My Fake Fling

“I’ll text you and let you know for sure if Dad is going to make it.”

“I’ll take one for the team, if necessary,” I offered.

“Again, I don’t think I want to know what you’re implying.”

“Not that,” I said. “Sheesh, you act like I’m some criminal.”

“You work in a building in the worst part of town surrounded by criminals,” he said dryly. “You might have picked up some bad habits.”

“I wasn’t talking about anything illegal. I was offering to distract Stacey. One of us has to get Dad alone.”

“We’ll see,” he said.

I checked the time. “I need to get back to the shelter. We’ve got so many intakes I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do with them all. If you know anyone that needs a cat, dog, or one of our newest additions, a hedgehog, call me.”

“You’re doing God’s work, but damn,” he said. “I know I’ve said this before, but you can’t save them all.”

“No, but I can save as many as possible and those animals might mean the difference in someone’s life,” I countered. “And I’m making a difference in those pets’ lives.”

“You need to marry rich,” he said. “Then your sugar daddy could buy you a farm to house all these animals.”

“Hmm, maybe I’ll invite Stacey to lunch and ask her for some pointers,” I said.

“She sure as hell knows the secret.”

I went back to the shelter, making sure to lock my car. Rich wasn’t wrong. I worked in a less than pleasant neighborhood, but it was what it was. I needed the building. I couldn’t change the neighborhood. The moment I opened the back door, I smelled the bleach. To me, it was the smell of home. I hated that all the kennels were full. I so wanted these animals to find homes to grow old in with people who loved them.

I went to my office to get started on the mountain of paperwork I needed to get through. There were donations, which I loved. Vet bills were mounting. There were plenty of applications I needed to get through and inevitably the many requests to surrender their pet. It felt like I adopted out three and took in five. I couldn’t seem to get ahead.

But I wasn’t going to let it get me down. This was my life’s work. I signed up for this and I was determined to make a difference one way or another.