Once they were within cell phone range again, Moose called Jaxson to tell him that he was all right, and then called Adam Whitaker, the local vet, to find out if he’d be willing to come to the fire station to look Sparky over. Adam agreed easily and Moose hung up.

“Dammit, Georgia, I just realized that I should drive you down to your car at the trailhead,” he said, his forehead crinkled with worry, “but I don’t want to risk letting Sparky escape in the middle of nowhere. She’s only gonna fall for the ‘come here to eat this beef jerky’ ploy so many times before we won’t be able to lure her anywhere with the promise of food. Would you mind if we took Sparky to the fire station first? I’ll drive you up here to pick up your car afterwards, I promise. I’d just like to get Sparky checked over; I’m worried her former owner might’ve done internal damage or something.”

Georgia’s heart squeezed at the care and attention that Moose was showing a dog he’d only just met; a dog that had done her best to castrate him just a half hour ago. Not every guy would be so focused and worried about a random dog’s well-being.

Just one more thing to admire about Moose.

“Sure, no problem at all,” she said lightly, and she meant it. And, bonus points: She’d be able to spend just a little more time with Moose. There was an unreal quality to last night and today, as if it was just them out here in the world, no responsibilities, no connections, just them against the world. She wasn’t ready to let go of that feeling yet.

Or let go of Moose.

She thought back to her conversation with Tenny the night of the donkey basketball fundraiser. How on God’s green earth did Tenny look at Moose and Levi, and then pick Levi?

That just seemed…bizarre. Wild. Strange.

Sure, Georgia had made that exact decision in high school when she’d started dating Levi, but on the other hand, she also wasn’t actually given a choice.

Moose had been off limits to every girl in school except Tennessee. It had been that way his entire life. They went to prom together. They went to concerts together. Tenny went to the football games and cheered Moose on…literally, what with being the head cheerleader and all the last two years they were in high school.

Moose and Tenny had been two peas in a pod their whole lives.

No, Georgia hadn’t been given the choice between Moose and Levi. She’d been given the choice between Levi and nobody at all – dating choices weren’t exactly numerous in the tiny town of Sawyer – and so she’d chosen Levi.

He was a good guy, absolutely. He just wasn’t Moose.

Until the day she died, she wouldn’t understand how Tennessee’s brain worked, and that was a fact.

Her mind started to drift and her head started to bob as they made their way back towards town, the sway of the truck lulling her to sleep. Leaning up against a rock cliff, snuggling up against Moose’s side…it wasn’t exactly an ideal sleeping arrangement, even if her pillow was Moose. The stress and exhaustion of it all rushed over her, wearing her out. She felt like she’d been wrung out and hung up to dry.

Endless time passed and then they were coming to a stop and Georgia was struggling to open her eyes. Blearily, the fire station came into focus in front of her. “We’re here,” Moose said quietly, as Sparky’s whines kicked up another notch. A small part of Georgia’s brain remembered that Sparky had stopped whining and had settled down during the ride back to town, probably realizing that it didn’t do any good to try to get out while the truck was moving down the road.

But now that they were at their destination, Sparky had gone back to whining and worrying again.

Georgia pushed herself to turn in the seat, stretching for a moment even as she reached into the backseat to pet Sparky. “You’re fine, you’re just fine,” she crooned to the pacing dog. Not surprisingly, Sparky didn’t seem to believe her. She looked back at Moose. “What’s our game plan?”

“I think you ought to crawl into the backseat and hold her. I’ll get out and open the door and drag her inside with me. I should’ve thought to ask Adam to bring a leash with him. We can’t just keep dragging her around by her collar. Even a dog that hasn’t been abused doesn’t appreciate that.”

Georgia nodded, her heart twisting a little inside at his words. There was no other explanation for Sparky’s behavior other than abuse, but it still hurt to imagine that someone would do that to such a sweet, pretty dog.

She climbed over the console and into the back, which caused Sparky to really kick up her whines of panic and distress, but she grabbed the dog, pinning it against the seat, a death grip on the collar while she cooed and petted her soft, silky hair with the other hand. “It’s all right, pretty girl – it’s okay. I promise. Don’t you worry. We’re gonna find someone who’ll love you forever.”

The front door of the truck opened and closed softly, even as Georgia continued to talk to the panicking dog in a sing-song voice. “You’re going to love Adam Whitaker, I promise. He’s a real nice vet. He just needs to look you over—”

The door opened and Moose’s hand shot out, snagging the collar in a death grip as Sparky scrambled to try to run away. Bent at the waist, he half walked, half dragged Sparky into the fire station as Georgia hurried after them. She shut the man door behind them with a happy laugh – they’d made it.

