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Suzie continued apologizing to me every day she showed up for work. By Friday, I snapped at her and threatened to fire her if she said “I’m sorry” one more time. I felt bad about it, but she started acting normal again after that.
I also got plenty of new customers from the charity event. Only a few of them needed kennel services this week, but at least a dozen booked reservations online for later in the year—especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Soon, my calendar was looking pretty full.
My business might just survive after all.
The Colts were going out of town for a road game on Sunday, so many of the players showed up Saturday morning to drop their dogs off before their flight out. One of the linemen that was in the limo with me dropped off his Boxer, appropriately named Colt.
“I heard about what happened the other night,” he told me with a smirk. “After the charity event.”
I froze. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah, Braden was telling the entire team about it. His brother-in-law’s dog got into the dog food, huh?”
Relieved that he wasn’t talking about the limo threesome, I laughed and said, “Oh yeah. Tore a bag open, and then distracted Suzie so all the other dogs could get in there. Tore the place up. Dog food and toys everywhere.”
The big lineman chuckled and scratched his dog’s ear. “Colt’s a good boy. He doesn’t get into trouble. The other day, my daughter threw one of her chicken tenders on the floor. Landed right next to Colt. He froze and waited for me to take it away because he knew he wasn’t supposed to eat it.”
I bent down and greeted the dog. “He sure looks like a good boy! I’ll take good care of him. Have a good trip, and good luck tomorrow!”
Other players came and went over the next hour. I was beginning to think the two Colts players I was anticipating the most wouldn’t show up, until eventually their two cars pulled up together.
“Pickles! Heidi!” I said excitedly as the dogs came running up. “My two favorite customers.”
“I think Heidi missed you,” Christian said. “She started whining excitedly when she realized where I was taking her.” He looked dashing in his suit, a sight which immediately reminded me of the way he looked in a tuxedo in the limo, crouched on the seat next to me while I reached inside his pants, my fingers grasping onto his hard length…
“Pickles is definitely happy to be here,” Braden added. “That’s definitely a good sign compared to thelastdog boarder we used.”
“I always like to hear that!” I gestured at him. “I see you remembered to get dressedbeforecoming here, so you won’t need to use my dining room.”
Braden gave me a boyish grin. “You sound disappointed that you won’t get to walk in on me changing.”
“Easy there, tiger.” Christian shook his head. “Sorry for my teammate’s manners.”
“Hey! I have tons of manners!”
There’s my opening. Might as well jump right into the subject.“I actually wanted to talk to you about what happened in the limo last week…”
“Oh, fuck!” Braden said. “Did we mess up? The last thing we wanted to do was pressure you into anything…”
“No!” I said. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Ilovedit.”
Christian smiled. “I thought you did at the time.”
“But I’ve been thinking about it,” I went on. Why was this so hard? “And I don’t think I want that to happen again.”
“Oh.” Without his smile, Braden looked hurt. “Okay. Yeah. No problem.”
“Mind if I ask why?” Christian said gently.
“I just don’t want to be a random hookup, or a groupie, or whatever pro athletes have. I want to be valued for my business, and not just because I slept with the two of you. And since a lot of your teammates are my customers, I don’t want them thinking less of me. You know?”
The two men shared a look. Braden even looked relieved.
“There’s something we should tell you,” Christian said slowly. He glanced at his watch. “We don’t see you as a groupie, or a random hookup, or whatever it is you’re afraid of.”
“Totally!” Braden chimed in. He really did seem like a Golden Retriever. “I want to, like, take you out on a date. And another date if that goes well, and then another date afterthat…”
“I think she understands the concept of dating,” Christian muttered. “But Braden is correct in spirit. I feel the same way. You’re not just some groupie, like the dates the linemen brought to the charity thing.”
