One More Week! Read an Excerpt

I can barely contain my excitement–Training the K-9 Companion will be in stores next Tuesday, June 25, 2024! And you can read an excerpt here.

Look at this cover! The little Pomeranian! And the mountains! And the daisies! I can’t. I just can’t. Too adorable!

Man’s best friend…
Could be the key to a second chance.

When rancher Cade Moulten decides to get a therapy dog for his ailing grandmother, he doesn’t expect a fluffy Pomeranian—or a pretty veterinarian trainer. But Cade will do anything to prove he’s a changed man, even train the small K-9 alongside Mackenzie Howard. Soon the weekly sessions with Mackenzie have Cade wishing for more. But will he risk revealing his shameful past for a chance at acceptance? 

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Read an excerpt below!

Chapter One

As usual, the restlessness snuck up on him, and, too late, Cade Moulten realized his mistake. Offering to help his mother train a therapy dog was just another attempt to atone for his past.

He couldn’t back out now. He wouldn’t if he could. Cade had other reasons—good ones—for being here.

“It’s not much to look at, is it?” His mother, Christy Moulten, sat in the passenger seat of his truck and stared at the small industrial building with faded gray aluminum siding. Next to it, a matching structure roughly three times its size shared the parking lot. The early June sunshine began to fade as the day wound down.

Cade cut the engine, and his mom bent to pick up her purse. A few months shy of turning sixty-four, his mother hadn’t slowed a bit. Her stylish blond bob, subtle makeup and smile lines gave her the appearance of someone who enjoyed life, but she also had a stubborn streak wider than a country mile.

At thirty-five, he’d mellowed to the point of not minding driving her around town whenever her driver’s license was suspended—and that was often—nor did he mind living with her in the big house on the ranch. Kept her out of trouble.

Maybe they kept each other out of trouble.

He pocketed his keys. “What’s it supposed to look like? It’s a vet clinic, not a spa, Ma.”

Cade had personally taken a loss on this property by selling it to the new veterinarian and her father for pennies on the dollar. Anything to convince a vet to take a chance on moving to Jewel River. When Dr. Bill Banks, the only veterinarian within two hours of here, retired last fall, it had affected every rancher and pet owner in this swath of Wyoming.

Jewel River needed a veterinarian ASAP.

Cade needed one, too. For his ranch and to be on call when Moulten Stables opened this fall. Ideally, his new horse-boarding venture would have an equine-certified vet, but they were hard to come by in rural Wyoming. Any animal doctor was. How much experience did the new vet have with horses?

“I don’t know.” Mom’s nose crinkled in distaste as she shrugged. “I was hoping she’d have a nice sign and a few potted flowers to make the entrance more inviting. The beat-up siding and chain-link fence surrounding the property leaves a lot to be desired.”

“Cut her some slack. The clinic isn’t even open for business. She could be waiting for her father to arrive before updating the exterior. He’s going to have plenty of renovations in order to turn that old warehouse into a service-dog training center.”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’m thankful she found us a dog and is helping us train it. When I think of how happy it will make your grandmother and all the other nursing-home residents to have a dog visit them…well, I can’t wait to get started. Plus, I miss having a dog around to spoil.”

Cade wouldn’t argue with that. Trudy Moulten was his only living grandparent, and he’d always been close to his paternal grandmother. She’d blanketed him and his younger brother, Ty, with love, affection and homemade treats as they were growing up and into adulthood. He couldn’t count how many times she’d pointed him back to Jesus when he was getting in trouble.

He’d gotten in trouble a lot.

Probably would still be getting into trouble if his days on Wall Street hadn’t ended so abruptly.

He stepped out of the truck at the same time his mother did. Their doors shut in unison, and they walked together across old blacktop with the occasional weed popping through.

He wished Nana hadn’t broken a hip and become wheelchair bound. Ever since she’d moved into the nursing home last year, her dementia from Alzheimer’s had been rapidly progressing. The doctors said she was entering the moderately severe stage. The impractical side of Cade hoped the comfort of having a therapy dog visiting her on a regular basis would slow the progress. The practical side of him knew it wouldn’t make much of a difference. The dog would bring her joy, though, and that alone would make these training sessions worthwhile.

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Enjoy your week!