurred or felt like they’d happened to someone else. It helped with the sad things, but he didn’t like losing the precious thoughts as well. The bell jingled up front.
    “Yeah.” It was the easy answer, and he’d sure never talked as much as some.
    That time, she let him go because the red-haired girl called, “Your next appointment is here!”
    “Coming! I’ll be in touch, Zeke. It was nice talking to you.” Her smile said she meant it, and her scent agreed, deepening to caramel and smoky apple wood. Before the change, emotions had barely registered for him at all, and now he could smell them. Was this how animals read humans?
    Neva walked him out of her office and then took over with the clients; her assistant had started the visit by putting the pet owners in the exam room. He admired the way they worked together. Maybe one day he’d fit that smoothly. Dim hope. He never fit anywhere.
    The assistant came back to the lobby. Her face was covered in freckles and she had a faint gap between her two front teeth. She didn’t seem to care it showed when she smiled, because she did it a lot.
    “I’m Julie Fish.” She waited, as if expecting a response.
    “Pleasure. Zeke Noble.”
    Puzzlement flickered. “It’s okay, you can laugh.”
    “Why?”
    “Because my last name is Fish and I work at a place called Paws and Claws.”
    Then he did laugh. The sound surprised him. It felt like something had torn loose inside; some weight had lifted. “Funny.”
    “I’m used to it. So you really want a job here, huh?”
    “Yeah.” And he meant it.
    “She works harder than anybody I’ve ever met.”
    Though he felt guilty at the impulse, he got the feeling Julie would chatter if he didn’t walk away. He didn’t. “Oh?”
    “Yeah.” Julie glanced at the closed exam room door and lowered her voice. “Since Luke disappeared anyway.”
    Zeke drew a blank. He didn’t know much about the Harpers, other than what the rest of the town did—that they had money, owned the mill, and threw fancy parties out at Harper Court. And it took a full day to trim their lawns.
    “Who?”
    “Been gone awhile, I take it?” He didn’t answer, and she went on, “Lucius Harper was Neva’s twin. He went missing and the family hasn’t been the same since.”
    Lucius. That name, he remembered. Geneva and Lucius. Luke and Neva. They’d both chosen simpler names than the ones they’d been given. That spoke to their characters.
    “Sorry to hear,” he said, belatedly seeing she wanted a response.
    “Anyway, I tell you that so you understand why she’s always here.”
    “So she won’t have time to grieve.”
    “You got it. But don’t worry. She doesn’t expect us to match her schedule. She’s a great boss.”
    “Seems you like her a lot.”
    Julie nodded. “We’ve been friends since fifth grade.”
    His best friend was in the military. The last