She unhooked the leash and let him back in to his cage. As he sat, she knelt down and took his face in her hands. “Thanks for listening. Sorry I cried all over you. A little payback for your kisses.” She kissed the crown of his head. “You’ll find your home soon. I just know it. Bye, buddy.” Jill closed the door and waved to him before heading down the aisle.

She found Stacey doing some paperwork behind the front desk. “I’m heading out.”

Stacey sat back in her chair, twirling her pen on the desk. “Took your time out there, huh?”

Jill avoided her gaze, no doubt her eyes were red and puffy. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I’ll see you next time.” She continued on her way toward the front door.

“Hey, Jill?”

Jill stopped and turned around.

“Things will get better. Whatever it is. It’ll get better. It just takes time.”

She nodded and left quickly. Tears burned her eyes as she got in her car. She rested her forehead against the steering wheel as the sobs overtook her once again. Stacey was wrong, though. Reagan didn’t want her and she was all alone. How could that ever get better?

Chapter Twenty-Four

A knock on her front door drew Jill’s attention away from the marketing schedule she had been editing for the past hour. With a sigh, she opened the door and found Sam on the other side, holding a bottle of wine. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s New Year’s Eve.”

“I know that. And I feel like I need to repeat my question. What are you doing here? I figured you’d be out at a club tonight.”

“Not this time. They’re starting to feel a little overrated. Besides, I’d rather spend some time with my best friend.”

Jill scoffed, moving to reclaim her stool so she could get back to work. “You’re better off going to the club. I need to work so I probably won’t be great company.”

“Why the hell are you working?”

“What else is there to do?” Jill asked as she made a note to get another mock-up of a magazine ad.

“I don’t know. Go out and celebrate? Have a movie marathon? Get shit-faced drunk if you so choose?” Sam took off her coat and draped it across the stair railing.

Jill shrugged. “None of that holds much appeal, I guess.”

“Are you okay?”

She heard the sincerity in Sam’s voice, but she pretended to look through some papers, afraid she’d lose it again. “I’m fine.”

“Bullshit.”

She looked up at the stern tone of Sam’s reply. “I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”