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They were so down-to-earth. Well, Daniel was a little scary, but they were good people.
But even in the grandeur of the apartment, something odd stuck out to me. It felt like a home.
“What do you think?” Muriella asked, gesturing to the open space. “If it’s not big enough, we have the floor below and our family also has several apartments in the building.”
Not big enough? The entire rescue could fit in this room.
I put my hands behind my back and took a tentative step forward. I didn’t want to dirty anything. “Should I take off my shoes?”
“If it’ll make you feel more at home.” Vivian linked her arm through mine and dragged me farther into the room. “Will this work?”
I looked around at all of them. These people were normally the picture of confidence, but they all seemed to be anxious to hear my verdict. Like they truly cared if I approved of this space for the dogs.
“It’s . . .” Vivian leaned in while I tried to find adequate words. “Fantastic.” So that wasn’t the most articulate, nevertheless it was the truth.
She relaxed against me. “Think they’ll like the window?”
“They’ll love it. I just hope you have a lot of glass cleaner.” I tried to contain my excitement. This was just a temporary home until we could get that inspector off our backs, but it was a relief knowing we wouldn’t have to be hiding the dogs in closets or cars or wherever we could find.
“My grandmama made me clean windows every Saturday,” Stone said. “I’m great at it.”
“Good to know.” I laughed before I walked along the perimeter. “If you’re okay with having them loose in this area, we have enough beds to set up here.” I motioned toward the wide opening between the living room and foyer. “I think we have enough gates to partition this off.” I glanced down. “I am concerned about the floor. These hardwoods and dog nails . . .”
“Do they like rugs?”
Once again, Daniel caught me off guard with his question. For such a closed-off man, he seemed to catalog everything.
“That would be okay. I’d be more comfortable if we could preserve the integrity of the floor,” I said.
Vivian dragged me down the hall that forked off from the foyer and living room. She flipped a light switch when we were halfway down it and pointed at the floor. “Does this look like we’re worried about puppy writing on the floor?”
There was a long gash in the hardwood and another shorter one not too far away.
“No,” I finally said. How had we gotten so lucky to have these people in our lives?
“If a rug is better for them, that’s what we’ll get. But don’t you worry for one second about a few little dings.”
I released a breath. “Thank you.”
Daniel appeared at the end of the hallway. “We’ll get everything set up tonight. Tomorrow we’ll transport the dogs here.”
I wouldn’t be able to watch the dogs 24/7, but they’d be in loving hands.
I had Miss Adeline and the dogs. That was more than some people ever had. Family took all shapes and forms. I wouldn’t trade mine for anything.
But it could grow.
“Make a list of everything we need to have here and what we need to do every day,” Vivian said.
“Like you’ll look at that.” Muriella gave Vivian the side eye.
“It was for you. So you can tell me what I need to do,” she shot back.
“I’ll introduce you to Paul and you’ll have access to the building any time you need it,” Daniel interjected, apparently good at refereeing.
I nodded. “I hope we can get this situation sorted sooner rather than later. I’m sure you’ll want your living room back.”
“Pshh.” Vivian flicked her hand down. “We never use it.”
