“Got the job. Love it, and it never entered my mind to run away.” April went straight to the kitchen sink, lathered up her hands, and then rinsed them. “I told you I came back here to face my demons and get my life into some kind of order. I’m not going anywhere but to work and home until that happens.” She dried her hands, took down three plates from the cabinet, and set the table. “Why aren’t you looking for a job?”

“I’ve got paychecks coming in all summer, so I don’t need to work until fall, plus I’ve saved enough that if I’m very careful, I won’t have to work until January,” Nessa answered.

“Must be nice to have a savings account.” April sighed. “I’m going to get me one of those as soon as I start getting a paycheck.”

The blank look in April’s eyes had faded somewhat, and her smile didn’t look pasted on. Strangely enough, Nessa was happy for her. The way she’d acted those first few days, Nessa had kind of hoped that she would leave in the middle of the night. That haunted look in April’s eyes had made Nessa wonder if maybe she’d been dabbling in drugs. If so, Nessa wouldn’t have cared even if April had taken Nanny Lucy’s car with her.

“Tell me about your work.” Nessa brought out a head of lettuce and a tomato from the refrigerator and made a bowl of salad while the pasta cooked.

“I take care of the shelter, for the most part. That’s what Maudie had me doing today. I cleaned all the cages, then played with the cats and dogs until it was time to come home,” April answered.

“You get paid to play with kittens and puppies?” Nessa asked.

“Hey, you got paid to be a glorified babysitter to kindergarteners,” April told her.

“I had to teach them a lot of things,” Nessa argued. “And I had to deal with parents. You just get to have fun, with no lesson plans or three or four sets of parents involved. Do your pets learn to read?”

April cocked her head to one side and frowned. “How does a kid get that many parents? I didn’t even get one. That’s not fair.”

“They have a daddy and stepmother, a mama and stepfather, and at least one set of grandparents that usually sees them more often, because the parents have to work,” Nessa explained.

Before April could say anything else, Waylon came down the hallway, stopped at the dining room table, and sniffed the air, then arched his back. His tail stood at attention and grew to twice its size, and he growled deep in his throat.

“What’s the matter with him?” April asked.

“He probably smells all those animals on you and thinks that you brought one or more of them home,” Nessa answered.