Chapter 1
Cas was making the rounds refilling water bowls for the third time so far that day, incredibly pleased at the turnout. The annual county-wide Harvest Festival was always a huge success for the animal shelter he volunteered at. He and Charlie, his roommate and manager of the non-profit Second Chance Shelter, had been doing this together for five years now and they had it down to a science. Some of Cas's students from the local high school had come out last night to help with what Charlie dubbed "wash-a-palooza", and early this morning they piled the animals into their respective cars for the drive over. The two other volunteers they brought along to help this year were smiling and answering questions from festival goers while Charlie manned the adoption table. The dogs were wagging their tails and playfully wrestling, which effectively pulled enough heartstring to secure both donations and adoptions all day long.
Noticing that he had a great opportunity for a cuddle break, Cas bent down to top off the bowl of a napping lab mix with black and brown fur. All of the animals at Second Chance were at least two years old (hence the name) but Molly was six and had a calm, reserved demeanor that matched his own. Out of all of the animals he had helped care for during his years volunteering, she was easily his favorite. Cas set the pitcher down and reached his fingers between the fencing they had set up to scratch behind her ears.
"Are you a little underwhelmed by all of this?" he asked her in a hushed tone. Molly looked balefully up at him - sometimes Cas swore this dog could understand every word he said. He sat down on the cool grass and continued. "I know you're a low key girl, but if you don't get a little excited about this none of these nice people will think you want to go home with them. Go say hello!" Cas would have adopted Molly in a heartbeat if Charlie didn't have two dogs already (both rescues), but their apartment was barely big enough for all four of them as it was.
As if resignedly following his instructions, Molly rolled herself up to stand and began walking around the perimeter of the enclosure. Cas watched her with a fond smile, still sitting cross-legged on the ground. Molly sniffed at a few knees and several hands reached out to stroke her smooth black coat. She didn't show any particular interest though, just dutifully continued in her circuit. Just as she made it around to the other side of the pen a pair of bright purple rain boots came into view. The boots were attached to a gorgeous little blonde girl who immediately crouched down to say hello in a soft, calm voice that Cas did not expect from a child that young. Molly stopped abruptly and walked right up to the fence to sniff at then nuzzle at the girl's outstretched hand. He couldn't make out the words, but as the girl continued to talk Molly's tail started to wag in earnest and Cas lit up watching the scene unfold.
When people came into the shelter, most of the other dogs would bark happily and jump and whine, begging to be pet and played with. Molly, however, would usually sit back in her pen, appraising things and making no moves forward. Cas figured it was the only thing that had kept her from being adopted in the six months since she had come to them. She was sweet, loving, and loyal, but very reserved. Molly had belonged to a gentleman in his fifties who died of a heart attack, and his daughter found Second Chance after extensive searching for no-kill shelters that took in older dogs. Since Molly joined them she had warmed tremendously to all of the volunteers, but it usually took several days for her to warm to new people.
Coming back from his musings, Cas saw the child look to her right as she raised her voice enough for Cas to hear her from across the enclosure. "D, look over here! It's the one we saw on the website. Look how sweet she is! Can't we just take her home today?"
A second pair of shoes entered the scene now, this time black work boots attached to slightly bowed legs in dark jeans. There was a low chuckle as a hand reached down to ruffle the girl's hair and a deep voice rumbled across the scant eight feet to where Cas still had his eyes trained on watching the interaction between girl and dog.
"Mary, I am starting to think you only agreed to going on the Zipper with me because you wanted to walk by this tent." The girl smiled sweetly up at what Cas assumed was her father, and the man sighed before he continued. "Well I did promise you we would go visit her at the shelter soon, guess this girl just couldn't wait that long to meet you."
The man crouched down to join his daughter and Cas forgot to breathe for a moment. Eight feet away, fondly scratching at Molly's side, was quite possibly the most gorgeous human being Cas had ever seen. There was obviously a family resemblance between father and daughter. He had hair a few shades darker than the girl's though, and while her eyes were hazel his were a bright, striking green. He had perfectly proportioned features and beautiful, lush lips. Cas's heart was beating uncontrollably in his chest. It wasn't just that this man was good looking – and dear lord was he good looking – but he was also broadcasting an aura of warmth, love, family and kindness. The gentle, easy way that he spoke to his daughter was endearing, and Molly was cheerfully wagging her tail and licking the man's hand – Molly was a harsh judge of character and this was the most animated Cas had seen her in six months. Cas was in awe, enraptured, his whole focus applied to the monumental task trying to catalog every freckle on this glorious dream-man's face.
