AllFreeNovel
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As I jog toward the front of the shelter, the sound of barking echoes through the walls to my right. A door opens and out walks Mandy, one of our regular volunteers. Her gray hair tumbles in a riot of curls, and her face has turned cherry red with exertion. The cause of her disheveled state comes in the form of a black pit bull, straining at the end of his leash. Mandy handles him like a pro, keeping a firm grip, biceps bulging, causing me to wonder if I’ll be in as good of shape as her when I’m sixty.
“How’s it going, Mandy?”
“Oh, you know, Bourbon here is just happy for his turn outside.” The dog’s nose points straight for the door that leads to the grassy area at the back of our facilities.
“Hey, Bourbon. You gonna go easy on Mandy?”
The dog disregards me until I pull a biscuit out of my pocket. I hold the treat in my fist and command him to sit. He hesitates a second before his butt hits the tile. I push the treat out between my knuckles, letting him have the biscuit while making sure he doesn’t take any fingers in the process.
I nod at Mandy before continuing toward the front, glad to know we’ve got people showing up today. If the volunteers don’t take the dogs for their walks, it falls on the staff.
Not that I mind spending time with the animals, but that, plus a shit ton of paperwork I’ve got to deal with, would mean a late night.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am, but I don’t know what dog you’re talking about,” an apologetic voice sounds from around the corner.
“She’s here. She has to be. This is where they told me they were taking her. Just, go look. Please. She’s got the sweetest brown eyes you’d ever want, and her fur is Halloween tie-dye,” a huskier yet still feminine voice responds.
Halloween tie-dye?
“I don’t know what that means.” The first speaker sounds uncomfortable, and when I turn the corner, I recognize the curvy redhead my manager introduced me to last week. Panic is clear in her eyes as she glances over at me. She looks ready to duck under the desk for escape.
I stifle my sigh. If someone being weird is throwing the new hire for this much of a loop, I’m not sure how long she’s going to stick around. New Orleans is full of oddballs, and a bunch of them want to adopt animals.
Remembering the name Cole gave me, I approach with what I hope is a reassuring smile. “Hey, Kim. There a problem?”
When I reach the counter, the owner of the second voice comes into view, her hazel eyes flicking to mine. In their depths, I detect frustration.
Stepping up to the high counter, I use my much taller body to draw all of the customer’s attention, hoping to give Kim a break so she won’t flee.
The customer is a young woman, far from the most intimidating of people we’ve had wander in here. She tilts her chin up but doesn’t have to crane her head as much as most girls do to meet my gaze. The stranger is pretty, in the classic blonde American pie kind of way. Her skin doesn’t have a single freckle marking its smooth paleness, and her delicate lips sit pretty and pink under a cute nose.
Sweet.The thought pops, unbidden, into my mind.
She’s the embodiment of the word. Like a pink lollipop.
A sense of familiarity spikes in the back of my brain, but I don’t understand it.
There’s only one crack in her perfect candy form, and that’s a delicate slash through her slim eyebrow. That scar, small as it is, makes her seem more approachable. If only slightly.
“Um, this woman thinks we have her dog.” Kim glances down at the computer screen, then to the flyers on the desk in front of her, then up to me, as if in one of these three places she’ll find the answer to the problem.
“I don’t think it. Iknowit.” The woman may look sweet, but she sounds like an angry hornet stuck in a coke can.
Again, I have to suppress another sigh. Running the front desk hasn’t been my job for eight months, but it looks like today I need to take the reins.
“How, exactly, do you know we have your dog? Was it removed from your care? Did you abandon it here?”
The lollipop gasps, clearly offended.
“No! I wouldneverabandon her. The officer who picked her up said this is where I should come to get her.”
“So, she was removed? If the court ordered—“
“No one took her from me! I’m the one who called the cops!” The young woman snaps her mouth shut, eyes going wide, clearly surprised by her outburst. Her gaze drops, and a frustrated breath ruffles a few blonde strands of hair that have come loose from her ponytail.
Kim and I share a baffled look.
“Ma’am, I don’t understand—“
