Chapter 2

B rittany sat across from her grandmother, who was still cooing over Pocket, now safely nestled in her arms.

She looked up with tears in her eyes. "Thank you, dear. Thank you for finding her."

"Of course." She waited a few more minutes, as things calmed down, and she asked, "Grandma, did you know that Brad died?"

She looked over at her granddaughter, nodding. "I did hear something about that," she muttered. "He had a heart attack or something in one of the trucks, while he was rescuing dogs or something."

Brittany nodded slowly. "I didn't know."

Her grandmother frowned at her. "Does that matter?"

She shook her head. "I guess not, but I met his brother today."

"Oh, that would be Baron," she murmured. "I haven't seen him in quite a while. He was off in the military for a long time, but I heard he got hurt. What was he up to?"

"Apparently his brother was helping to rescue a bunch of dogs, and, when Brad had a heart attack, some of the dogs managed to get free. Others were still there in cages in the truck, until they were discovered and rescued. Baron is looking for the dogs lost from the back of his brother's truck."

Her grandmother beamed. "That sounds like those boys," she said, "very much animal lovers, and the people to have in your corner when you have a problem." She eyed her granddaughter closely. "So, what has you bothered about it?"

"I'm not sure anything bothers me about it," she replied, frowning at her grandmother.

Her grandmother nodded slowly. "They are good people. I've never had a problem with any of them."

"That's good to know," she murmured. "I just wondered about the dogs that he's going after."

"Meaning he shouldn't go?" she asked her granddaughter.

"Absolutely he should go, as long as it's safe," she clarified. "I just don't want his mother to lose another son."

"I think the hurricane danger is more or less over at this point. It's just the rubble and debris, which I'm not minimizing at all," she murmured, "but Baron is very sensible and, like Brad, an experienced rescue worker."

Brittany nodded but didn't have a whole lot more to say about it.

"What's got you in such a dither over it?"

She laughed at the old phrasing. "Nothing.… Just interesting meeting him, that's all."

"Ah, he's probably the most interesting man you've met in a while, huh ?" Grandma asked shrewdly.

Brittany flushed at that. Her grandmother was never one to miss an opportunity to point out Brittany's single state. "I'm just fine, thanks," she replied.

"Well, you might be fine, but it's a lonely world out there, and you could sure use some friends."

"I'm not saying I couldn't use some friends. I'm just saying that I don't need to be reminded all the time that I'm single."

"No, reminding you won't change it," Grandma conceded. "That'll take you stepping out of your little privacy box to do something about it."

She groaned. "We're not having this conversation right now."

"Nope, no need to." Grandma rose and headed for the dog treats for the umpteenth time.

"I really don't think Pocket needs more treats, Grandma," she pointed out to her grandmother. "She needs real food."

"She's had real food, and now she's had cuddles. So she can surely have a couple more treats," she replied crossly. "She went through a harrowing ordeal," her grandmother chastised Brittany. "Everybody should be allowed to have a few extra treats, when they've been put through such a thing."

Not a whole lot Brittany could say to that, and no doubt that Pocket had definitely been through a harrowing ordeal. Brittany just didn't think that dozens of treats would be very good for her. "You might want to remember," she added, "that her digestive system can't handle too much of anything right now. She didn't have food for all that time she was stuck under that roofing, so go easy."

Her grandmother sighed and put the treats back. "You're right. As much as I want to completely spoil her rotten right now, I don't want to make her sick."

With relief, Brittany smiled as her grandmother sat back down again and just cuddled Pocket. "I'm just glad she survived it," she murmured.

"I'm so glad you were able to find her," Grandma noted, with a smile.

"Honestly, Baron lifted all the heavy items off of Pocket, so that we could free her." She chuckled. "He did it quite easily too."

"A big strong, healthy man," her grandmother announced, "is very good to have around."

Brittany rolled her eyes. "But that's not the reason we have them around."

"Why not?" her grandmother asked, a twinkle in her eyes. "They're certainly helpful at times."

"Sure, but we don't have them around just so we can take advantage of their muscles," she argued, with mischief in her tone.

"There are a bunch of other reasons to have them around too," Grandma added, "but, if you're not ready for that, no point in discussing them."

She groaned. "I'm definitely not ready for that."

