AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hard pass.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something on her back deck. She gasped when she realized it was a large dog. His coat was a mix of gray and tan with white streaks throughout.
“What are you doing here, puppy?” she asked the dog.
He wagged his tail and whined softly at her.
“Are you friendly?” she asked.
He trotted over to her, proud and confident as can be.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” She laughed as the dog placed his head on her lap. Jane couldn’t help but to scratch the overly friendly dog behind his ears. “You are a good boy. Maybe I should consider getting a dog instead of a man.” The thought had crossed her mind a few times over the years, but she had never felt like it was the right time. Not when she worked so much. She hated the idea of leaving an animal home alone all day with nothing to do. It seemed cruel to her.
The dog whined softly again to get her attention.
“Where did you come from? I bet your owners are looking for you.” She checked to see if he had a collar or any sort of identifying tags on him. When she found none, she sighed, unsure of what to do with the dog.
The dog pulled back and sat, staring directly at Jane like he was waiting for her to do a trick or something.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m worried that someone is missing you.”
If it was someone's family pet, they'd likely be worried. If he had belonged to her, she would have searched the ends of the earth to find him. Though he didn't have a collar or anything to prove that someone owned him, he was very well-behaved and quite friendly.
She wouldn't consider those to be traits of a wild dog, but what did she know? Maybe someone dropped him off in the country because they no longer wanted him. She couldn’t count the number of times she had seen people do that with both dogs and cats.
He whined at her again.
“Are you hungry?” she asked, fully expecting the dog to answer her question with a yes. “I don't know why, but I keep expecting you to speak to me.” She laughed.
The dog barked a couple of quick arfs at her in quick succession.
“Well, how about that? I wonder what other tricks you know.”
The dog stood and stared at her, his head tilting back and forth like he was following every word she said. It was the cutest thing she had ever seen.
“Do you know how to sit?” she asked with a smile on her face. There was just something about dogs that she had always loved. Especially the ones who did the head tilt thing.
The dog sat and stared at her as if he were waiting for the next command.
“Shake,” she commanded.
The dog’s front paw lifted off the deck. She bent over and shook his paw.
“Can you roll over, too?” she asked.
The dog dropped to the deck and rolled onto his back.
Jane laughed. “You’ve got to be someone’s pet. You are so well trained. I don’t have any dog food, but I’m sure I can find something for you in the fridge unless you’re picky.” She opened the patio door, and the dog followed quickly on her heels.
“I thought you’d wait outside for me, but I guess I was wrong. Fine. Please make yourself at home, but you better not make any messes in my house. I mean it.” She wagged her finger at him. “I’ll be super pissed if you do, and you’ll get the damn boot quicker than you can wag your tail.” She was absolutely serious. There would be no messes made in her house.
He tilted his head and huffed at her.
“I just want to make sure you understand the rules, buddy,” she said with an arched eyebrow.
He lifted his head in the air, then lowered it slowly, acting as if he understood what she had said. She hoped like hell he had understood her.
“You are the strangest dog I’ve ever met.” Jane opened the fridge and pulled out a container. “You’re in luck. I have a chicken breast I cooked up the other day and never ate it. Would you like it?”
