Season Of Wonder. RaeAnne Thayne

      “Those two,” she said, shaking her head.

      “They’re wonderful.”

      “I can’t argue with that. I’m enjoying them at this age, but who knows what trouble they’ll bring me in about five years or so. Which reminds me, Marshall tells me you had some excitement at your place last night. Some vandalism on your beautiful new boat. How is The Wonder?”

      He found himself reluctant to discuss Dani and her daughter with Andie, almost protectively so, which he knew was completely ridiculous.

      “It was just kids messing around.”

      “I understand you caught one of them in the act. The new veterinarian’s daughter, the one with the cool hair and the unusual name.”

      “Yes. But please don’t spread that around.” He really hoped the identity of his vandal wasn’t common knowledge. He knew Andie would be discreet. She wasn’t going to talk, not even to her friends at the Haven Point Helping Hands, a service and social organization in town.

      “I won’t,” she assured him.

      “Silver wasn’t the only one involved, but she was the only one I caught. She won’t tell me who else was there.”

      “Snitches get stitches,” Andie said.

      “Funny. She said the same thing.”

      “I understand her reticence to implicate others. She’s probably worried about retribution. She’s, what, thirteen? That’s a hard age to start at a new school.”

      Andie could be a good source of information, he realized. The kids were busy helping Marshall shred some papers in his office so he decided now was as good a time as any to dig a little into his intriguing neighbors.

      “What’s their story? Dani and her kids? Do you know her at all?”

      “She seems very nice and she’s a good veterinarian. Right after she came to town, we went to her when Sadie got a bad bee sting in her eye.”

      “Ouch.”

      “Right? I would say Dani has a more abrupt bedside manner than your dad, but seemed very kind and caring.”

      “What about socially? Have you interacted much outside the veterinary clinic?”

      Andie shrugged, though she looked intrigued at his line of questioning. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything. He didn’t need his friend’s wife matchmaking.

      “Not really. She seems very...private is I guess the word I would use. She came to a few social events when they first moved to town. Again, she seemed nice enough but I’m afraid maybe we overwhelmed her. When McKenzie asked if she wanted to join the Helping Hands, she said no, that she was too busy with her girls and settling into a new town, starting a practice. Same thing when we asked her to join the book club.”

      “That’s fair. Not everybody is a joiner.”

      “I get it, believe me. The women of this town can be intimidating for even the toughest constitution.”

      “There are so many of you and you always travel in packs.”

      “Not always,” she protested with a laugh.

      “Most of the time, then.”

      Before she could answer, Marshall came out with the kids and Andie’s face completely lit up.

      Ruben was aware of a little pinch of discontent again as the two of them kissed. He did his best to ignore it. Marsh had been Ruben’s friend long before he became his boss and Ruben was glad the sheriff and Andie seemed so happy together.

      He was always aware when he was with them that if the two of them hadn’t found each other first, Ruben definitely would have made a move. Andie was the kind of woman he had always thought he wanted—someone soft, warm, compassionate.

      Worlds away from a certain prickly, cool, reserved veterinarian.

      Somebody should probably tell that to his subconscious, which had filled his dreams with all kinds of inappropriate situations involving the woman the night before.

      Friday was a long, difficult day. She would have liked to take the day off since the girls were out of school but her time off was limited as a new veterinarian.

      She was lucky enough to have a few good caregivers in her rotation and Gloria, the clinic receptionist and office manager, had a daughter home from college for the holidays who was looking for a little extra cash.

      Dani had hoped to be done by two, her usual schedule on Friday, but a bichon frise with an abdominal obstruction came in right as she was wrapping up for the day and the dog required emergency surgery.

      The surgery had been much more complicated than she had expected and she had ended up calling on Frank to help. She found it demoralizing that she had needed his expertise, yet more evidence she wasn’t up to the challenge of her new vocation, but Frank wouldn’t let her beat herself up.

      “Don’t ever be embarrassed to ask for help.” His eyes—so like his son’s—were warm and kind. “I’ve been in the vet business for more than forty years. Just when I think I’ve seen everything under the sun, something new walks through the door to prove me wrong. You should never hesitate to call me, even after the practice is officially yours.”

      She wasn’t sure that day would ever come—or ever should come. Who was she kidding, to think she had what it took to be a veterinarian? She was a failure. A nothing. Hadn’t she heard that enough when she was growing up?

      As usual when that negative self-talk intruded, she did her best to focus on how fiercely she had worked to get where she was. All the sleepless nights of studying, the hand cramps from propping a textbook in one hand while rocking a crying baby in the other, the many creative ways she had found to stretch a dollar.

      We can do hard things. That was the message she tried to reinforce to her girls. She couldn’t help wondering when it would be her turn to do the easy things.

      By the time she finally made it home just after five, three hours later than she’d planned, she was exhausted.

      “Thank you for staying extra with them,” she told Heidi, Gloria’s youngest daughter.

      “Not a problem. I need the extra cash. I’m saving up to get my belly button pierced.”

      Since the girl had four rows of pierced earrings and a ring in her lip, what was one more puncture wound? “Glad I could add to the pot, then. Have a good evening.”

      “Thanks, Dr. C. Silver’s been in her room most of the afternoon doing homework and Mia is in the family room.”

      “Thanks.”

      After Dani let the babysitter out, she headed to find the easier of her children and found Mia playing quietly with her dolls.

      “Hey, sweetie pie. How did your day go?”

      Mia shrugged, without looking up at her.

      “What’s wrong, honey?”

      “You said we should never lie but you lied.”

      Dani scanned over her day, trying to figure out where she had gone wrong this time.

      “About what?”

      “You said you would be home right after lunch and we could put our Christmas tree up today. Lunch was a long time ago and now it’s almost dark and I bet you’re going to say you’re too tired to put up a Christmas tree.”

      Going through the hassle of putting up a tree was the absolute last thing she wanted to do right now. After the difficult day, her brain was mush and she wanted to collapse on the sofa and sleep for the rest of the evening.

      She had made a promise, though, something she took very seriously.

      She sat on the floor beside