Sleigh Bell Dreams (Mistletoe Meadows Sweet Christmas #1)

Chapter 3

“It’s hard to believe that we’re all grown up,” Terry said, remembering how Amy and Jones used to be inseparable when they were younger. In fact, Jones, being an only child, had hung around their family and even gone on several vacations with them.

His family was well-off and he’d had good parents, but he’d been lonely. And he and Amy had bonded better than any friends Terry knew. In fact, if Amy had to choose her best friend, Terry was fairly certain that Jones would beat Terry out along with their other sister.

“I know. Time changes things. But I’ve been trying to focus on the fact that I can count on it changing. You know? Because...the town is different when we lose people. And like with Teddy there,” she pointed to the terrier, “I see it. Not a lot. It’s not like every day someone dies and I get their pet, but I get a bunch of them every year. And...it makes me wonder about me. What will happen to my pets when I die?”

“Or get sent to a nursing home by your children,” Terry said, somehow thinking that comment would lighten the heavy atmosphere that had descended between them.

She moved down to the next pen and turned the water on.

“No. I don’t want to go to a nursing home. I’d rather just die in my shoes. Wherever I’m at.”

“Sometimes you don’t get a choice. Sometimes your kids grow up and think they know better.”

“So far, I don’t have any kids, so that’s not a problem I’m going to worry about today.”

“Probably smart on your part, although I think about it sometimes. It is kinda silly for me to be concerned about it when I don’t have children and have no hopes for any.”

She tried not to make that sound sad. She had known when she had decided to pursue the career path that she had, that it was going to mean that she was going to miss out on things.

Other people had gotten married in med school or residency, although she had no idea how they had the time to date, let alone plan a wedding. She had been exhausted the entire time. She had barely survived. At least it felt that way.

Regardless, she knew that doing what she had would mean that she wouldn’t do the same things everyone else did. And that could include getting married and having children.

“But you’re back in your hometown, and you might run into someone. Never say never.”

“A positive pep talk from someone who’s in basically the same state.” Only Amy was younger, so maybe she wasn’t quite as...desperate? Sad? Terry wasn’t quite sure how to describe herself.

“Well, here’s another pep talk,” Amy said as she scratched the head of the poodle mix. “Go to Judd, ask if you can rent the duplex, and even if he says no, find out if it’s empty. Ask him why not. You can do this.”

“That was a pep talk?” Terry asked, narrowing her eyes and feeling like she missed the point.

“Sure. I’m just saying, he’s your last hope, throw yourself at his feet and beg for his mercy.” She shrugged, dumping food into the next bowl.

“Maybe I’ll just see if you have any empty pens.”

“Actually, I don’t. I have two dogs in the house with me right now because I didn’t have a place for them.”

“Wow,” Terry said, her brows coming down. “You’ve never been that full. You just expanded last year.”

“I know. I probably need to get out and talk about adoption a little more. Taking care of all these animals is almost a full-time job. I still need to clean the pens after I’m done with this, and that’s just the dogs.”

“Yeah. I saw you had horses out there.”

“I’m actually renting the space for those. Someone approached me and asked if I would. It’s not much, but it’s a little bit of income.”

“You take care of them?” Terry asked, knowing that was something that Amy had never done while she had been helping her. But whatever worked, whatever brought them money, and Amy would never turn down an animal.

“Yes. I had never been around horses too much, but it turns out I like them. Who knew?”

“They’re big,” Terry said as they made it down the first row and walked around the end. There was a row of pens and runs along the back.

“But they’re so gentle. They’re sweet. And I see them in town when the person uses them. People love them.”

“Who is it?” Terry asked, knowing that she probably knew the person.

“They asked me not to say.” Amy said, and while she gave an apologetic look, she didn’t sound scared or concerned that Terry might be upset. After all, she probably figured that Terry was an adult and could understand if someone wanted to keep their privacy.

“Got it,” she said.

Amy grinned. “You’ll see them sometime, most likely. Typically on weekends, they’re out. And it’s a great tourist attraction.”

“I bet so. If they’re pulling a wagon with them, that would be something a lot of people would like to do.”

“It is. And that’s the thing with Mistletoe Meadows. We need the tourist industry to survive, since we don’t have any industry of our own. So many people make their living off of that.” She lifted her brows as she stood in front of the first pen, petting a lab mix, who stood still for about two seconds before it was bouncing off the walls. “And you will be too. I mean, I know it’s not direct, but the people that you treat make their living off the tourist industry. If that goes south, they’ll have to move, and eventually you will too.”

“Not if I keep my expenses down. As long as I don’t have a whole lot of overhead, I don’t have to make a lot to pay my bills. And that’s the beauty of having my student loans paid off. Although, I wish I would cut back a bit, because I’d really love to be able to donate to you right now. This is crazy. Don’t you ever feel stress over this?”

She would be reeling under the stress of having animals to take care of and wondering where their next meal was going to come from.

“Every night, I put it in God’s hands. And every morning, I try not to pick it back up. Eventually, by the end of the day, I figure out that I’m carrying it again, and so I go to the Lord again and tell Him that I’m willing to take care of His creatures, but He’s going to have to provide funds. Although, I know I’m going to have to do some of the legwork to get those funds.”

Amy had such a great faith. Terry had always admired it, and maybe that was one of the reasons why they were such great friends. Or maybe that was one of the reasons why she considered Amy such a great friend.

She hoped that she was a friend like that, although she felt like she had a lot of growing to do before she hit that type of spirituality.

“All right. Thanks for your expertise. I’ll text you later. Although, if things don’t work out with Judd, I might be forced to stay at Mom’s. As much as I hate to.”

“Don’t say it like that. Sally might feel better having a doctor in the house.”

“From what I heard, she’s not there much. Neither is Gilbert.”

“True. That’s what I’ve seen too, but I haven’t talked to Mom about it a whole lot. I think when she sees me, she wants to get her mind off of it.”

“Maybe they’d like to adopt the dog.”

“She already has, and Gilbert just rolled his eyes and shook his head whenever I asked. I assumed it wasn’t a good time to extol the virtues of how children should grow up with dogs, and every child should have man’s best friend.”

“All right. Wish me luck.”

“I’ll pray that God gives you what you need.”

Terry chuckled and threw up a hand as she walked around the corner and back down the long walkway, into the sunshine.

Judd might say yes, or he might say no. She wouldn’t know until she asked. And as much as she wasn’t sure she wanted to live in a duplex, especially beside a man she didn’t really know, she figured that would be better than living with her mom right now.

She should have asked Amy more about Judd.

She’d remember to do that next time, she was sure.