Chapter 3
Yasmine
Sitting down at her desk, Yasmine unwrapped her cupcake. Audrey hadn’t had much time to chat because the shop had been pretty busy for a Wednesday afternoon, but that suited Yasmine just fine. She hadn’t really wanted to talk.
Mmm. Chocolate raspberry truffle. Her favorite. This was exactly what she needed right now.
Taking the first bite, she savored the fruit and chocolate combination. A bit tart, a lot sweet, and oh so silky smooth. Audrey made a damn good cupcake. It almost made Yasmine losing her fiancé and her hopes and dreams for the future worth it.
Almost.
Her phone buzzed, and she glanced at it, her heart skipping a little beat when she saw that it was Grace, hopefully with good news. Please be good news.
“Hello?”
“Hello.” Grace’s voice didn’t sound super excited, but she didn’t sound super down either. She sounded more tired than anything. “I just wanted to call to give you an update. Sarah’s parents got in touch with her work, and we found out that she had a heart attack this morning.”
“Oh my God!” Yasmine sat up straight in her chair. “Is she… how is she?”
“They’re getting her prepped for surgery right now.” Grace still sounded down but hopeful. “They think her chances are pretty good, but she’s going to be there for a few days, at least, possibly up to a week.”
“Oh, my goodness.” Yasmine shook her head, looking down mournfully at her cupcake. Here she was enjoying it while Sarah’s dog had died a few days ago, and now she’d had a heart attack, and she was going to be in the hospital for a bit. How awful.
The memory of the pizza boxes and dishes flashed through Yasmine’s head.
The poor woman was already down about her dog, then she was going to be in the hospital and come home to bugs crawling on the stuff that she hadn’t gotten to clean up before her heart attack?
Those bits of kibble around the dog dishes.
No.
No, she could not let that happen.
“I’m glad to hear her chances are good, but…
Grace, there were some things in her house I’m a little worried about.
Some pizza boxes, so they still had crumbs, and some dishes in the sink.
If she’s not going to be home for a few days, they could attract bugs.
I hate the idea of her coming home to that after being in the hospital.
Do you think it would be okay if I went back and cleaned that stuff up? ”
“Oh, my goodness, Yasmine, that would be amazing. I’m sure she’ll be okay with it. I give you permission, certainly. You are just too wonderful. Thank you so much. I literally cannot thank you enough.” Grace sounded close to tears again.
“I’m glad I can do something to help.”
A few more expressions of gratitude from Grace and Yasmine got off the phone with her. Okay. She was going to finish her cupcake, then go back over to Sarah’s. Thankfully, today was a fairly light day at work, and she could be more flexible, which she wouldn’t be able to do the next couple of days.
Plus, she really hated bugs, so she wanted those pizza boxes gone and the dishes done before any showed up.
Polishing off her cupcake, Yasmine got to her feet, then sat right back down to pull her flats out of the bottom drawer of her desk. She wasn’t going to wear her heels back over there to clean, especially since she was going to have to go through the backyard again.
“That’s really nice. I’d come help, but Amara’s not back yet.” Veronica gestured at the empty office beside Yasmine’s.
“It’s fine,” Yasmine reassured her. “I notice you didn’t offer to come with me earlier, though.”
Veronica grinned at her. “But I did warn you about the flies.”
“Fair enough.”
Bemused, Yasmine headed back to Sarah’s. Parked in the same spot in the driveway she’d been in that morning, she headed around the house immediately this time and went to the back door. She turned to face the sliding door, pushing it shut behind her, and let out a sigh.
Time to get to work.
She turned back around and froze, a scream caught in her throat as her heart almost exploded inside her chest.
She stared in complete shock, unable to believe what she was seeing.
A beautiful, shaggy golden retriever stared back at her and wagged its tail.
Yasmine stared at the dog.
The dog stared back at her.
Mouth hanging open, tongue out, panting.
A fucking dog.
A living fucking dog.
Probably living.
Panting meant it was breathing. Right?
Dead dogs didn’t pant. Probably.
Sliding her hand into her purse, Yasmine felt for her phone, never breaking eye contact with the apparition in front of her. She kept one eye on it while she opened her screen and swiped to call Grace.
“Hello?”
“Grace. There’s a fucking dog.”
“What?” Confusion was obvious.