Adam looked up from his conversation with Jaxson and came striding over. “There’s the woman of the hour,” he said softly to Sparky. He looked up at Moose. “Let’s take her back into the supply closet. It’s got that table in there for organizing, and it’s nice and enclosed. She won’t be able to run too far if we corner her in there.”

Moose just grunted his acknowledgement, all of his concentration focused on getting the dog through the fire station without losing his grip on her collar. Finally, he got her into the closet and together with Adam, they got her onto the table. Moose looked back at the open doorway at Georgia and said, “She knows you better, plus I have to file some paperwork for last night’s fun.” He flashed a dazzling row of white teeth at her, and finished with, “You mind helping Adam out here?”

“No, not at all.” She was happy to have something to do, actually. Just standing around and watching other people work wasn’t exactly her style. Moose turned sideways and crab walked out of the storage room as Georgia came the other direction, trying to stay out of his way but also not wanting to leave too much of an opening that would allow Sparky to make a dash for it. She was looking up and he was looking down and her tits were on fire and her breath had disappeared and then he was moving towards Jaxson to give him an update on what happened, and Georgia was doing her best not to melt into the floor.

If they had been alone, she was sure they would’ve kissed. She knew they would’ve kissed. But they weren’t alone and they should never be alone again. This just proved it.

She hastily shut the closet door behind her and hurried over to the examination table. It was beat to shit and looked like it’d survived a bombing raid or two, but it was at least sturdy, and for that, she was grateful. She petted Sparky, cooing and feeding her the small treats that Adam had slipped to her to keep Sparky entertained while he did an examination. As he worked, he asked Georgia what had happened – how she’d found Sparky – and she told him the whole story.

“Do you think that Sparky would’ve run away from the fire if I hadn’t been there to drag her away?” she asked Adam, worrying her lower lip as she did. “I kept questioning myself as I did it. She’d obviously been abused by someone and I didn’t like forcing her to come with me, but I also didn’t want to chance her getting burned to death.”

Adam looked down at her – with his cowboy boots on, he towered over her – and gave her a kindly smile. “Whatever you did to get Sparky to come with you, I promise you that it was nicer than what her previous owner did to her. It’s hard to know if she would’ve survived the fire or not, but even if she had, she wouldn’t survive wandering up in the hills by herself for very long. One way or the other, she probably would’ve died up there without you. A little bit of being dragged around was worth her life, I promise.”

She nodded. Adam was right, and that sure made her feel better about the whole thing. Forcing a dog into obedience rubbed her the wrong way, but he was right – it was better than letting her die.

“All right, I’m done for now,” Adam said, standing back from the table and the shaking dog on it. “I’m gonna open up the door and let her run around the fire station a little bit. If we give her some breathing room and let her explore on her own, she might start to realize that we’re nice and aren’t going to abuse her. We’ll just have to make sure that when people go in and out of the fire station, they close the man door behind them quickly. Have you given her food or water yet?”

Georgia shook her head. “We didn’t have any cups or bowls to pour water into, and I certainly didn’t go hiking with dog food in my backpack.” Adam gave a little chuckle at that. Georgia continued on, “I gave her a bit of beef jerky and so did Moose, but she’s gotta be starving.”

Adam nodded. “I’ll tell everyone what I found. Michelle from over at the pound should be here soon. I called her as soon as I hung up with Moose. She can start the paperwork to do a rescue of Sparky.”

He sidled past her in the cramped quarters, leaving her behind to continue to pet and soothe Sparky, but Georgia realized that the touch of his body against hers as he made his way to the door did absolutely nothing for her at all.

What a difference from the same exact situation with Moose just minutes before.

It sure didn’t help Georgia’s state of mind. The fact that she’d only reacted this way to one person in her entire life, and that person was the one person on earth she couldn’t have…

Not exactly a happy thought.

Adam opened the door to the storeroom as Georgia let go of Sparky’s collar. She went darting out like her ass was on fire, and Georgia just laughed a little to herself as she watched the dog streak from the room. Sparky was so sure she’d outsmarted them by escaping their grasp, but once she was out of the small room, she looked around the large bay, clearly not sure what to do with her newfound freedom.

Moose, who hadn’t been let in on the plan yet, started sprinting for Sparky, who quickly dived under a fire truck, yelling as he went.

“It’s okay!” Georgia exclaimed before he could dive under the truck after her. “Adam said to let her walk around a bit. Just be careful when you open the man door so you don’t let her outside.”

