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like to go inside and wash out my mouth—”
    “Good idea!” Kelli said, and we all laughed. I was still trying to decide if I could do what Abilene had done.
    “So I went in and washed out my mouth, and then I watched while the vet checked the cat to see if it was going to be okay. Its name is Mittens. The woman had a camera with her and took a picture of the little girl and me and Mittens all together.”
    “Do you know who these people were?” Kelli asked.
    Abilene shook her head, and I had to smile. She knew the cat’s name but not the people’s. Or why the woman had a camera with her. Typical Abilene. “After they left, the veterinarian said I’d done . . . good.”
    Abilene is a modest person, not given to bragging. I guessed she was being modest now about what the vet had said.
    “And then he offered me the job as his assistant.”
    “Dr. Sugarman will be a great guy to work for. I always take Sandra Day to him. This is great!”
    I echoed the thought. A job involving animals would be a perfect job for Abilene.
    “Everyone likes Dr. Sugarman,” Kelli added. “He does everything from teach Sunday school at a church to run a 4-H club for the kids.”
    A Christian, an animal lover, and good with kids. I right away wanted to know if he was married, but Abilene jumped in before I could ask. “I told him I couldn’t take a job because we were just passing through, but . . . ?” She looked at me questioningly.
    “I don’t think we’re just passing through.”
    “Then maybe I’ll go talk to him again about the job. He said he’d train me and teach me whatever I need to know.”
    She spoke in an offhand way, but I could see she was bubbling with eagerness. She clapped a hand to the side of her face. “Oh, but I forgot all about the plastic wrap!”
    And, temporarily, the toothache too, apparently. “I think we’ll survive without it,” I assured her. Probably neither Abilene nor Kelli could, but I could well remember back to the days when we did without plastic wrap because there was no such thing.
    I envisioned Dr. Sugarman as young and handsome, though I doubted that mattered to Abilene. The chance to work with animals was what was important to her. And there was that big barrier to a romantic relationship for Abilene anyway, a barrier in the form of brutal, vindictive Boone Morrison, who was still, unfortunately, her legal husband.
    Kelli jumped up. “Okay! Good. Do you want to go over to the house now or wait until tomorrow?” She answered her own question. “Actually, tomorrow would be better. Uncle Hiram had the place modernized with a heat pump a few years ago, and I have the heat on to keep the pipes from freezing, but it’s down really low. I’ll go over now and turn it up, so the house will be warm tomorrow. Okay?”
    “Sounds good,” I said.
    Kelli offered to come pick us up, but I said we could walk, so she drew a map of streets and suggested we meet at the house at ten o’clock the following day. She said it would be quite a walk, but I said we didn’t mind.
    “But we don’t want you taking time off from work just for this. Ben Simpson mentioned you’re a lawyer, and I know how busy lawyers are. We can come earlier or later.”
    “I’m surprised he didn’t also mention that I’m not exactly overwhelmed with business.” Actually Ben had pointed that out, but I didn’t mention it now. “I’m still working on Uncle Hiram’s estate, and I’m handling a couple of real estate things, but I let my receptionist go a few weeks ago.” She gave us a little wave as she went out the door. “See you tomorrow.”

    Nick closed and locked the gate when he left for the night, and I felt comfortable and secure behind the wooden fence. I fixed pork chops and microwave-baked potatoes for dinner, and Abilene added a salad. Koop snuggled up at my feet when we all went to bed, me in the bed up over the driver and passenger’s seats, Abilene on the sofa. I’d offered numerous times to