“I came back to Sarah’s house to clean up the dishes and things. I just let myself in, and when I turned around, there was a fucking golden retriever staring at me!” Yasmine’s voice got shriller as she spoke.
“Oh my God! Is it Hope?”
Yasmine gulped as her heart pounded even harder than when she’d been looking around the house earlier. The dog kept wagging slowly, panting, and seemingly smiling at her. If it was a ghost dog or a zombie dog or something like that, it probably would have attacked by now, right?
“Hold on,” she muttered, and took a step forward. The dog wagged its tail harder. Gingerly, she reached for the collar on its neck. Its fur was very soft and fluffy, and it certainly felt real. She tugged on the collar, sliding it so she could see the attached tag. “Yeah, the tag says Hope.”
“Oh my God, that’s amazing!” Grace sounded like she was crying again.
Yasmine guessed she couldn’t blame her, although she wanted to just sag to the ground in relief that the dog was real and not a ghost or a hallucination or something.
“It is.” At least Sarah hadn’t lost her dog on top of everything else.
Yasmine let out a long breath. Her heart felt like it was sort of going back to normal now.
She scratched behind Hope’s ears, and the dog happily leaned into the attention.
“But where the heck was she when I was looking around earlier?”
“Maybe she was hiding?”
“Maybe.” Yasmine crouched down to give Hope better pets. “Were you hiding somewhere, pretty girl? Did I scare you when I came by earlier?”
“She’s not the best guard dog,” Grace said. “Oh, my goodness, I’m so glad you went back. That poor baby might have been alone in the house for days!”
And then Sarah might have actually come back to no dog. Yasmine winced. Hopefully, someone would have realized… but Grace and the rest of her friends had thought that Hope had been put down. Did Sarah’s parents know she hadn’t?
“Okay, well… what do I do with her? I can’t leave her here alone, right? No, obviously I can’t leave her here alone.” Yasmine shook her head. “I can’t keep coming back and forth either. She’s going to need to be fed. And walked.”
Holy shit.
“Oh… I don’t know.” Grace was back to sounding uncertain.
“Does she have a place she normally goes when Sarah travels?”
“If she does, I don’t know.”
“Okay, let me look around.” Yasmine gave Hope one last good scratch, then got to her feet. There were some fliers and things on the fridge; maybe there would be something there. Hope followed her, clearly no longer afraid and far more interested in being right next to the human in the house.
Maybe she’d been freaked out earlier after Sarah’s heart attack and hadn’t known what to do when Yasmine came in, but now she’d been alone long enough, she’d decided to show herself. That made sense.
She scanned the stuff on the fridge and pursed her lips. Nothing.
“I don’t see any kennels or anything on the fridge… I…” She looked down at Hope. Hope looked back up at her with warm, soulful eyes. Poor baby. “Is there any way to get in touch with Sarah?”
“I don’t think so. She might be in the operating room by now. I can try.”
“Can you? Can you find out where she normally keeps Hope? If not… I guess I can take her home with me. I don’t feel like I can just leave her here.
” Especially with Hope looking at her like that.
It was like she was begging to go with Yasmine.
Begging not to be left alone in the house. Talk about tugging on the heartstrings.
“I’ll call her now and see if I can get through,” Grace said immediately. “I can call her parents, too, and find out if they know who usually looks after Hope.”
“Okay, I’m going to do the dishes, so I’m going to be here for a bit, but not super long. I’d feel a lot more comfortable taking Hope if Sarah knew about it. Or I’d be happy to take her where she normally goes.”
“Got it. Thank you, Yasmine, so much.”
They hung up, and Yasmine looked down at the happy golden retriever, who planted her butt next to Yasmine’s feet and looked up at her. She really did look like she was smiling. Yasmine couldn’t help but give her another pat before turning her attention to the dishes in the sink.
It didn’t take her long, and she was just finishing them up when Grace called back. She glanced at the dog, now lying by her feet. Hope’s head lifted, and she looked back up at Yasmine as if she knew the phone call was about her.
“I’m so sorry; no one knows who normally takes care of Hope,” Grace said in a rush, rather than giving Yasmine the usual greeting.
Yasmine blew out a long breath.
“Okay… so I guess I should take her.” Yasmine looked down at Hope again. Hope wagged her tail, giving Yasmine her best doggy grin. “She has to be walked. And fed. I can’t keep coming back here to do it.”