Moose stopped in his tracks. “Oh. Right,” he said, looking a little embarrassed, but honestly, Georgia was impressed all over again. She had no doubt that he would’ve crawled around underneath the truck, trying to chase the dog, just because he thought he was supposed to.

If there was one thing that Moose was always good for, it was doing what he was supposed to do.

“Do we have some sort of bowl here that we could give her some water?” Georgia asked, already heading for the small kitchenette, which basically consisted of a dorm fridge, microwave, industrial sink, and a few dusty coffee mugs.

“I’ll get it,” Troy rumbled, two steps ahead of her.

Georgia jerked to a stop. Troy spoke. Troy was there. When had he shown up at the fire station? She hadn’t even seen him when they came in.

But Troy was already searching through the cupboards, looking for a bowl for the occasion, so Georgia let him have at it and headed back to the group of men, where Adam was discussing Sparky’s condition.

“—viously mistreated by her previous owner,” he was saying as Georgia came walking up. She found herself standing next to Moose in the circle of men. Not on purpose, of course. He was just there, and then she was standing next to him. Sometimes that sort of thing just happened.

“What I can’t figure out,” Adam continued, “is how did she end up in the hills like that, with no one around? Purebreds don’t just show up in the wilderness, miles from the nearest human. Someone dropped her off or lost her or something. Georgia, were there any vehicles or anything out there before Sparky showed up?”

She shook her head confidently, and then stopped. “Honestly, I’m not sure,” she said slowly, her brow wrinkling as she thought through it. “There could’ve been, actually. I was pretty high up in the hills, and off in my own little world. I was more focused on not tripping over tree roots and killing myself than paying attention to my surroundings. Sparky scared the hell outta me when I first saw her. I saw this movement out of the corner of my eye and I was just sure she was a bear.” The guys all laughed and she grinned too. “Ridiculous, I know. It’s amazing how quickly your mind flips through possibilities when you think you’re gonna die. Anyway, it was soon after that the fire was roaring up the hillside, so I didn’t exactly scout around for a vehicle.”

Adam looked at Jaxson, and they both seemed to have the same thought at the same time. “A hunter,” they said in unison.

“Some guy was taking a Dalmatian out to go hunting?” Georgia asked, totally perplexed. She wasn’t exactly the world’s biggest expert on dogs, but she’d never heard of a hunting Dalmatian. Weren’t labs and retrievers usually hunting dogs?

“That’s not a Dalmatian!” Adam said, laughing. “White with black spots…I can see why you’d think that,” he said quickly, trying to spare her ego, but his eyes were definitely still sparkling with laughter. “Sparky’s a setter. They’re a really popular hunting breed. That’s why her ears and her tail are so fluffy. Dalmatians are not fluffy – they’re sleek and smooth all over.”

“Not a Dalmatian, and not a boy. I really had this one pegged,” Georgia grumbled to herself. Moose snorted with laughter.

Adam stared at her, confused. “What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said, embarrassed she’d said that out loud. She waved her hand in the air dismissively. “So, our female setter here is a hunting dog. Why are you so sure that it was an actual hunter who lost her?”

“Well, it could be just a guy who happens to have a hunting breed, it’s true,” Jaxson allowed. “But the chances are pretty high that it was a hunter. It’s been a dry spring, right? Just ask all the farmers. We shouldn’t have forest fires this early, and it’s only because there were a few patches of snow left around that the fire didn’t totally rage out of control like they’d originally thought it would. That’s why we’re not up there digging trenches right now.”

“So a hot tailpipe on a Jeep Wrangler or a pickup would set fire to the dead cheatgrass from last year,” Adam finished. “It doesn’t take much to start a wildfire in the middle of a drought, even if it is spring. The guy was probably off-roading, not paying much attention because he didn’t expect to have anyone up there to see that he’d gotten off the trails, and Sparky ran away while she could. The tailpipe sets the cheatgrass on fire, the guy leaves before anyone can link him and the fire together, and the dog is left stranded up there by herself.”

“Ohhhh…” Georgia said, tapping her finger against her teeth as she thought. “’Cause you get charged if you’re found to have started a wildfire, right?” It all made sense. She’d thought a dog randomly appearing out of nowhere and a fire starting from nothing seemed strange, but she hadn’t realized that they were two strange events that were linked. That made them a lot less strange and a lot more plausible.

