Joe tried not to pout that Austin won.
It was probably a good thing Linda called when she did, or there might not have been room left for the dog.
The tech from the night before wasn’t present at the desk—Joe hoped she’d gone home to get some rest—but Linda was, with dark circles under her eyes but a bright smile.“Hey, boys.Your little princess is just starting to wake up.Did you finalize the name?”
“It’s Pepa,” Joe said.“I didn’t really want the dog named after me, but Austin insisted.”
Austin’s cheeks were still red from the early morning chill when he said, “If you save a stray dog by attacking a wild animal with a two-by-four, the dog gets named after you.Those are just the rules.”
Linda raised her eyebrows as she slid a form across the desk.Joe picked up a pen and started filling it out.At least this one had room for both of their names and contact info.“You two left out a few details last night.”
“We were kind of preoccupied.”Austin tapped his credit card on the desk.“Can we see her now?”
Linda presented Joe with a mountain of discharge instructions and a small pharmacy worth of pills, which he shoved into his jacket pockets while Austin followed Linda back to retrieve their new friend.
“She’s going to be groggy for a few days,” Linda told them.“She might not want to eat much, and she’ll be extra clumsy from the anesthesia even without the missing leg.Keep her somewhere she can’t stumble around and hurt herself.And she’ll need to be kept warm.The anesthesia interferes with their ability to regulate body temperature.”
“Blankets and space heater, check,” Joe said, thinking about the best place to set up a recovering three-legged dog.
Linda opened the door to the recovery room, which held a series of cages.Pepa lay in an open-top pen that looked more like a playpen for a toddler than a crate for a dog.Her half-lidded gaze stared blankly until Austin said quietly, “Poor baby.”Her eyes rolled and landed on them, and then, to Joe’s surprise, she let out a pathetic whine, wiggled, and thumped her tail.
“Does she—” Austin swallowed the rest of his words in favor of getting closer.
“Looks like she remembers her rescuers,” Linda said softly.
Austin leaned over the side of the pen, reached down to touch her head, and stroked gently, murmuring to her.Joe was only a half step behind him.
“You can open the gate, you know,” Linda said, a clear smile in her voice.
Joe’s back would definitely appreciate that.
Delighted that her heroes were getting closer, Pepa tried to wiggle onto her feet—and failed as her front paws slipped and her bandaged back end sort of flopped.Austin dropped to his knees and settled her head in his lap.
Now that he was no longer running on adrenaline and terrified for the life of another living creature, Joe finally got a good look at Pepa.There was something golden retriever–like in the color of her coat and the shape of her face, but she was smaller, slimmer than the average retriever.Her coat was shorter too, and she had a pure white stripe on the top of her head.
Joe crouched next to Austin, and Pepa brought her adoring gaze to him.Her tail thumped again.
“Hello, Pepa,” Joe crooned.“What a brave girl you’ve been.”He stroked her ears, and she whuffled and sighed into Austin’s lap, clearly delighted.
The door swung open, and Joe turned to see Linda walking back in—he hadn’t even noticed her leaving.
“All right, boys.You’re all set to take her home.You can wrap her up in the blanket that she’s on and take that with you.”
“We can’t take your blanket,” Austin said.
“Yes, you can.It’ll help make her feel better to have something that smells like her in her new home.”Linda smiled.“Think of it as a new-baby present from your neighbor.”
Joe snorted and started to roll Pepa up in her blanket burrito.There was no way this doped-up tripod was walking anywhere right now.He scooped her up and carried her out to the car, winning the fight by not even asking, while Austin huffed about him being a dog hog.
But Austin won the car seat battle by virtue of opening the back driver’s side door for Joe to set her in, then scurrying around to the passenger side and wiggling onto the bench next to her.Pepa sighed as she settled her head on Austin’s thigh and fell into a drugged doze.
Joe snorted and got into the driver’s seat.
Back at the house, Joe put his plan into action.He carried Pepa to the breezeway, while Austin followed behind.
“I figured she’d be more comfortable here.Single story, empty of too many obstacles.And we should be able to easily keep it warm and cozy with a space heater.”
“Good idea,” Austin said approvingly and settled both of the beds on the floor.Joe eyed them up and then set Pepa down on the firmer bed, figuring that she could use all the help she could get when it came to moving around.He didn’t want her to have to fight against mounds of unpredictable fluff while trying to get her limbs under her.