“Yes. Take her if you’re okay with that. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. Heck, it’s not anyone’s fault.” Poor Sarah. Poor Hope. “Do you know why Hope was going to be put down?”
“Just that there was something wrong with her, and Sarah didn’t think she’d be able to afford to fix it.” Grace sounded tearful again.
“Okay.” Yasmine looked down at Hope, who wagged her tail again. “Well, she seems okay now.” Maybe Sarah had managed to get it fixed in the past two days. Whatever it was.
Or maybe it wasn’t something that showed up just by looking at her.
Please stay healthy ‘til your owner gets home.
“Thank you, Yasmine. I cannot thank you enough. Hopefully, it should only be a few days, but I’ll know more after Sarah actually gets out of surgery.”
“Keep me updated.”
“Of course.”
“Okay, I’m going to try to find the stuff I need for Hope now.”
“Thank you, thank you. I’ll text or call as soon as I know something.”
“Thank you. I’ll talk to you soon.” Yasmine hung up the phone and looked down at the dog, who wagged her tail again but otherwise didn’t move.
She didn’t seem super energetic. Weren’t dogs supposed to play more?
Jump around? Maybe she was just a super chill dog.
Yasmine shook her head. “I swear this could only happen to me. Okay, Hope, let’s find your stuff. ”
While she was looking, she saw a magnet on the fridge she’d missed earlier from a veterinary office. Hopefully, Hope’s vet. She snapped a picture of the magnet just as a text came in from Veronica.
Veronica
Ms. Penn called. She wants a meeting with you. I scheduled her for a three o’clock video call, so you need to get your butt back here.
Yasmine glanced at the clock. It was just before two. She should have enough time to let Hope have a quick pee in the backyard, pack up her stuff, and then take her home.
Yasmine
I’ll do the call from my home office. I have to take care of a dog.
Veronica
Wait, I thought the dog died?
Yasmine
I did, too, but I’m here, and so is the dog, so now I’m taking her home with me to take care of her until her owner is out of the hospital.
Veronica
…
I bet you didn’t think you’d end today with a dog.
Yasmine
No. No, I did not. I’ve gotta pack everything up, though, so I will tell you all about it later.
Veronica
You’d better!
Slipping her phone back into her pocket, Yasmine sighed and looked down at Hope. Hope wagged her tail.
“Okay, doggo,” she said, heading to the back door to open it. “Let’s see if I can get you to go to the bathroom, and then you’re coming to my house.”
Hope ran out the door, the first signs of energy Yasmine had seen from her. She dashed through the yard once, nose in the air, sniffing wildly… then slowed down to a more sedate walk before squatting to pee.
Getting her into Yasmine’s car was a little more difficult.
She needed some help to jump in before she settled in the backseat.
Yasmine ran back into the house a couple of times—unlocking the front door to make it easier on herself.
She had the thought to take out Sarah’s trash.
Then she grabbed Hope’s bed, a blanket, some toys, her leash and harness, the bowls, and packed it all into her trunk, frantically checking the time every couple of minutes.
It was taking a lot longer to get everything done than she’d hoped.
Which was why she was halfway home when she realized she’d left behind something very important… Hope’s food.
“Crap,” she muttered under her breath, then glanced in the back at Hope, who was lying across the backseat on her blanket. Dogs only needed to be fed twice a day, right? Once in the morning, once in the evening.
She could go home, do the call with Ms. Penn, then come back before dinner to get Hope’s food.
“You’re not even my pet, and you’re already a lot of work,” she told Hope.
Hope turned her head to look at Yasmine with her dark, soulful eyes and gave her tail a little wag.
Fine. It was worth it.
Especially because it wasn’t like she had another choice.
She couldn’t just leave Hope there all alone for days.
She wouldn’t be able to get back and forth to regularly walk and feed the dog without severe disruption to her own schedule.
Plus, the thought of Hope alone in the house, waiting for Sarah to come home, with no one to give her any love or attention…
Was it possible that Yasmine was projecting a little onto a dog?
Yeah, maybe.
But for the next few days, at least, she and Hope would have each other. They didn’t have to be alone.
And hey, maybe this was the universe’s way of giving her a test run for having a pet. Since she obviously wasn’t going to ever get a man.