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‘I could ask you the same question,’ I retorted with a raised eyebrow.
Holding the leash in a death grip, she ran her hand up and down her arm. ‘I live here.’ She pointed across the street a few houses down, then looked back at me waiting for her answer.
‘Well,’ I said, a little surprised, ‘I live right across from you, it would seem.’
Understanding dawned on her face. ‘My dad’s place,’ she concluded.
I nodded. Half-hiding behind Charlie, the dog barked again, grabbing my attention. I squatted down in front of them. Immediately he backed off, trying to fuse himself to Charlie, his tail tucked between his legs.
‘Oh, it’s okay, baby,’ Charlie cooed at him, her tone completely different. ‘He is not that bad, Pepp.’
I looked up at her from my spot. Scrunching up her nose with a little smile, she shrugged.
‘What’s his name?’ I said quietly.
‘They called him Duke, but we decided to change it to Pepperoni. He really loves them. I ordered pizza last night, and I wanted to give him a piece to celebrate the fact that we found each other and he just picked all the pepperoni slices and left the rest.’
Pepperoni bumped his head against her thigh, so Charlie squatted down next to him, petting his head.
‘You just got him?’ I asked, smiling.
She smiled back. A genuine and… beautiful smile. ‘Two days. Love at first sight. Actually he was the reason why I had to run off that day at the office.’
My eyes got stuck on her lips. ‘I can see that.’
Our knees weren’t quite touching, but it was close enough. Pepperoni burrowed his head under her arm, earning a chuckle from her.
A car sped by, honking at someone. Both the dog and the owner looked at me.
‘This nice man who managed to stop you from dragging me around is William, Pepperoni,’ she said, introducing us. ‘He is also my colleague.’ Hugging the dog a little closer and running her hand over his head and his floppy ears, she glanced at me. ‘And this good boy is Pepperoni. I call him Pepp.’
I chuckled as Pepperoni started wagging his tail and licked her cheek once. Holding out my hand, I waited as he gathered up the courage to take a step forward and sniff me. He kept throwing glances at me as he got closer, his body alert the entire time. Once he realized I wasn’t going to hurt him, he took another step forward and let me scratch behind his ears.
‘Rescue?’ I asked, my voice a little rough.
Charlie sighed. ‘Yeah. Two different families brought him back. And he was bullied by the other dogs too.’
I shook my head as Pepp bumped his head against my arm, expecting more pets.
‘He is beautiful,’ I said, holding his face between my hands. ‘Great Dane, right?’
She nodded as she smiled at Pepp.
‘How old is he?’
‘Nine months.’
‘He is going to be a monster, you know that, right?’ I tilted my head to glance at Charlie when nothing but silence answered me.
‘I don’t think he’ll get bigger than this.’
‘Prepared to be surprised then.’
Feeling safe enough, Pepp decided to give me a thorough sniff and walked behind my back, pulling on the leash a little, mostly pulling on Charlie. Before she could tumble on me, she straightened up and walked around me to follow Pepp.
‘Well,’ she said when they had completed the tour and she was standing in front of me again. ‘I’m sorry for holding you up for so long. And I’m sorry for barrelling into you like that. At the shelter they said that he naps all day. I wasn’t expecting this level of… excitement. Also sorry for questioning your motives on being here.’
She made me laugh again, and I was awarded with another one of her smiles.
‘Glad to hear you don’t think I was stalking you.’
‘It’s just…’ Pepperoni pulled at the leash, his nose on the ground. Charlie looked at me over her shoulder. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you here, you know.’
When she started walking because her dog couldn’t be contained, I fell into step beside them.
‘I was surprised to see you too. Douglas didn’t mention you lived on the same street as me.’
‘It’s his apartment too. The one I’m living in, I mean. I had my own place, but I needed to stay with my grandma for a while when she got sick and then when I was looking I couldn’t find… anyway, I’m just rambling. I guess we’re neighbours too as well as colleagues now.’
‘You don’t have to sound that disappointed, but it looks that way.’
Her gaze jumped to me. ‘I’m not disappointed. Just surprised.’
We stopped in front of my place. Pepperoni sniffing at the plant next to the stairs.
Charlie looked up at the stairs and then, avoiding my gaze again, started to back up. ‘Well, this is you. You’re probably tired from work. It was nice bumping into you, William. Goodnight.’ Pulling at Pepperoni, she turned around and walked to the edge of the sidewalk.
