initial excuse for flying into town a second thought.
“All that will have to wait.” Bunny waved a work-roughened hand at him. “Since I have both of you together, come outside and see our new sign. The old one was destroyed with all that tornado damage, and we wanted to install an extra one at the edge of the parking lot so people can now see it from the road.”
“Oh, they’re early.” Rebekah jumped at the excuse to get out of the office and away from the conversation they’d been having. Literally. Her knee-length skirt fluttered open at the slit as she made a little hop to skip past him.
As he followed her and Bunny past the reception desk and through the lobby, Grant had to restrain himself from hurrying to catch up with them. Now that Rebekah was no longer watching him so intently, waiting to see if he’d give the wrong reaction, he could take a moment to let her words sink in.
She was possibly pregnant. With his child.
What he’d told her about wanting a house full of children was true. However, he hadn’t expected to become a father quite so soon. Rebekah’s earlier revelation had landed like a sucker punch to the gut. The blow had been swift and unexpected and heavy, dropping him into the chair as he attempted to wrap his mind around what had just happened. Then, just as quickly, Rebekah had pulled back emotionally, that initial hit leaving a hollow, empty feeling in his stomach.
He was used to being needed and usually relished his role as the guy who came in and solved things. It was what made him so good at his job. It was why his mom and his sisters often relied on him to keep his family’s surf shop on top of the latest trends. It was why he was currently in Spring Forest to oversee his elderly aunts’ troubled financial situation.
But Rebekah didn’t seem to want anything from him. At least, not yet. Maybe she would change her mind after the appointment next week.
Either way, the woman would need to get used to Grant being around. If she was, in fact, having his child, she would soon learn that he always put his family first.
Rebekah had never been so relieved to see someone as when Bunny Whitaker had walked into her office five minutes ago. Sure, she’d had to paste a calm smile on her face while awkwardly reaching behind her blindly in order to shove the bottle of prenatal vitamins into the tote bag sitting on top of her desk.
Still, the older woman’s fortunate arrival got Rebekah away from facing more of Grant’s potential follow-up questions. Questions Rebekah didn’t have all the answers for yet.
Speaking of the man, his flip-flops smacked against the flat gravel as he caught up with them in the parking lot. Rebekah’s jaw clenched as he approached behind her. She had to swallow several times and take deep breaths in through her nose—not so much from annoyance at the man for always appearing at the worst times, but from the fact that her stomach was still doing somersaults and she was afraid that the morning-sickness fairy was currently paying her a visit.
“Hey, Aunt Bunny, what happened to the logo that my graphic designer sent you?” Grant asked from behind Rebekah’s shoulder. Rebekah’s eyes shot to the five-foot piece of painted aluminum tilted between two men wearing Signs 4 Less T-shirts.
Oh, no. Rebekah ignored the tiny rocks flicking between her toes and the soles of her wedge sandals as she strode across the parking lot to make sure she wasn’t reading the sign wrong. She could hear her boss’s voice as Bunny and Grant caught up to her.
“Well, the owner of Signs 4 Less felt real bad about not taking our advice to get his dog spayed, so when we found foster homes for all of her puppies, he offered to give us a great price if we just used standard lettering with no artwork.”
“But I’d already negotiated a deal with the sign company out of Raleigh,” Rebekah said. “I left the contract on your desk last week so you could approve it and sign it.”
“I know, honey, but poor Marv had really bonded with those sweet pups and he was just an absolute wreck when he had to say goodbye to them. He started crying right there in the foster intake area and told me that his wife was moving out and his company wasn’t doing so hot.” Bunny shrugged her shoulders. “Plus, he gave us a nice discount if we cut out the logo and used fewer letters. I meant to tell you, but it must’ve slipped my mind.”
Rebekah knew the woman and her sister were incredibly smart when it came to animal care, but when it came to business matters, they tended to follow their hearts instead of their heads. It was why they’d hired a director in the first place. It was also why they’d hired an attorney earlier this year to look into quite a bit of money that had gone missing. Unfortunately, they didn’t always follow Rebekah’s or the attorney’s recommendations.
Worse than that, they tended to rely on the wrong people. They’d entrusted their money to their brother Gator—Grant’s uncle—and it looked like he might have embezzled from them. And they’d entrusted this sign to Marv and...well...
Rebekah shot a pleading look at Grant and once she caught his attention, she pointed her chin first at the sign and then at his aunt. She wanted to tell him that this wasn’t her fault, but first she needed to make sure he was seeing the same thing she was.
“Poor Marv, huh?” Grant nodded toward the sign that the workers were trying to hang between the wooden posts. “Let’s just hope his return policy is better than his screen-printing skills.”
In bright red letters were the words F-EVER PAWS, however the hyphen between the F and the E was so minuscule, that from far away it appeared to say, FEVER PAWS.
“I’m not sure if he has a return policy.” Bunny pushed a strand of white hair back into her messy bun. “I think we should just leave it for a few days. I’m sure it’ll grow on us.”
Grant groaned and Rebekah experienced an unfamiliar tug of solidarity at his frustration. “Aunt Bunny, it says Fever Paws. Customers are going to think all the animals here are sick.”
“Grant, we don’t have customers.” Bunny waved another hand at him. “We have prospective adopters looking for family companions.”
“Well, your prospective adopters are going to drive right by when they see that sign,” Grant replied.
“I guess you’re right.” His aunt sighed. “Well, we’ll just have to call it a loss. I don’t want Marv to be out any expense.”
“Aunt Bunny.” Grant gently rested his hand on the older woman’s shoulder. “Your heart is bigger than your current bank account. The shelter really can’t afford to take a loss like this. I’m going to tell the guys to take the sign back and re-do it.”
Rebekah’s heart softened at the way he gently, yet effectively steered his aunt back to reality. Really, it was her job to keep Furever Paws on a budget and, as the director, she should’ve been the one talking to the Signs 4 Less guys, not Grant. But she had plenty of other headaches to look forward to today, and if it got the man out of her hair for a few more minutes, she’d take whatever breaks she could get at this point.
Turning on her heel, she headed toward the shelter’s entrance and thought about the cool air-conditioning and chocolate croissant waiting for her in her office. But a movement in the oak trees near the street caught her eye.
Bunny
