Page 114 of The Vet's Unconditional Love
"Well, they shouldn't."
"Hey, I agree."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to bite your head off.It just annoys me."
"I'm not thrilled about it myself.But unfortunately, it's the way life tends to work.Alana knows the deal.And she's fine.She enjoys her part."
"She doesn't need to be the star of the show to be the star of the show," Tanya said from the back seat.
Emmett exchanged a smile with Harper.
"You're absolutely right about that," Harper said."And I think that by the time this evening is over, the whole town will know it."
~ ~ ~
When they arrived at the theater, Harper brought the truck to a stop out front.
"Do you guys want to get out here, and I'll go and park?"
"No, thanks."
She turned to Emmett, and he chuckled."I'm doing better, and we're here early."He jerked his chin toward the parking lot."We can grab a space close by, so I won't have to walk too far."
"Yeah, we'll come with you," said Tanya, peering through the window.
Harper guessed that she was looking out for Nat."I don't expect the others will be here for a while yet.I wanted to come early to make sure..."
"To make sure of what?"Tanya asked.
She gave them both a shame-faced smile."I don't really know what I wanted to make sure of.I just — I didn't want us to be late.I didn't want your dad to get jostled by the crowds coming in.I didn't..."Perhaps she shouldn't say it, but it was true, so she didn’t see why not."I suppose what I mean, is that I didn't want to miss a minute of tonight."
A rush of warmth filled her chest when Emmett caught her hand, gave it a squeeze, and said, "I'm glad."
She went to park the truck at the end of the row of spaces closest to the front door, but Emmett pointed to a row along the side of the building."We should go over there."
"But I wanted to get you as close as possible to the doors."
"And I appreciate it, but if we go over there, we'll be as close to the back exit later.We usually come out that way after a performance.They don't let the kids use the rear of the theater at night, since the back entrance is close to one of the bars."
"Oh no, has there been trouble in the past?"she asked.
"There hasn't, but it's because the theater manager likes to plan ahead."
She smiled."And you do too."
She parked in the spot where he'd indicated, and she could see that there was a path that cut through to the front entrance from here as well, so he wouldn't have far to walk either going in or coming out."You're right, this is much better than my idea."
"Only because you didn't know about the exit."
Harper nodded.That was the thing — she was good at figuring out the best solution with the information she had available, but she so often found herself cut off from insider information.As if she'd read her mind, Tanya leaned forward from the back seat and said, "But you'll know in the future, won't you, Harpsichord?"
By the time they reached the front of the building, Trip and Shelley were already standing out there and greeted them with a wave.One of the MacFarland Ranch trucks passed by and came to a stop.The back door flew open, and Nat jumped out, hurrying toward Tanya.
Emmett raised a hand to Ford, who was driving, when he put his window down."That's okay, she can hang with us.We'll keep an eye on her."
"Thanks," said Ford."We'll catch up with you guys in a minute."
Trip nodded at Emmett."You're moving around better."