As he stared open-mouthed across from them when his view was suddenly blocked by Becky, one of the two other volunteers. "Hi there!" she squeaked, chipper as always. "Can I help you?"
"Hello! You can actually. I promised Mary here that we could add a furry sibling to the family, and when she saw this girl on the shelter's website last week I think she just fell in love. I'm not far behind, myself. We were already planning to drive out next weekend with the whole family but I'm glad we got to meet her sooner!"
Cas shook himself out of his stupor and scrambled up off of the ground. He should not be making moon-eyes at members of potential forever-families, no matter how earth-shatteringly beautiful they were. Especially since, judging from the young girl's appearance and that "whole family" comment, this forever family also came complete with the guy's gorgeous blonde wife. Married men were absolutely, completely off limits. He had learned his lesson the hard way on that one. Cas hadn't even known about his ex's wife until she barged in to one of his lecture classes at the university screaming and making a scene, but after the fallout from that particular relationship everyone had somehow painted him as the bad guy, the "home-wrecker", and he was unofficially exiled from his community. Cas had needed a fresh start and moved to a quieter, smaller town where everyone knew your name and a guy couldn't hide a wife from you if he tried.
He had worked hard to start over after Balthazar had wrecked his world. Teaching Latin at a high school was very different from working at a University but his students were generally sweet and he loved the personal connections he got to make with them. Life was slower and smaller in a way, and although it frustrated him at first it soon became infinitely more meaningful and precious. Nobody cared about your clothes, your car, or your degree here, there were no ladders to climb or games to play. Even taking a huge pay cut right on the heels of getting his doctorate turned out to be a blessing because that was how he met Charlie. He needed a cheap place to live, she needed a roommate after her girlfriend skipped town, and they essentially became platonic soul mates within the first month. Cas loved his life now, but he was not keen to repeat the dark period of time that preceded the rebuilding process. Married men… better to just stay away.
Becky chatted with the father and daughter for a couple of minutes while Cas got stuck reliving his past, but eventually she led the family over to Charlie at the adoption table. As much as his brain understood that the man was off limits, Cas's stomach was still doing flips and he was having a very hard time not watching the corners of the man's mouth quirk up as he joked with Charlie, his eyes crinkling and shining brightly. Cas very much needed to be… not here. At least for a while. He grabbed the water pitcher to finish replenishing the bowls and tried to think of something to keep himself occupied until the man and the little girl finished signing all of their paperwork and went on their way. He decided that grabbing food for everyone was a good enough excuse, and snagged Kevin to let him know where he was headed. As he walked over to one of the tents down the line he smiled as he thought of Molly finally finding a new home.
Man and child were indeed gone when Cas returned with lunch, but Molly was still lounging inside the enclosure. Concerned, he immediately went to find Charlie at the adoption table. "I thought that guy and his daughter were adopting Molly, what happened?"
Charlie smirked at Cas. "You mean the ridiculously attractive blonde dude that I briefly considered trying to go straight for? The one you were staring for a full five minutes before you scampered off? Why ever would you be concerned about his whereabouts?"
"Charlie." He replied, a warning edge in his voice. She just smirked harder. He took an exasperated breath. "Fine. Yes, he looked like a Disney prince. Yes, he short-circuited my brain a little. And yes, I give you full permission to tease me about it later, but please tell me what happened with the dog."
"Oh I am so holding you to that. But nothing happened dude - they did adopt her, filled out all the paperwork and paid the fees a few minutes ago."
"Then why is she still here?" Cas asked, perplexed and a little frustrated.
"Oh, yeah, well apparently they just moved to our little Podunk county and haven't finished getting their home doggy-ready. Their house is, and I quote, 'so full of boxes it's as hard to navigate as Emyn Muil'! I mean, a guy that pretty who loves dogs, is great with kids, and can quote Tolkien - be still my fucking heart, am I right? Anyway, they are going to get settled then they're coming in to the shelter next weekend to pick her up". Charlie finished with a wink.
Cas just gulped and nodded. Becky and Kevin were always gifted a weekend off following the festival as a thank you for helping out. He and Charlie both knew that Cas was already on the schedule to volunteer both days next weekend. It looked like staying away would be harder than he previously thought.