“Yeah,” Jaxson said dryly. “The government doesn’t take kindly to having to pay tens of thousands of dollars to put out a fire that some jackass sets while out four-wheeling in places they’re not supposed to go. But if this worthless sack of shit thought that it was okay to beat his dog, he probably thought it was okay to go hunting out where he wasn’t supposed to be, and when he started a fire, he sure as hell wasn’t calling it in. He split as soon as he could. He doesn’t want to be on the hook for the damages that stem from a wildfire. That’s probably why he left Sparky behind. He just figured the dog would die, or wander back home. I’m gonna guess he’s a local boy, although I don’t recognize Sparky. That doesn’t say much for me, of course, since I only moved here five months ago. Does she look familiar to any of you?”

They all turned to search out Sparky in the corners of the station. Georgia figured she’d be hiding under a fire truck or behind a pile of equipment, but was shocked to see that she was instead sprawled out on Troy’s lap, her tongue lolling out happily, a mostly empty bowl of water off to the side, as Troy quietly ran his hands over her fur rhythmically.

“What was it that you were saying about abused dogs not liking males?” Moose muttered under his breath to Georgia.

“No males except for Troy, I guess,” Georgia whispered back.

Troy sensed the eyeballs on him, and he looked up from his pettings of the beautiful dog to see them all staring at him. “She likes me,” he said simply.

Understatement of the century. Georgia would’ve been willing to bet money just a half hour ago that Sparky would take months, maybe years, to warm up to another human being. Seeing her with Troy was…eye-popping.

“Well now,” Jaxson said with a small laugh, “I was gonna offer to keep her here at the station, but I think she ought to go home with you, Troy. Do you have a place to keep her?”

Troy nodded, his hands never stopping as they ran over her completely relaxed body. “I’ll figure somethin’ out,” he said.

Glory be. That was a whole four words in a row. Where did this talkative Troy come from? Was Sparky some sort of talisman?

Just then, the man door to the fire station opened, and Michelle Winthrop from the pound came bustling in. “I heard you almost got burned to death,” she said, walking straight towards Georgia. “Are you okay?” She picked Georgia’s hands up in hers, looking her in the eye as they talked.

“I’m fine, Michelle, I promise,” Georgia reassured her friend.

“Good, good. Now, where’s the dog?”

Georgia bit back her smile. Michelle liked humans; she loved animals. They came first, last, and always in her world. Asking Georgia how she was was a mere formality; something she had to do before she could get down to what really mattered.

A person couldn’t take that the wrong way, of course, or they’d hate Michelle. Animals were what mattered to her, and honestly, Georgia was glad that the animals in the valley had such a strong and feisty advocate in their corner.

Michelle took one look at Sparky, still sprawled across Troy’s lap, and stopped short. “I thought you said this dog was abused,” she tossed over her shoulder as she took in the sight in front of her.

“She acted like it with me,” Georgia said, moving to stand next to her friend. “She didn’t want to come anywhere near me.”

“What did you find when you examined her, Adam?” Michelle asked, slowly moving towards the pair on the cement floor.

“She has some bruises on her side. If I had to guess, just about the shape of a boot.”

Michelle’s face went dark, and Georgia could only be glad Michelle didn’t know who the owner was. She really didn’t want to lose her friend to a life in jail for homicide, even if the asshole deserved it.

“No broken bones, though,” Adam continued. “The chances are pretty high that her lungs hurt from the smoke inhalation, but since I can’t ask her, I don’t know for sure. And for the record, she only stayed on the examination table for me because Georgia held her there. Her attachment to Troy is…unexpected.”

“Especially since most animal abusers are male, statistically speaking,” Michelle said baldly, bringing the dark and awful fact out into the open rather than shying away from it. Georgia was proud of her for saying it, rather than ignoring the reality that they all lived in.

Not, of course, that any man in that fire station right then was the kind of man who’d beat a dog.

Georgia looked up at Moose, and he looked down at her, a smile on his lips, concern in his eyes. He was afraid she was judging him with the broad brush of generalities, and her heart hurt a little at the idea. Moose wasn’t capable of abusing a dog, end of story. She reached out to squeeze his hand, and for a few glorious seconds, they were holding hands. A flush stole up her cheeks and she was staring at Moose, wishing with all her might that they were alone and she could finally kiss him—

“Are you gonna adopt her?” Michelle asked Troy, jerking Georgia back to the present, and to the fact that there was an audience in the room. Georgia pulled her hand away, embarrassed. If this got back to Tenny or Uncle Robert…

“Yes,” he said simply, looking up at Michelle, not moving an inch lest he disturb Sparky.

“Good, good,” Michelle said. “Adam, were you able to tell if Sparky has been spayed?”

