She pulled on her robe and shoes and took the puppy outside. It was freezing and the snow held a shiny glaze on top now. “Go on.” Vapor formed billows of white with each word. He made quick work of it, and then ran inside and up the stairs ahead of her. “Well, you’re doing stairs a lot better today.”
Once she got dressed, she found the puppy lying on her shoes by the door. Her heart skipped. “You better not have chewed on those.”
Eyebrows rose on his face.
She grabbed the shoes; thankfully, they were still intact. She’d heard horror stories of women with dogs that ate one of each pair of her good shoes.
“I’m sorry I doubted you. You’re going to need real puppy food, but until then Lilene left me some oatmeal. Does that sound good?” She did her best to get the water hot, but not too hot, in the microwave and mix everything together. “One for me and one for you.”
They ate and then he disappeared into the bedroom for a moment and then came racing back in dragging her curling iron behind him. “No, sir. Drop it.”
He stopped, staring at her for a long moment with the white cord hanging from his mouth like a long mustache. Then, he dropped it and came running to her.
“Good boy.”
She gave him praise, then went and put the curling iron back on the counter where he couldn’t reach it.
“I’m going to have to call you something if you’re going to be hanging around a little while. What should we call you?”
He barked.
“How about… Henry.”
He pulled his chin back.
“You don’t seem to like that one. How about Porter?”
He jumped up and started running around. “Come here, Porter.”
He ran in front of her, then raised his hiney in the air and barked. “I think you like that.” She picked him up and held him to her face. “Do you like that name?”
He put his chin on her shoulder.
“Porter it is.” She was pretty certain that even in a town the size of Fraser Hills a puppy and sanitation for baked goods was not a good mix. She couldn’t very well walk into the office with a puppy in her arms.
She texted Jimmy to see if he could take her to the office.
Jimmy:Right around the corner. Be there in five.
“How lucky is that? We’ll get there before anyone else. You can stay under my desk.” She shuffled through the cabinets in the kitchen until she found a large paper bag. She tucked the towel and the sock into the bag, then wrapped Porter up in her coat and went downstairs.
Jimmy never noticed the puppy, and she was able to get into the building and upstairs before anyone else arrived.
“We’re here,” she said to Porter. “How do you like your home for the day? Someone around here has to know who you belong to. But if they don’t… you could stay with me. I’m getting ready to buy a house with a yard and it needs a cute puppy like you.”
She worked while the puppy slept and played in intervals.
“Good morning,” Lilene said as she walked into Vanessa’s office. “I brought homemade eggnog. You do like eggnog, right?”
“I love it. Can’t say I’ve ever had homemade, though.”
“Nothing like it.”
Porter woke up and barked. Vanessa flushed.
“What was that?”
“I had a visitor last night.”
