Chapter Twenty #2
“Yeah. And that starts with having fun visiting these dogs, okay?”
“I don’t know that we’ll even get to visit with them today. She asked me to come and fill in some forms before I start. And then, what would you like to do this afternoon?”
She glanced over at him.
“How about we just hang out at the house? I know you want to wash that damn tablecloth, and…” He paused, then shook his head slightly. “I enjoy hanging out at the house with you, Bea. Yeah, Crete’s awesome, but just hanging out the way we do…” He nodded. “I love it.”
Her heart squeezed again, but this time she let herself smile.
When they arrived at the shelter, the small waiting room was mostly empty.
Bea didn’t recognize the young woman sitting behind the reception desk.
When she explained who she was, the woman disappeared through a door at the back before returning a moment later with Sabine, the German woman who ran the shelter, bearing a clipboard and several forms for Bea to fill in.
Bea glanced over her shoulder at Blane, and he nodded before going to take a seat on one of the hard plastic chairs.
She kept glancing back at him as she filled in the forms. She would never have dreamed of bringing Simon with her while she did something like this; even if she’d wanted him to come, he wouldn’t have.
Her pen stopped on the page when another thought struck her.
She wouldn’t have come herself if Simon were still here.
Volunteering at the shelter was something she wanted to do purely because it appealed to her, and while Simon was alive there had never seemed to be time for things like that.
There’d always been something else that needed doing, something more sensible or more important, and it was only now that she was starting to understand just how many small things she’d quietly gone without because they had never seemed important enough to justify the time.
The young woman behind the desk looked up and smiled at her. “All good?”
“Yes, all good.”
Bea picked up the pen again, then turned at the sound of barking outside.
Through the open door, she saw Sabine crossing the yard surrounded by seven or eight small dogs.
Most of them were bouncing around her feet, playing and barking as they followed her, but one little dog trudged along behind the others, looking decidedly sullen.
He lifted his head, and the instant he spotted Bea through the doorway, his whole demeanor changed. He came trotting toward the office.
“Sifis!” Sabine called.
The little cream-colored dog with tan ears ignored her completely. He came through the open door and trotted straight up to Bea.
“Sifis,” the woman behind the desk warned as she got down from her stool.
Bea assumed that must be his name.
Sifis stopped in front of her and barked twice. She crouched to greet him, and he stared deeply into her eyes before barking once more.
“He won’t bite,” the woman assured her as she came around the desk. “But he’s not very friendly.”
Sifis neatly avoided her attempt to catch him and shot across the room, straight toward Blane.
Blane looked up from his phone just in time to see a small ball of cream-colored fur launch itself at him.
Sifis landed in his lap, planted his front paws on Blane’s shoulders and started licking his face, his tail wagging so furiously that before long his whole little body seemed to be wriggling with it.
Bea’s hand flew up to cover her mouth. Sabine appeared in the doorway, and both she and the woman from behind the desk stopped in their tracks as they watched.
Bea couldn’t blame them. The smile on Blane’s face was something to behold; if she didn’t know better, she might have thought man and dog were old friends finally reunited.
“Sifis,” Sabine called. “Come now.”
He didn’t even acknowledge the sound of her voice. He was far too busy wriggling ecstatically against Blane as though he had finally found exactly who he’d been looking for.
Sabine shook her head as she came farther into the room. “He does not do this.”
Blane managed to get his face out of licking range long enough to look at her. “Do what?”
“This.” She waved a hand at Sifis, who was still wriggling ecstatically against him. “He does not like people.”
The young woman behind the desk laughed. “That is putting it nicely.”
Bea moved closer, unable to stop smiling. “Is he usually grumpy?”
“Usually yes, very.” Sabine crouched beside Blane’s chair and held out her hand to the little dog. “Sifis, come.”
He turned his head away from her and pressed himself more firmly against Blane’s chest.
Blane laughed, and there it was again, that smile that did something ridiculous to Bea’s insides. “Think you’ve got your facts wrong. Seems pretty friendly to me.”
“With you.” Sabine looked genuinely astonished. “I have never seen him like this.”
“How long has he been here?”
“Nearly four months. He was found alone near the road. We do not know exactly what happened to him before, but he does not trust easily, especially men.”
Bea’s heart squeezed at that, and when she looked at Blane, he had gone quiet as he rubbed one large hand over Sifis’s little back.
“Well,” she said softly, “apparently he’s decided you’re all right.”
“Poor judgment.”
Sifis chose that moment to lick his chin.
Bea laughed. “Obviously.”
Sabine finally managed to persuade Sifis down from Blane’s lap with the promise of a treat, although he promptly planted himself against Blane’s boot while Bea finished the last of the paperwork.
She and Sabine talked briefly about when she might start helping, and when Sabine suggested she come back the following week and spend a morning learning the routine, Bea agreed readily.
She was relieved by how simple it all seemed; there was no grand commitment and no expectation that she should already know what she was doing.
She could simply turn up, learn what needed to be done and make herself useful, and she liked the thought of that more than she’d expected.
It felt like another small piece of the life she had come here to build was beginning to settle into place.
When she handed the clipboard back, Blane got to his feet, and Sifis immediately scrambled upright too.
“Oh dear,” Bea murmured.
“Don’t start.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was only going to say that I think someone might miss you.”
Blane looked down at the little dog, who was staring up at him as though waiting for instructions. “Yeah, well. He’ll get over it.”
Sifis gave one sharp bark.
Bea laughed. “I’m not sure he agrees.”
They said their goodbyes and stepped outside, and Bea was halfway across the yard before she realized Blane was no longer beside her.
When she turned, she found him looking back toward the doorway, where Sifis stood behind Sabine, watching them go.
And what Bea had thought was a sullen little face now looked terribly sad.
Blane stared back at him for a moment, then lifted one hand. “See you around, little man.”
He came to join Bea and slid his hand into hers as they walked toward the car. She didn’t tease him about the dog again, although she was sorely tempted; there was something about the way he’d looked back at Sifis that made her want to leave it alone.
When they pulled away, she glanced in the mirror and saw the little dog still standing in the doorway, watching them go.