“No,” he said, moving quietly to the other side of Michelle. They were standing in a half-circle around Troy and Sparky, giving the two of them plenty of room. Sparky was keeping a close eye on them, but was still content to lay in Troy’s lap. At least for the moment. “I’d need to shave her to see if she has the scar, and I didn’t think bringing a blade close to her belly right now was a stand-up idea.”

“Good point,” Michelle said, nodding firmly. “Well, Troy, I’m leaving her in your hands. When she’s gotten a little more used to the idea that the world isn’t out to get her, I want you to promise me that you’ll take her on by to Adam’s place to have her checked out. If she’s not been spayed, you give me your word right now that you’ll pay to have it done, or I won’t let you take her.”

Georgia bit back another grin. Typical Michelle right there. She said it how it was, and didn’t shy away from the truth. She was kind, but blunt as a cement block.

“Promise,” Troy said softly.

“Good, good. Well, I better get to it, then. Y’all just made my life easy. Troy, you take good care of her.” And with that order, she marched off towards the door, ready to take on the world of wrangling the people and animals around her into submission.

“You’ll need to get her a bowl and a leash and some dog food,” Jaxson said. “You want to leave her here while you go to the store?”

Troy looked torn at the idea of abandoning Sparky, even if it was for her own good, but finally nodded. With a cluck of his tongue to Sparky, he got her off his lap and he stood up, looking down at his pants and shirt with a rueful grin. He was covered head to toe with Sparky’s winter coat that she’d been busy shedding while he’d been petting her.

“Be back,” he rumbled, and headed for the door. Sparky followed right on his heels until they got to the door. “Stay,” he told her, and she sat down with a whine, watching as the door closed in front of her.

Suddenly, the last 24 hours hit Georgia like a ton of bricks. Her head swung a little drunkenly as she looked up at Moose. “We should go get my car,” she said, her words slurring a little. He cocked an eyebrow at her.

“I think I ought to take you to Betty’s Diner and get you fed. You didn’t eat lunch, dinner, or breakfast, and you’re in no mood to cook right now. You’d probably nod off and burn down your house. While I’m driving you to Betty’s, you’re going to call Tripp and tell him that you’re not coming in today. After I feed you, then I’ll take you to your car.”

Oh. Tripp. Her eyes flew to the clock on the wall. Holy shit! He was probably panicking right now. She was technically a no-call, no-show at this point. Not exactly professional.

Moose handed her his phone, remembering without her even needing to say it that hers was still dead, thumbing the button to unlock it so she could use it.

The home screen of his phone was a smiling pic of him and Levi together. Tennessee was nowhere to be found. Georgia didn’t know why she cared, because of course she absolutely positively shouldn’t, but a small part of her was delighted to see that.

As she followed Moose obediently to the truck, too tired and hungry to protest about how dirty and smelly she was, and how she absolutely shouldn’t go out into public, she called the credit union.

“Goldfork Credit Union, this is Tripp, how may I help you?”

“Tripp, it’s Georgia.”

“Oh thank God!” he hollered. She yanked the phone away from her ear instinctively, and then when he began rattling on, she quickly pushed it against her cheek again. “—just kept going straight to voicemail and you’ve never been a no-call, no-show and I was damn sure you were dead and—”

“I’m alive, I promise,” she broke in, realizing that if she waited for him to calm down to tell him what had happened, she could be waiting quite a while. “Did you hear about the fire east of town that broke out yesterday afternoon?”

“Oh yeah, a couple of customers were talking about that today.”

“Well, I was up there hiking when the fire broke out. Just down the hill from me – between me and the car, actually. And there was a dog there, too.”

“A dog started a fire?” Tripp asked, completely confused.

“No, her owner did. I’ll tell you all about it later, I promise. I just wanted to let you know that I’m not coming in today. I hardly slept a wink last night, and I’m covered head to toe with ash and dirt, so I’m not exactly presentable. I’m just going to take another vacation day. That should make HR happy.” Even if the loan department isn’t. That damn report wasn’t going to write itself, which was really too bad. “Keep things running for me. I’ll tell you everything tomorrow, I promise.”

“Okay. Take care and sleep lots.” He hung up and Georgia called the HR department next. Moose had driven them to the restaurant and they were now sitting in the parking lot, waiting for her to finish up before going inside. She sent him a smile of apology and he just shrugged.

The phone call went much faster with the HR department; she simply said that she was going to take a mental health day, and the head of HR sniffed her approval before hanging up.

“Don’t you need to call your father?” Georgia asked, handing the phone back to him.

“I will in a minute. For now, let’s get some food inside of you.”

Georgia had to admit that this seemed like a stand-up idea to her.