Free Rescue Me by Catherine Mann

almost thought he’d hung up, then he said hesitantly, “Are you hanging in there all right?”
    â€œJust tired.” And emotional. “Once I eat, I’ll catch my second wind. You just focus on work.”
    â€œActually, there’s a reason for my call besides canceling. I wanted to give you an early Christmas present.” He pulled away from the phone for a second and shouted, “Hang on, guys. I’ll be there in a minute. Okay, Lacey, I’m back.”
    â€œA surprise? Sounds intriguing.” Guilt pinched over her relief that he wouldn’t be here for supper. He was clearly excited about something.
    â€œMeant to tell you earlier, but got distracted this afternoon. I was talking to my captain yesterday about the station sponsoring a shelter dog for the February competition. The captain really went with the idea and came up with the perfect candidate to be the dog’s handler.”
    â€œTell me more.”
    â€œYou may have noticed my cousin’s wired pretty tight. We want him to have one of the shelter dogs and work with Mary Hannah if you can convince her. I know there isn’t time to do a full-out service-dog training, or even complete the therapy-dog training. But isn’t there another level?”
    â€œEmotional-support animal.”
    â€œRight, sorry for spacing on the terminology.”
    â€œYou’ve been amazing in how you’ve learned about my world. I appreciate it.” And she did. She just wished she gave as much back to him.
    â€œThis is who you are. I accept you as you are.”
    She knew that, and appreciated what a rare gift that was, but she just wished things weren’t moving so quickly and that she knew how to slow them down. “Um, Sierra and Mike are here, so I need to get dinner on the table. Thanks again for everything.”
    â€œNo problem, babe. I’ll see you in the morning. Love ya.”
    Normally, she said it back. But tonight her throat closed up like she’d taken too big a bite of food.
    Of life.
    She opened her mouth but could only push out, “See you in the morning.”
    Walking into the kitchen, she hung up and tossed the cell phone into her purse. She reached for her Waterford crystal glass beside the Crock-Pot full of macaroni and cheese. If ever she’d needed a drink, tonight was the night for it.
    But Sierra wasn’t the only one who had to watch what she ate and drank for a baby on the way.
    *   *   *
    WITH SIERRA CLOSE on her heels, Mary Hannah unlocked her front door and pushed inside her studio apartment. Pristine, neat as a pin, and she couldn’t help but think how AJ would tease her for that obsessive organization all the way to her alphabetized spice rack and labeled recycling bins. She craved order more than ever these days.
    Even if she could only make that happen inside this space of her own.
    With pale green walls and refinished hardwood floors, the loft had a large television area and a raised platform for a bed under a skylight to watch the moon and stars at night. She wondered sometimes in the wee hours what it would be like to invite AJ into her bed and look up at the stars with him. To have a man in her life again. To figure out how to help that man trust her once he knew about her past. Hell, how to trust herself.
    The risk was just too much. She drew in a deep, calming breath of the lavender and peppermint scents from her plug-in infusers.
    So that left her with this celibate limbo life, treading water, and she wasn’t sure how to move forward. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to. Not yet. There was a lot to be said for simply not sinking.
    She flicked on the living-area lights. Her cat, Siggy—short for Sigmund Freud—jumped off the back of the slipcovered sofa. She’d walked out of her marriage taking nothing except her furry Persian kitty. She’d rebuilt from the ground up with a shabby-chic-meets-flea-market restoration