LITMIR.BIZ

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the main floor, Lily stood by the stairs, her eyes darting toward the large casement windows of the great room. “The men say it’s true,” she whispered. “There are wolves here…and you can’t shoot ’em, ’cause they’re pro—pro—”

      “Protected, unless you can prove that one of them is killing livestock,” one of the men said as he backed into the living room holding one end of a sofa. “They were reintroduced in the north country ten years ago, and they’ve been ranging farther and farther south.”

      Erin thought about the half-mile lane to this cabin, and the fact that there were no close neighbors…and no friends nearby to call in an emergency.

      The idea of a dog—a very big dog—suddenly held far more appeal.

      CHAPTER TWO

      BEING A NEW KID SUCKED. Being a new kid who showed up a week after school started was ten times worse.

      Drew scowled at the tips of his sneakers as he waited with Tyler outside the elementary school. Lily sat on a bench behind them, her face glum.

      A cabin in the woods was pretty cool, but not enough to make this any easier. Back in Milwaukee, he and Tyler had lived in a tough neighborhood where there were sirens and drug busts night and day, but at least he’d had friends. In Wausau with Erin, they’d finally started to feel at home.

      But here the local kids had known each other all their lives and were already settled into the school routine.

      Lily, with her white-blond hair and shy smiles, had a better chance of fitting in with kids anywhere, though the meaner ones usually made fun of her weak leg. Tyler got sick a lot and was small for his age, so classmates tried to pick on him. And Drew had never been good at sports or schoolwork, because just surviving had been tough enough.

      He gazed at his brother, and thought about the nasty glances in the lunchroom. The snickers out on the playground.

      Fed up, he’d shouldered one kid aside as they lined up to go back inside after recess, just as a warning.

      He hoped the kids here learned quick. Anyone who thought it cool to hassle his brother or taunt Lily about her limp would have to deal with him. And then he’d end up in trouble himself, like always—with the usual lectures and detentions that had dogged him at every school.

      “It’s Erin,” Tyler announced, his voice filled with relief at the sight of her navy Windstar pulling up in front of the school. He hopped off the bench and stood next to Drew. “Don’t say nothing ’bout school.”

      Oh, I won’t, Drew thought grimly. To Tyler, he just nodded.

      Erin smiled at them as they climbed into the van and buckled their seat belts. “So how did your first day go?”

      “Okay,” Lily murmured.

      In the backseat, Tyler and Drew exchanged glances.

      “Boys?”

      Drew caught her looking at them in the rearview mirror, her brow furrowed. She seemed tired and worried, and he wondered if she’d had a bad day, too. Only where she worked, she was the boss—so she could fire anybody who gave her any crap. The thought of that kind of power made Drew clench his fist, thinking of a few guys at school.

      When she didn’t pull away from the curb, he finally mumbled, “It was okay. I guess.”

      “Good.” She drummed her fingers lightly on the top of the steering wheel. “You know, I was thinking…we worked so hard this weekend, getting moved in. Maybe we could do something fun. Unless, of course,” she added somberly, “you have too much homework.”

      Lily beamed at her. “Nope!”

      “It isn’t really the first day, though—the other kids have been at it a week now. What sort of makeup assignments do you have so far?”

      “Just some reading…and a math assignment. Not much,” she said earnestly. “It won’t take long.”

      “Tyler?”

      “Just some work sheets.”

      “Drew?”

      He couldn’t hold back his snort of disgust. “Another one of those ‘what did you do last summer?’ papers. And a bunch of work sheets, but they aren’t due till Friday.”

      “Hmm.”

      “So, what did you want to do, huh?” Lily tugged at Erin’s sleeve. “We got time.”

      Smiling mysteriously, Erin drove slowly down Main and pulled up in front of the Realtor’s building. “Just wait a minute.”

      She locked their doors and disappeared inside the building, but was back in only a few seconds. “No luck,” she said as she slid behind the wheel. “I don’t have a phone number for the owner of our cabin and I’d hoped the Realtor might have heard from him by now.”

      “About a dog?”

      Erin nodded. “I’m sorry, guys. I’d hoped we could go looking today. Anyone up for getting some pizza before we head out of town?”

      Scowling, Drew slumped down in his seat. Promises. They never meant much—he’d learned that a long time ago.

      “DO YOU NEED ANYTHING else?” The slender young woman shot a surreptitious glance at her wristwatch as she hesitated at the door of Erin’s office. Eager, Erin knew, to race out the front door of Blackberry Hill Memorial to meet her boyfriend, who lingered at the curb in his red Mustang every day at noon.

      “I think I’ve got enough for now, Beth,” Erin said dryly, waving a hand over the stack of files on her desk. “Check in with me when you get back.”

      “Madge is back from lunch, so I’ll let her know what you’ve been doing, just in case you need anything.” Beth waggled her fingers and hurried down the hallway, her heels clicking against the polished terrazzo floor.

      Sighing, Erin rounded her desk and shut the door, then continued looking through the files. She’d known that the hospital was in trouble before accepting the job. Now, on her fourth day here, she was learning just how much. The picture was bleak.

      With operating losses exceeding twelve percent of patient revenue, and fewer than eight hundred admissions per year, there were definite challenges ahead. And on the second Thursday of October, she’d be standing before the board to explain what was wrong and how she planned to fix it.

      No small task, she thought grimly, flipping through another file.

      This was her first time at the helm, and success here would mean she could move upward if this town didn’t suit. Failure would dog her forever and limit her chances at making a good, secure living for her children.

      At a soft rap on the door, she glanced up. “Come in,” she called out, “it’s open.”

      Madge Wheeler bustled in, her bulky frame encased in a heavy, hand-knit red sweater and plaid skirt. Sparkly crystal earrings dangled beneath a cloud of curly gray hair. “Beth told me to drop in.”

      “Thanks. I do have a few questions.” Erin tipped her head toward the stack of employee files. “How long have you been here?”

      Madge pulled a chair up to the front edge of Erin’s desk. “It’s all there. I started here as a teenager, helping in the kitchen. Worked my way into the front office, from receptionist to clerk, and after thirty years, I became the office manager.”

      “And Grace Fisher?”

      “Director of nursing for thirty-five years. Retiring this year, she says, though she’s been saying that for a while now and she never gets around to it.” Madge’s voice was filled with pride. “This hospital has continuity. None of those fly-by-night employees here today, gone tomorrow. We have good people and they stay. Newest one on the payroll is the Baxter girl, just out of high school, but the average employee

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