Evelyn's POV
Maddie nodded slowly, the teasing finally gone from her face.
For once, she didn’t make a joke.
“Okay,” she said. “And then what?”
“Then…” I paused, choosing my words more carefully this time. “I want to do something that’s actually mine.”
She rested her chin on her hand, watching me closely now, all curiosity and focus.
“Like what?”
I smiled.
“Animal rescue.”
Maddie straightened almost immediately.
“Finally.” She rolled her eyes—big, dramatic, completely unapologetic. “I knew you’d come back to that eventually.”
I laughed softly.
She wasn’t wrong.
I’d loved animals for as long as I could remember. As a kid, I’d brought home everything—stray cats, injured birds… once, I even dragged a dog with a broken leg into our garage after it got hit by a car.
I’d tried to “