"Too bad, because there are definitely men I would recommend."

"Of course you would." Brittany groaned. "Thankfully I'm not in the market. So, when you do rave on and on about them, remember that."

"You're never in the market. You haven't been in the market since you got ditched at the altar." Brittany swore at that, and her grandmother winced. "I know. I know. I'm not supposed to bring it up, but surely it's old news by now."

"It might be old news, but that still doesn't mean it's anything I want to discuss."

"You've never wanted to discuss it, and you've never let it go. That's why it's never gone away," Grandma declared, studying her granddaughter.

"Enough," she muttered. "This is the last thing that needs to be discussed right now."

"Maybe not, I'll give you that. Maybe we should just all ignore the fact that you've let your entire life come to a standstill because of it."

Brittany wiped her brow. Her grandmother usually didn't go in this direction, so something about the hurricane must be getting her tongue to fly off the handle a little more than normal. Her grandmother wasn't easily appeased either. She appeared to be on a run and wouldn't let anything stop her right now.

"I've told you before," Grandma muttered. "You need to let that crap go and find yourself someone else."

"I would if I found anybody," she pointed out, "but, so far, I've not exactly seen anything I'm interested in."

"Not true," she argued. "You met Baron today. That's a good first step forward."

"Right, I just met him today ," she emphasized, "so I won't jump his bones already."

Her grandmother stopped, an arrested look in her gaze, and then went off in peals of laughter. "I bet you could. I'm totally okay being here for a while if you want to meet up with Baron."

"Oh, good gosh," Brittany muttered, wishing she'd never brought it up.

"And you would enjoy it, you know,"

"Enjoying it is one thing," she conceded, "but I'm much more into relationships that are for the long haul. Anyway, enough of that. I really don't want to sit here and discuss this, if you don't mind."

"Spoil sport," her grandmother grumbled, as she turned her attention back to Pocket. "Just so you know, if he's out there rescuing other dogs, he might need a hand."

"I'm sure he has a whole team to back him up," she pointed out. "The last thing he needs is somebody like me."

"Oh, I don't believe that for a moment," Grandma countered. "However, as long as you choose to, it will keep you in your nice little hole for that much longer." Then she got up, leaving no chance to respond to that insulting retort. "I'll go lie down for a while. Now that I have Pocket back, I think I can probably sleep."

"You do that," Brittany murmured, frowning with worry as she watched her eighty-three-year-old grandmother make her way to the small bedroom of her friend's house.

Just then, Grandmother's friend Camille walked in from the living room and looked in the direction of her grandmother, as she headed to the guest bedroom. "How is she?" she whispered.

Brittany smiled. "In many ways, very much the same as always and, in other ways, tired, old, sore, and devastated," she murmured.

"Of course," Camille muttered. "She's welcome to stay here for a while longer. You know that, right?"

"Thank you. I'm trying to figure out just what the options are."

"You know what the options are," Camille stated. "You just haven't reconciled yourself to them."

"I know… It's just not something I wanted to do right now."

Camille nodded. "I get that, but we don't always get a choice in these matters. Therefore, it might be time for you to suck it up and to accept that your grandma needs your help for a little bit longer and then just do it."

"Yet that little bit longer could easily be another ten years or more, and I don't exactly have the life that's conducive to caring for her."

"You work from home," Camille pointed out, "so it's not as if you won't be there. Plus you get along famously. The two of you are great for each other. So why would it not be conducive?"

"Because she likes her friendships, her bowling nights, her bingo nights," she replied in frustration.

Camille nodded. "Yet you know that I'll continue to pick her up and to take her with me to these events."

Brittany grimaced. "Thank you for that. She's very active—and I'm not. I don't particularly want to have her bridge club over on her designated week. I would have to clean house and have snacks. I like my peace, thank you very much."

At that, Camille grinned. "Hang on a minute. Does that mean you're jealous of her social life?"

Brittany groaned. "I'm glad you're having fun at my expense, but it isn't an easy decision to become a caregiver or to even look for one, much less to convince Grandma that she needs one."

