Page 109 of Tangled with the Tight End

I start propelling down the hallway.

“Run, Declan! Run!” Winona screams from behind me. “Stop! Jenny! … Stay! … Down! … Sit!”

Jenny yanks Winona along by the leash. When I turn to look over my shoulder, I catch the goat’s weird unfocused gaze zeroed in on me.

“Take the elevator!” Winona screams.

I hit the button, but Jenny’s coming for me.

I propel away from the elevator doors, down the hall toward a back bedroom.

Winona’s still shouting. “Jenny! Stop! Treat!”

Jenny skids to a stop and turns her head toward Winona, tilting it slightly as if to say, You’ve got treats? Why didn’t you say so?

“Declan! Quick! Get vegetables or a piece of fruit! An old tire! Something!”

Winona’s arm is still taut with exertion. She’s going to need a massage at the facility.

I pivot, heading toward the kitchen.

Jenny lets out a loud, “Maaahhhhahahhhhhaaaaaahhhahhahh!” and takes off after me.

“She’s chasing you again!” Winona shouts. “I’m so sorry!”

I pull the fridge open, grab an apple out of the fruit bin, prop my armpits on the crutches and hold the apple out in Jenny’s general direction. Jenny jerks away from Winona and the leash flies out of Winona’s grasp.

Jenny leaps toward me in bounds that are more fit for a field than my chef’s kitchen. She aims straight for the apple. Her head butts it out of my hand and it rolls. She turns, following the fruit and leaning down to take a bite. Winona jogs toward Jenny, grabbing the leash. She’s out of breath, brows raised in concern.

“What was I thinking? Sally said she wouldn’t be home for another half hour. I came so I could send your status to the agency on time. I brought her thinking she could stay in your back yard. She can’t be left alone for a second.”

Jenny looks up as if she knows we’re talking about her. Then she returns her attention to the apple.

I chuckle. “Never a dull moment.”

Winona looks at me sheepishly. “Is that a compliment or a judgment?”

“Definitely a compliment,” I assure her, staring into her eyes with the small hope that she’ll read what I’m feeling for her.

Winona’s phone pings with a text.

“It’s Sally,” Winona says. “She’s home. Let’s get Jenny back into my car. We can turn vitals in late today.”

After a five minute struggle that involves another carrot, Jenny is secured in the back seat and we’re pulling out of my driveway. I insisted on riding along.

“I think she likes you,” Winona announces, glancing back in the rearview mirror.

Her hair is askew from wrestling a goat—her cheeks still pink. When she smiles over at me and wags her brows playfully, all I can think of is the kiss I imagined.

“You didn’t have to come with me, you know,” Winona says. She glances at me and then back at the road. “Are you getting cabin fever?”

Yes. But that’s not why I want to come along.

“I think it’s best you have help when it comes to Jenny,” I tell her.

“I can’t believe she did that,” Winona says, shaking her head and closing her eyes briefly.

“What can I say?” I wag my brows. “It’s my natural animal magnetism.”