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And maybe if I stayed in the family business, Beau might come back where she belonged. I was her big brother. I couldn’t dictate her life. It was more likely she’d dictate mine. But she should be back on this continent. In this city. With us.
A streak burstout the back door of Grey Paws. There were two dogs with a beautiful brunette in tow, headed straight down the alley toward me.
I eased to a stop and rolled down the window.
Pepper didn’t seem surprised to see me.
If anything, she looked pleased.
I propped my arm on the door. “Got room for one more?”
“I know a certain four-legged creature who would be more than happy to make room for you.” She spoke fondly of the dog who was quickly capturing my heart. Except it wasn’t just one dog . . . or person.
“What about a two-legged one?” I grinned. Muffy jumped up and put his paws next to my arm. “I’m not interested in your wheel-wash special this morning.”
Pepper snickered. “Meet me at the back door?”
“Absolutely.”
I parked behind their van and hustled toward her. She’d nearly made it to the rescue. Muffy lifted his leg on a weed, and Sadie appeared annoyed.
I held the door open as Pepper ushered the dogs inside. Muffy pawed at her leg.
“Give me two seconds, okay?” she asked patiently.
“When’s the calendar shoot?” Miss Adeline asked in lieu of a greeting.
Pepper’s face turned scarlet.
“I haven’t heard yet, but when I do, you’ll be the first to know.” I hated doing that calendar, but I would give anything to still be part of it now that I couldn’t. Just because I wasn’t part of FDNY anymore didn’t mean I’d lost my brothers who could keep me in the loop.
“You do that.” She wasn’t messing around.
Ash dug at her kennel door and barked.
“She only does that for you,” Pepper said.
Somehow that made me feel strange inside. In a good way. One I didn’t quite know what to do with.
I lifted the latch, and she rocketed out. Her tail wagged when I scrubbed behind her ears. Unconditional love. That was what stood wiggling before me.
I’d never really known what that was. Ash couldn’t tell me, but she’d shown me almost from day one.
And I admired the way all of these dogs gave so freely. All they wanted in return was time. Even when I hadn’t given Ash that, she never held it against me.
“Can I take her for a walk?”
Pepper offered me a leash. “She’d love that.”
Ash easily allowed me to loop her neck.
Sadie wandered toward her kennel despite still being on a lead.
“Oh no, missy,” Pepper warned. “You didn’t do anything out there.”
Sadie sighed audibly and trudged toward the door, resigned to her fate.
“It could be worse,” Miss Adeline said to Sadie. “You could be having a bath instead of a walk.”