"No, it isn't," Camille agreed, "and, as long as your grandmother had her house, it was a decision that didn't have to be made. But now, a decision must be made." Looking back toward the bedroom, she sighed. "I brought up her moving in permanently with me, but she abruptly waved me off, refused to discuss it. So, yes, this decision is not an easy one, I agree. Yet you must at least discuss it, and I would say sooner rather than later would be best. However, you don't really have any sooner or later about it. You are looking at right now ."

Brittany nodded glumly, as she stared at the wall. "It's not that I don't love her, but it's such a huge responsibility to have her living with me."

"It is a huge responsibility," Camilla confirmed, "and I presume your mother is not around, correct?"

"No, my parents have been gone quite a few years now," she replied.

"And that was her only child, her only daughter?"

Brittany nodded again, knowing exactly where this was heading. "Yes, just the two of us are left." Camille didn't say anything to that answer, which was already enough to point out that, when the chips are down, really only family was there—and sometimes family wasn't. "The other issue is that she won't necessarily agree to come to my place," Brittany pointed out. "That is likely to be the biggest thing. I'm sure she'll need some convincing."

"Your grandmother is stubborn."

"Very stubborn," Brittany agreed, with a smile, "and very independent."

"And nothing wrong with that either."

"No, of course not, unless it's something that we want her to do, and she doesn't want to do it."

Camille chuckled. "Well, let's just take it one day at a time and see what she comes up with for an answer herself."

"That's what I've been hoping for, you know? That she would work her way around to the discussion and see what we have for options," she murmured. "I know what some of the options are, but I also know that they won't be options that she's particularly fond of."

"Exactly, but that doesn't mean there aren't other options available though."

But really it did mean that because, without tons of money, not a whole lot of other options were available to those on a limited income. Her grandma had her pension, but her paid-for house was her biggest asset. Now that was gone. And Brittany had no high hopes that the insurance company would pay Grandma anything near the true replacement value of the home. And did her homeowners insurance cover temporary housing costs? That would help. Brittany pondered all this as she got up and made herself a sandwich in Camille's kitchen and prepared one for her grandmother to eat when she got up again. Brittany would have to restock Camille's fridge, as the previous groceries were dwindling down. It was the least Brittany could do for Camille, while housing her grandma.

She asked Camille if she would like one, but, as always, she shook her head. "No, I'm fine. I've already eaten."

Brittany wasn't sure Camille had eaten anything, but it seemed to be an ongoing trend here between the older ladies, where they didn't eat hardly a bite. Deciding that was something else that needed to be broached, Brittany took her sandwich and sat back down beside her. "Okay, what's the deal? Why are you really not eating? Are you broke or is this something else I need to be concerned about?"

Camille smiled at her. "Are you telling me that you don't already have enough to worry about?"

"I have lots to worry about," she shared, "but having more to worry about doesn't mean that I'll worry any less."

Camille looked at her in confusion, then laughed. "That may have made sense to you, but it really didn't make any sense to me at all."

"I know, and that's okay too, but I do need to know that you're okay."

"I'm fine," she murmured. "I was thinking maybe I needed to take in a boarder or somebody, if not your grandma, but I'll probably be okay regardless."

"Moneywise, you mean?"

Camille nodded. "When you set aside a certain amount of money for your retirement, but inflation continues to go up along with the prices of everything, it can get scary. You think you have enough, but, all of a sudden, it goes to shit, and you don't have enough."

"Of course," Brittany murmured, "and I'm sorry if you've come to that point." She pondered it for a moment. "What if I could convince my grandmother to stay here with you? It would be one solution for both problems. That is, if you don't mind my sharing with Grandma how you could use the help financially."

She looked at her, then shrugged. "I don't think she would, but it's certainly something we could discuss." Camille frowned. "But I couldn't handle all your grandma's needs."

"No, you wouldn't have to," Brittany pointed out. "It would be something that we could split, which would give me a bit of a break. That way I could work and check in on a day-to-day basis. Maybe I should check out having a nurse drop in once a week or something. Even get you a maid to help with the housecleaning. I'll see how much each would charge, and I'll let you know more about it. Even though I know it's not affordable in Grandma's case, I may check into the assisted living places nearby and just see what that figure looks like. It would at least give me an idea of what the bigger picture entails, and other options."

Camille brightened a bit and looked intrigued by her ideas. "Maybe," she added hesitantly, "but I'm really not sure your grandma would go for it."

