“Were they surrendered?” I asked as Lauren let Chloe and I into the pen. She nodded.
“Left on a local walking path, tied to a tree with a piece of paper tacked to it that said ‘Free to a good home, a.k.a. not mine’.”
Chloe and I caught each other’s eye, and I could tell she was also trying not to laugh at that. It was horrible, yes. So horrible. And a teensy, little bit funny.
“So obviously we don’t know much. Pablo is definitely older than Percy by a good bit. Percy’s practically a puppy. We’ve ordered a DNA test, but the vet thinks they may be mostly Shih Tzu.”
“Do they need walks today?” Chloe asked. “We should have time for some more little guys.” But Lauren shook her head.
“Honestly, they’ve been through enough in the last couple of days. It would be really great if you could just sit and try to help them open up? Maybe give them a cuddle if they’ll let you? They’ve probably got fleas – they’re getting haircuts this afternoon to help – but they need a bit of love.”
“We can definitely do that,” Chloe said, winking at Lauren; I just nodded my agreement. Lauren wished us luck and shut us into the pen, looking back at Chloe as she left.
Chloe and I sat down against opposite sides of the pen, waiting for the pups to come to us. We made the compulsory kiss noises at them, but their disdain made it clear this would be a long game.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come this weekend?” Chloe asked as we settled in for the wait.
“That’s really kind of you,” I said, “but that’s in, like, fifteen hours, isn’t it? Plus, don’t feel like you have to invite me to everything.”
“I know I don’thaveto do anything,” Chloe said, giving me a no-nonsense look across the pen that made me sit up a little straighter. “I mean, if I’m making you feel uncomfortable, just tell me and I’ll stop. But I’m inviting you because I think you would enjoy it. And we would, too.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond. Sure, until this week I’d had a perfectly good reason to turn down the invites. Cara and I had spent pretty much every evening together, and weekends, and holidays. Well, okay, I hadn’t actually taken a holiday in a few years; Cara had always wanted to go someplace interesting, and until the Ren Faire idea came up, I’d never been up for something that adventurous.
But now, that reason wasn’t there anymore. And if the invitation was genuine … well, that gave me something to think about, at least. Including how the others would feel; would Jack feel like I was being intrusive after his comment the other night?
Chloe took advantage of the lull to pull out her phone – “just wanna make sure Simone isn’t onto me for taking a double lunch,” she said – so I pulled mine out, too; maybe the dogs would be more likely to come to us if we were distracted. I did my usual rotation of social media apps, not lingering too long on any one thing. Then I opened up my email, making sure there wasn’t anything important in my work inbox before switching to my personal account.
There I found an email that made my blood run cold. It was from Cara’s mum, and the subject line was “Next steps for the house”.
The first question I’d asked Cara when she’d said she was moving away – well, after gushing about the new job and asking what I was meant to do without her – was about the house. She’d assured me they had no intention of renting it to anyone else, and that my rent was just enough to pay the mortgage. So I told myself as I psyched myself up to open it that it was probably just them reassuring me that I could stay on my own as long as I liked.
But apparently Cara had had no idea what she was talking about.
We’re so sorry to spring this on you so shortly after Cara has left, as I know the transition must be a challenge. But we’ve been advised that now is the best time to jump on this opportunity, so I’m afraid we’ll need to move fast. I’m afraid we’ll be selling the house now that Cara has moved out, so we’ll need your help with making sure it’s available and readied for viewings. Since you’re already on a month-to-month verbal agreement, I assume this won’t be an issue.
The first step will be having the estate agent come round to take pictures and measure in two weeks’ time. Please let me know some suitable times that day to have her come over; you’ll need to give her a spare key for viewings.
Thanks in advance for your help on this, Morgan.
The pen around me felt like it was closing in, and I was glad I was sat against the wall, because everything started to blur slightly. I realised I was breathing fast when I noticed Chloe scowling at me.
“Morgan, are you okay? Do you need some water?”
She held out her bottle of water to me, but I waved it off. “I’m okay,” I said, which was a lie, given that I couldn’t seem to take a proper breath.
Out of the corner of my vision, I saw a brown smudge come slowly over to me and settle on the ground beside me. It was Pablo. And not only did he lay down close enough to touch me, curling up like a little croissant, but then he stretched his head back and flopped it to the side, resting it on my thigh.
I reached over to pet him, slowly rubbing down his neck and across his side, and I forced myself to match my breathing to the strokes. In, out. In, out. After a moment, everything came back into focus, and I found that he had closed his eyes and seemed to be asleep.
“That’s incredible,” Chloe said, and I looked up to see her staring at me with wide eyes, her phone held up in front of her to take a picture. I did my best to smile, leaning my head down to be as close to Pablo as possible. I was sure it was a horribly awkward photo, but I did feel better, and it was pretty incredible that he’d come over to a stranger to help me calm down.
“Seriously, you’re the chosen one,” she said. “I’m so jealous.” She reached out to Percy as if to try to even it out, but Percy just backed into the corner and bared his teeth again.
“Smart dog,” I said, smirking at Chloe.
“Har, har,” she said. “But seriously, sorry if I stressed you out about this weekend. If it’s going to be uncomfortable, I can stop inviting you to stuff.”
“No, it wasn’t that,” I said, scratching under Pablo’s chin as he tilted his head back further towards me. “I just got some bad news.”
