Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Blair
“Good morning, Marcus!” I waved as I walked into Furever Homes Rescue.
I’d started volunteering at the animal shelter when I was twenty. I tried to help out at least once a month, but sometimes my schedule wouldn’t allow for it. I hadn’t been back for two months, and I felt horrible.
“Hey! We’ve missed you around here, Ms. Best-selling Author!”
I blushed. Yeah, I was a best-selling author, but I didn’t let it get to my head. It wasn’t like I was making millions, anyway. Even if I was, I would still come by when I could.
“Where do you need me today?” I asked as I hung my coat on the hook.
Marcus was the only volunteer who had been here longer than me. I had called last minute to see if I could come by to help. I usually called in advance, but these days I just hadn’t had the time. Especially with dealing with Drea.
My body was hitting its emotional capacity, and I needed to decompress and focus on something that wasn’t an infuriatingly attractive British store owner or writing my next series.
“Well, we’re pretty good on volunteers these days. It’s been a little slow, but if you want to take Milo for a w-a-l-k, he’s been waiting for you.” He grinned, pointing to the crazy German shepherd who was wagging his tail in agreement.
I smiled. “Hi, Milo. I missed you, too. Want to go for a walk?” He tilted his head and started barking loudly in enthusiasm.
“See what you did? Now you have to take him!” Marcus shook his head with laughter, handing Milo’s leash to me.
I put my coat back on and got the necessities before letting Milo drag me down the street to the nearby park.
The park was only a few blocks down from the shelter, which was a few streets over from the bookstore. Luckily the park was in the opposite direction from the store. That was the last thing I needed on my decompressing day.
I had to spend two days with her, and over an hour with her in a small car. I fully planned to get some writing done and tune her out the whole way. She could talk to Cara and pretend I wasn’t even there.
The storm cloud brewing in my head slowly began to evaporate. Walking to the park was a small pleasure of mine. When my thoughts became too great, walking would help me make sense of things.
Writing my novels was a passion, but it could get lonely sometimes.
Walking Milo had me thinking I could get used to this.
Maybe not walking Milo specifically, although I wouldn’t complain if he somehow found his way to my house.
He was still a puppy, but he would be grown by the time I could adopt him.
I owned my house, so I could have adopted a dog already if I wanted to, and I did want to. I had always been an animal lover, but I never had any growing up. That was just something we never had. My mother was a lawyer and my father was an attorney, so they were rarely home as it was.
My grandmother, Amelia, took care of me after school until one of them got off work to come get me.
She worked for city hall until she retired in her early sixties, but taking care of my grandfather and his dementia took up all her free time until she passed six months after him.
I was twenty-five when they passed, but my grandmother had become like a second mother after she took care of me when I lost my parents.
After my parents died, and on top of losing my grandmother, I was terrified to get attached to anything that could leave me, so I never had any type of pet, not even a fish.
If I were to ever adopt, it would be a German shepherd like Milo. I was alone, though, and whoever I adopted deserved to be raised by two parents.
I wanted to share that experience with someone. I wanted kids someday, but I wasn’t an idiot. Being gay made it a lot harder to have children, and made it more expensive. I was willing to try all the avenues I could someday when I found the right person, though.
But I would be content with a dog before adding children to the mix. Taking morning walks together with our coffee. Sitting at the dog park together while they played and ran around with the other dogs. Snuggling up together on the couch while watching movies…
None of that was in my near future, so I got my fix volunteering and walking with Milo.
We sat at the park for an hour. He ran around like crazy, chasing his tail until he developed a case of the zoomies.
I guess it was contagious, because all the other dogs started running in circles, and playing their own version of tag with each other.
At one point, it seemed like Milo made a best friend. A tiny, jittery bug-eyed Chihuahua. They were inseparable.
Turned out the chihuahua had a crush on Milo, humping his leg at any opportunity. He didn’t seem to mind, though, and I wondered if I was going to need to take him with me to the next pride festival.
We started heading back to the shelter when it was time for lunch for both of us. I usually walked several dogs at a time, but today I just wanted to spend some time with my furry best friend.
I started feeling sad and wishing I could take him home with me. I always hated leaving him at the shelter—any of them, really. I knew they were well taken care of, but I still wanted them all.
We were halfway to the shelter when Milo somehow broke out of his leash and started running down the sidewalk.
“Milo, no!” I yelled after him, begging for him to stop, but he kept running. This day was going so great!
I took off after him, but he was a fast little booger. He finally stopped at someone’s feet, and I was thankful for the distraction. At least if he tried to take off again, one of us could catch him before he ran out into the street.
“I’m so sorry about him. He got out of his leash somehow, and—” I looked up to apologize to the poor person Milo was sniffing all over and came to a crashing stop. All my words died a painful death as I looked into a pair of mesmerizing brown eyes.
“Drea… hi.” I couldn’t think, couldn’t move. She was the last person I expected to see today, and yet I couldn’t stop my stomach from doing an impromptu breakdance as she looked me up and down.
“Blair… What a nice surprise.” Her tone didn’t sound like it was nice at all.
I cleared my throat, trying to gain back control. “What are you doing here?” I winced at the stupidity of my question. She sure as hell wasn’t riding an elephant.
“On a public sidewalk? I’m walking to lunch…
I didn’t know you had a dog.” She squatted down and petted Milo, who jumped in her lap and started licking her face.
It was adorable, but I was nervous she was going to yell at him for ruining her extremely short brown shorts or something.
I mean seriously, did this woman not own pants?
Her legs were miles long and so soft looking. Jesus!
“Hello, aren’t you a cutie?” She looked at Milo as she continued to rub his belly. I wanted to kick myself for the tenderness I felt in my chest as she continued to sweet talk him. At least I had confirmation she could be sweet to someone.
“I don’t. He’s a shelter dog. I volunteer at Furever Homes and was just taking Milo back after our walk to the park. He got off his leash. I’m sorry about that.” I reached for Milo and put his leash back on, making sure it was secure.
“You volunteer?” she asked, something unexpected in the way she was looking at me. Did she think I thought myself too good to volunteer?
I hadn’t talked to her or seen her since our meeting with Cara, but that comment in her office still left me confused.
In the years I’d worked with Drea, she had never once said anything remotely nice to me. I never understood her animosity towards me, but since the feelings were mirrored on my side, I didn’t care enough to ask.
I shrugged. “Since I was twenty. I try to volunteer once a month if I can.”
She nodded in response. “Well, I better go. See you Thursday, I guess.” She gave a faint wave and took off.
“That was Drea, Milo. Yeah, I know she’s pretty on the eyes, buddy. You don’t have to worry about her, though. I’m sure you’ll never see her again.” I shook off that encounter and took Milo back to the shelter.