"No, she might not, but, at the moment, I don't think she'll go for any of the options we have."

Brittany left it at that, but she pondered it as the day went on. After her grandma's nap was over, Brittany had taken Pocket and her grandmother to the vet and then back again. After spending the bulk of the day with her grandmother, she said goodbye and headed to her car. She remembered getting a text that she hadn't had a chance to even look at. She pulled out her cell and noted it came from Baron.

Surprised, she was a little bit confused as she read it. She wasn't sure exactly what he was asking, something about knowing the Gorman family and also the Galloway gang, but the text had been worded cryptically. Not sure what to think, Brittany quickly picked up the phone and called him. When he answered right away, she began, "Sorry, I got your text, but I didn't quite understand what you were asking. I felt like I'd come in the middle of a conversation."

"That's because I meant to send that message to someone else. Sorry."

"Oh," she replied, deflated.

"But, while I've got you, do you happen to know anyone from that family?"

"The Gormans? No, not personally. I've seen an old man around from time to time but come to think of it, I don't think I've seen him or anyone in a few years. Why?"

"People are living in their house, but I'm not sure whether it's them or possibly squatters."

"Well, it probably is. Not too many people are out that way right now, what with the hurricane and the debris and such."

"Right, and that's another reason why I'm questioning it. I don't know what you've seen for looters, but a few are around here."

"There are. I know," she confirmed, a bitter taste in her mouth. "I was planning on coming back out there again, but, by the time I got Pocket to the vet, got Grandma calmed back down and ready for a nap and all the rest, the day got away from me."

"Of course it did," he agreed, with a cheerful tone.

"Did you have any luck finding the War Dog?"

"No, I haven't, but I won't stop looking for a while yet."

"Isn't it too late to even see what you're doing?"

"No, it's still pretty light out," he replied.

"Well, in that case, maybe I'll come back down," she suggested. "I'm just sitting in my vehicle outside my grandma's friend's house."

"I'll come over if you're alone. At this hour it can be much harder to find people."

She hesitated, then stated, "But sunset isn't for another good hour yet, so I should come down and do some more sorting."

"What exactly are you sorting?"

"Just sifting through her stuff for anything worth keeping," she muttered. "Grandma's pretty devastated to think she has lost everything."

"Ah, so you are hoping to find family mementoes and such things?"

"Yes, but you don't sound too impressed."

"I don't have much of that stuff in my world," he shared, "so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I get it. It's important to other people, particularly to older people. Ma has our family photos and such."

"Exactly," she agreed.

"I bet your grandma was happy you found Pocket."

"She's absolutely ecstatic." She chuckled. "It sure made my day."

"Good. So why don't you just get some rest and come back out tomorrow?"

"Will you be out there tomorrow?" she asked hesitantly.

"I'll be out here tomorrow and the day after and the day after that," he noted. "I'm pretty serious about making sure that whoever is out here is okay and that, if the War Dog is still around, I find her."

"It's a her?"

"Her. Him.… I'm not even sure at this point," he admitted. "I'll have to check my files."

"How will you even know if it's her if you do find one? Other shepherds are around here too."

"There should be a tattoo," he shared, "and some other identifying marks."

"Okay,… as long as you're confident you can find the right dog."

"I'm pretty sure I can do that," he said, with a laugh.

"I guess I'll have to see for myself. Maybe I'll come down today, but maybe I won't."

"If you do come down, let me know," he suggested. "I don't want to think of you down here alone, not when the damage is so devastating. Remember that the rest of your grandma's house may fall down soon as well."

"Trust me that I know how it is down there," she replied. "I've been at her place every day since."

"Right. Well, you decide." And, with that, he hung up.

Hanging up made her decide. She quickly pulled back onto the road and headed the few blocks down to the wreckage of her grandmother's house.

She got out and stood here, looking at the devastation, wondering once again if there was any point in even trying to sort through this mess. They hadn't even had a call back from the insurance company yet. All she could do at this point was hope that her grandmother had paid all her premiums and didn't give the insurance company any room to wiggle out of covering this.

She knew that getting covered after this would be a problem as well. She already heard that sometimes continuing coverage was a problem, once a natural disaster had ripped through an area. Insurance companies didn't like it when you made claims to begin with, and they especially didn't like it when you lived in an area prone to having issues. But that was a problem for another day.

