Free High Plains Hearts by Janet Spaeth Page A

mall.
    “Um, Jake, the mall—?”
    “ ‘Four calling birds,’ ” he warbled. “ ‘Three French hens—’ ”
    “You went by it already. Jake, Jake.” She tugged on his sleeve. “It was back there.”
    “ ‘Two turtle doves and a parrrrrtridge in a pear tree.’ ” He flung his right arm out in a triumphant finale. “Sorry, Tess—did you say something?”
    “The mall was back there. You drove past it.”
    “You wanted to go to the mall?”
    She could have throttled him. “You said you wanted to go shopping,” she reminded him, her words measured and spoken with a calm she didn’t feel.
    “You don’t strike me as the mall type,” he said. “Do you want to go? I can turn around, although I must admit this surprises me. This is a side of you I’ve not seen before.”
    She couldn’t tolerate it any longer. She growled at him. Bared her teeth and snarled.
    “Okay,” he said, whistling through his teeth. “We won’t go to the mall.”
    She rolled her eyes so hard she thought she’d pulled some kind of eye muscle. He was infuriating.
    But he put on his turn signal and swung off onto a frontage road.
    Her curiosity got the better of her. “What’s out here?”
    He pulled into the parking lot of a large brick building. It seemed nondescript until he drove close enough for her to see the front of it clearly.
    “Welcome to the Animal Kingdom,” she read. “Oh, I’ve heard of this. It was mentioned in the paper, but I’ve never been here before.”
    “You have to get out more often,” he said as he switched off the ignition and opened his door.
    His comment stung a bit. She was a downtown businesswoman as well as a member of the mayor’s task force on rejuvenating the city’s heart. Not only didn’t she have the time to visit every business in town, but her loyalties were firmly on the side of downtown. Whenever she could, she patronized those businesses in the heart of the city.
    She knew there was truth in what he said, though. It was almost too easy to let herself cocoon in the downtown district, what with Nativity half a block away and a grocery store only a few blocks past that. Most of her clothes she bought from mail-order catalogs and had them delivered to her home. She was well on her way to becoming a hermit if she didn’t watch it.
    She trailed after him as he strode across the lot. Snow that hadn’t been scraped off by the plow crunched under her feet.
    Just as a few well-chosen words were about to escape concerning men who walked ahead of their companions, he stopped and waited for her to catch up. “I thought you were right beside me! This is embarrassing—I’ve been talking away to you, and here I am, jabbering to myself. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you weren’t with me. I’ll be more considerate—I promise.”
    The words died on her lips. He was too good.
    She stopped to read the sign on the door: “We do not sell animals here. We recommend you visit your local humane society.” Below that, the address of the animal shelter was lettered in neatly.
    “That’s great!” she said, feeling more enthusiasm for the visit. She was an avid supporter of the humane society.
    Her eyes widened at the sight that met her inside. It was a warehouse of pet supplies that stretched wall to wall and floor to ceiling.
    Jake clutched her hand. “Help me pick out some gifts for a very special young lady.”
    She fell easily into his game. “Tell me something about her.”
    “Well, she’s about this big—” He carved in the air a shape the size of a small calf. “And she has lovely gray hair and white whiskers and an attitude that tells me she doesn’t suffer at all from low self-esteem.”
    “I see. And you were thinking of getting her—?”
    “Something edible.”
    They located the cat section, and Tess’s eyes widened at the aisles of cat treats. They lined the shelves in bags and boxes and cartons of many differing sizes and shapes, and they came in an even greater