“So, one for each of us,” he declared. “That’s a good deed, hon. Of course, we’ll help with their care if we have time. I miss having an animal, too.”

Like a kid at Christmas, Lauren clasped her hands together. “Here’s the deal. The shelter has a veterinarian come to the house first, kind of an inspection, to make sure the animals are going to a good home. They’re going to call with an arrival time, but said it would be sometime tomorrow. I’m glad you guys are okay with this. I ordered—” She’d best stop while she was ahead. They didn’t need to know she’d purchased their necessities from the Internet. “I bought beds, bowls, litter boxes for them,” she finished.

“We can set them up in one of the spare rooms. They’ll have a bedroom to themselves, like Buzz had,” her mother said. “This is a wonderful gift, Lauren, for all of us. We need a bit of action in the house. It’s so empty when you’re not there.”

Lauren could forget moving into the guest house. At least until after the holidays. Maybe she’d use it as a temporary office while she worked on this new bio when she wasn’t at the store. She’d need the uninterrupted time. “It’s a big house, that’s for sure.” Lauren had often wanted to approach her parents with the idea of turning the place into a bed-and-breakfast, give the Langdon House a bit of competition, but the timing was never right. Now wasn’t either, but maybe someday she would. For now, she wanted her dad to step into the future, and that could take years. By that time, neither of her parents would be young enough to run a bed-and-breakfast. Just thoughts.

“Why don’t you tell me about all that extra merchandise out there?” her father asked, reverting back to his stern-dad voice.

Lauren was truly tired of this. At that moment, she wished she had the courage to tell her parents the store belonged to them, not to her. She had her own career, which she’d cast aside to run the store. This was getting way too old for her. “Honestly, Dad, are you sure you really want to know?”

Her mother pursed her lips and gave a slight shake of the head as if to indicate now was not the time.