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We found it on our tenth try.
Turning the key released the dogs—Grace’s kids, as she called them. The three canines were all over us, jumping and licking and scurrying underfoot.
“I’m warning you,” I said as the smallest one, Izzy, decided to play tug-of-war with my computer bag.
I pulled harder. “Let go of that.”
The dog listened worse than a two year old and growled as it pulled.
After a minute, we got them and my bags inside.
I closed the door and sighed. It had been an incredibly long day.
“You can call Grace for the feeding instructions,” Callie said. “It’s all too complicated for me. The one thing I remember is don’t give Izzy much at night, or she won’t make it until morning.”
I nodded. “Thanks.” I picked up the empty dog water bowl in front of the small desk.
“Oh. You don’t want to move that.”
I shot her a questioning look.
“It’s to catch the leak when it rains.”
So not a dog bowl. This was looking more nightmarish by the minute—a dog that couldn’t hold it overnight, and a roof that leaked.
“Oh,” she said, pointing. “And you can use the kitchen and laundry up at the main house across the lawn.” She backed toward the door. “I’ll leave you to it. I’ll set up lunch and give you a call to confirm. Girls gotta talk, right?”
“Right. And thanks so much for all of the help.” The space struck me as even smaller than when I’d first walked in. That Grace lived here with a husband and three animals underfoot was hard to fathom. It was another lesson in what people would endure over the short term to reach their long-term goals.
Grace and Dirk’s plan was to buy a hotel of their own, and for that they put up with living here. I’d do the same for a month, to secure my goal of escaping Kevin.
With Izzy uninterested in my computer bag for the moment, I set it on the small desk, out of reach. First order of business, take the dogs out so I didn’t step in a surprise in the morning. I found three leashes hanging next to the door and hooked up Izzy first. I was determined not to lose one in the dark. Boy, would that be a fitting end to my day.
The excited little mutt twirled in a circle and tangled herself up, clearly not the smartest one of the bunch. She started gnawing on the leash.
The middle-sized one I knew from the pictures Grace had sent was named Julie. She was a big yellow lab, and she tried to lick me to death as I leashed her up. She also needed breath mints.
The monster of the bunch was King, and pull as I might on his collar, I couldn’t get him to stop circling me while I clipped the last of the leashes on him. Bending over to untangle Izzy resulted in another wet tongue attack from Julie. I wasn’t getting a dog for myself, but if I ever did, one would be the limit. This circus was insanity.
The two girls were happy to squat on the lawn, but King insisted on dragging me to the tree line and lifting his leg on no fewer than four tree trunks.
My dog was also going to be a female, and smaller than this monster—although I still wasn’t planning on getting one.
Fifteen minutes later, after being tripped by Izzy twice, I had the three wrangled back inside. Taking out my new phone, with all of five numbers programmed into it now, I dialed Grace.
After one ring, it went to voicemail. She was probably already on the plane.
“Hi, Grace. It’s Angela. Sorry I didn’t call earlier, but my phone died. This is my new number. Just wanted to say that I met Callie, and your kids are fine. Enjoy your vacation. Oh, and if Kevin calls, don’t give him this number or tell him where I am, please. It’s important. Talk to you later.”
Next time I spoke to her, she’d probably accuse me of wanting to avoid getting all of her precious feeding instructions for her furry kids. Dogs ate dog food. What was so hard to understand about that?
Dog eats food. Person takes dog outside. Dog deposits smelly mess on the ground. Person cleans up smelly mess. Repeat again and again. Where’s the appeal in that?
I finally located their food in a cupboard, but not before tripping on one of the dog beds. Naturally, there were three kinds of dry food and three kinds of canned food. I kicked the dog toy at my feet.
Julie was on the job, and in a flash the toy was right back at my feet where I could trip on it again. Her tail wagged furiously, and her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she panted. Right. They called them retrievers for a reason.
Stepping over the toy, I brought the three bags to the counter. Like it or not, they were getting dry tonight because it was the easiest. One bag was labeled large breed, another small breed, and the last only said senior.