She sighed as she turned to look around, choosing for a moment to face the water, choosing to avoid the view of the trashed house while she could.

"Mother Nature, you can sure be a bitch sometimes," she murmured, as she stared out at the wrongness of the world around her. Such a beautiful shoreline and beach had been here, and now it was full of devastation, littered with broken boats, roofs, trash, and trees. What a mess.

It was just so upsetting to consider how much pain the storm had put everybody through, but they'd all survived to live another day. Then she winced, remembering that wasn't true. In fact, some of them, like Brad, hadn't survived at all.

She couldn't imagine what that would feel like right now. It had been tough enough on her grandmother, thinking that she had lost Pocket, but here Baron had lost his brother. Brad was one of the few really good people she knew in the world. He was always there with a helping hand and a big smile.

She recalled hearing something about Brad marrying for a short while many years ago. He didn't talk about it, even with nosy people asking too many questions, and she could understand that too. She'd spent way too much time trying to tell people to leave her alone too.

Sometimes they did, and sometimes they didn't. Curiosity got the best of everyone sometimes, and they couldn't leave well enough alone. In reality, Brittany was more than ready to step into a relationship, something she didn't dare share with her grandmother. Yet she had met nobody out there who was interesting enough to make her want to go in that direction again.

Except… she had to admit that Baron had caught her attention. He was definitely interesting, but he had his own issues right now. Yet, even with everything he had going on in his own life, he was still out there helping people. And animals.

That thought was unnerving, but she admired him for it. She wandered around outside her grandmother's place, picking up a photo album and a special cup that, surprisingly, was not broken. If a few familiar items like these would help make her grandmother feel settled and happy, it would be well worth the effort. Hearing a sound behind her, she turned to see Baron walking toward her.

"You were supposed to tell me if you came back down," he scolded.

She shrugged. "It was a random decision."

"You think a cup is worth it?" He pointed at the mug in her hand.

"Maybe not to me, but to my grandma? Yeah," she said. "It's not my things and memories that were lost. They were hers."

"Right," he said, with a nod. "It's always difficult to understand what's important to various people, and, for me, an old mug just doesn't cut it."

She held it up, smiled, and asked, "Are you kidding?"

He shook his head. "It's like one of those grandmother mugs, you know, probably somebody gave her three years ago."

She stopped, took a closer looked at it, then shook her head. "Actually I gave it to her, and it was at least ten years ago," she muttered, staring at it in amazement. "I barely even remember giving it to her."

"Well, apparently it mattered to her, if she kept it all these years."

"Wow," she muttered, "that is something I hadn't really considered." He looked at her curiously, and she shrugged. "Again it's not the stuff that we recognize as being important. It's all about what's important to them."

"I can understand that," he murmured, "and you found some photos?"

"I did, though it's getting too dark to really see very much," she noted, as she looked around. "Almost everybody else is gone."

"Exactly." He stopped and waited, almost as if he were expecting her to load up her finds and to head home.

She groaned. "I'm not used to being corralled into doing what other people want." When he looked at her with one brow raised, she shrugged. "You clearly are waiting for me to leave, but you can stand down."

"I don't know about the stand down part. Is that what it looks like?"

"Kind of, yeah." She chuckled. "It definitely has the look of you standing guard, wanting me to get safely on my way."

"Well, that is true," he conceded. "Absolutely I do, but I'm not really trying to force you into doing something you don't want to do. If you want to keep looking for something here, I can help."

"What about you?" she asked. "Aren't you leaving too?"

"Eventually. I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for at this point, but something is keeping me here." Surprised, she looked over at him, as he shrugged. "I know. Way too esoteric and weird."

"Maybe it's all about finding closure related to your brother."

He gave her a half smile. "Maybe.… It's a hard thing to determine when it's your family. You don't really understand, and you know that something major is gone, something which you can't ever get back. Yet you're still looking for the why . You're still looking for a reason that it happened."

"Ouch," she muttered. "That's rough, and I get it, but there are no why s in something like this and not any reasoning either. People get hurt all the time, and people die in these events. We do the best we can, but it doesn't mean that we can stop Mother Nature."

"I don't know about stopping her," he replied, "but I sure would like to turn back the clock. He… He was a good person."