As if agreeing with her, Morgan gave a thorough sniff of her hair that ended in a swipe of his tongue across her temple. As she slipped the car into Park on the narrow strip of driveway her aunt had reserved for her, she swiped her temple dry with the back of her hand.

“I’m going to take that as you being in agreement. So, this is it, Morgs. Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.”

Chapter 28

“Anything beginning to smell familiar?”

Now that they were less than ten miles from their hometown, it sounded as if Morgan was taking deeper sniffs of the air from his spot in the back seat.

It was still hard for Olivia to believe she was a dog owner. Had been for over forty-eight hours. Coco hadn’t exactly had a heart attack, but the vocal bird wasn’t happy. So far and for the foreseeable future, only one of them was allowed in Aunt Becky’s main living area at a time. When Coco was on her perch between the dining area and couch, Morgan was either in Olivia’s loft bedroom or outside in the small, fenced-in yard. Once Coco was taken to Aunt Becky’s room for an early evening, Morgan was being given a cautious free rein of the living room and kitchen.

Even though it was unlikely he’d spent much time indoors most of his life, potty training so far had been a breeze. Olivia’s fingers were crossed, hoping that as he got more comfortable, he wouldn’t regress. For now, he seemed eager to relieve himself on the plants, grasses, and trees as he’d grown up doing. She was committed to giving him plenty of opportunity to do so until she was certain he’d figured it out.

When it came to swiping food off the table, it was another story all together. Even in-peel bananas weren’t safe, which came as a bit of a shocker to Olivia. She’d known a few food-snatching dogs but had never met one with a hankering for fruit. Or with his stealth at swiping food off plates.

Knowing he was still adjusting to having an abundance of food again, she was committed to optimism that he’d be trainable in this regard too. And he hadn’t even come close to leaving some of his kibble in the bowl at his morning and evening meals. The opposite, actually. He spent a few minutes each time licking his bowl spotless.

“Considering how rough your last few weeks were down here, you may not be psyched about spending nine months in this place. To be completely honest, I’m not either.”

Now that they were on the outskirts of their mutual hometown, it was clear Morgan was smelling long-familiar scents. He was practically shoving his nose in the corner of the side window where the trim was loose.