Perhaps it shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was to see how giving the Westbury Middle families were, but expensive bags of dog and cat food, cat litter, nylon bones, cat toys, leashes, and grooming supplies were piling up as well. Olivia was particularly touched by some of the donations being made that weren’t on the list, particularly ones meant for the staff and volunteers—prepacked snacks and bottled drinks and even a gift certificate to a Webster Groves takeout pizza joint for a weekend-volunteer pizza party.

When Olivia wasn’t at work, she spent her time with Gabe or at the shelter where she always made time for Morgan, who she was bonding with more each visit despite knowing it might only end in a broken heart. After giving it some thought, Aunt Becky had come forward to say she could be talked into allowing him to stay at her house as long as they made an effort to keep Morgan and Coco apart until Coco had adjusted, or indefinitely if she didn’t. But without promise of a job, Olivia was having second thoughts about being able to provide the kind of life Morgan needed. As much as she adored the tenderhearted and stubborn dog, maybe it was best to wait and see if an adopter came forward who could give him a better life right now.

Both firm believers that everything was going to work out, Gabe and Ava were encouraging her to adopt Morgan regardless of the uncertainty. But Olivia just wasn’t sure.

After the final bell rang for the day, Olivia helped three of her students who were staying after for track and hung around to do a quick sorting and counting of the supplies that had been brought in so far. To keep the supply drive related to math, everything was being counted, and the students would be using algebra to figure out how many animals would benefit from the drive based on their individual needs.

“Should we track the food that’s being collected by bags or total weight?” Addison asked. The drive had been her idea, and the kid had more than impressed Olivia with the way she’d continued to be a strong leader in ensuring the drive came together.

After mulling it over, Olivia said, “How about both for now? Since we’re getting bags of all sizes, it makes sense to record weight too. Hopefully we get an average weight of food consumed each day at the shelter by both dogs and cats and really provide some good data when you all present your results.”

“What about the nylon bones?”

“For everything else, I think we can stick to number only.”

It took about fifteen minutes to get everything counted and sorted and marked since the collection was still growing, and Olivia sent them on their way with the last three granola bars from her snack drawer.