Chapter One

      “Good boy, Toby.” Dr. Cheyenne Granger laughed as the hound dog standing on her examining table swiped her chin with his tongue. She may have been just out of vet school but she was so happy with her choice of profession she could not contain her joy. She wrapped her arms around the elderly canine.

       “You are such a good patient.” She lowered him gently to the floor and gave his ears a rub. “Are we friends again?”

       Big chocolate eyes forgave her for having stuck him with a needle a few moments before.

       “Thanks, buddy.” No one on earth could forgive the way a dog could. “Are you ready to find your mom?”

       Toby swiped her face a second time and wagged his tail. “Yes! Let’s go!” he seemed to say as he tilted his head to one side and glanced toward the closed door.

       “Then lead the way, handsome.” She seized his leash. Toby knew the path down the short hallway past the patient rooms to the waiting area where the air-conditioning blew against the hot summer Wyoming sunshine. Several dogs panted with nervousness alongside their owners, waiting for their appointments. One particularly unhappy cat yowled from a carrier in the corner.

       “Toby!” Terri Baker Gold rose from one of the cushy chairs and hurried over. The dog gave a cry of relief and raced into his owner’s arms. “What a good boy. Did you think I wouldn’t be waiting for you? I would never leave you, baby.”

       The hound licked Terri’s chin at the reassurance. Happy that his appointment was over, he wagged his tail and looked expectantly at the door.

       “We should get the results from the lab in a few days. I’ll give you a call. Other than that, I’ve sent a prescription over to the pharmacy.” Cheyenne grabbed a biscuit from the bowl on the counter and held the bone-shaped treat out to Toby. “You let Terri know if you don’t feel better, okay, boy?”

       The old dog took the treat politely, crunching away with canine satisfaction on his face.

       “Thanks, Cheyenne.” Terri, a lifelong friend, smiled. “Nate must be thrilled to have you join his practice.”

       “He hasn’t tossed me out yet,” she quipped from behind the counter where the receptionist, Tasha Wisener, chatted on the phone. Multiple lines were lit up; another busy day. “I’m the one who is thrilled to be here. I’m grateful Nate has taken me under his wing. I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.”

       “Especially with so much going on in your family.” Terri opened her purse and pulled out her checkbook. “The Grangers have had two weddings already with two more to come. Then there’s Rori’s pregnancy and rumors about Frank and Cady.”

       “Yes, and you’re about the hundredth person who has hinted for insider information on Dad’s intentions toward a certain inn owner.” She couldn’t help laughing. Her dad’s quiet romance with Cady Winslow had become the talk of the town. “I’m the last to know anything. Besides, even if I did know something and admitted it, guess what would happen next?”

       “Me. I would happen,” Tasha intervened. She hung up the phone and tapped a few computer keys. Terri’s bill popped out of the printer. “I would repeat it, my mother-in-law would get wind of it and the whole county would know by nightfall. Nothing is private in a small town.”

       “And if it is, not for long.” Cheyenne grabbed the next patient’s chart—the Stone family, who didn’t yet have a pet of their own but had been to the clinic twice already. Little Julianna had a rescuer’s heart.

       Wondering what had brought the Stone sisters in today, Cheyenne straightened her white coat, opened the door and walked into the cozy examining