“You’re going to want to pick up anything that you don’t want him to chew on or to play with, especially your shoes.And you’re going to want to watch out for your garbage can because he’ll attempt to be a dumpster diver if given a chance, and trust me, you don’t want to clean up that mess.”
He glanced around at the various items on the floor, including a laundry basket with folded clothes in it.There were some bottles of various cleaning fluids.There were also other things sitting around that would need to be moved out of the puppy’s reach.
He felt sorry for her as she rushed around picking up everything.“How about I take him home?”
“No.”She grabbed an empty box from the other room and started to fill it.“I’m the one who agreed to do this.”
The dog squirmed in his arms.Colin ran his fingers over Tater Tot’s back, hoping to calm him long enough for Holly to pick up things.
He wanted to help her, but first, he needed to do something with the puppy.He turned to Holly.“Can you hold him?”
“I’m picking up things.”
“I understand.But I have an idea that will help you.”
“Okay…” She put down the box of cleaning supplies, and then she turned to him with her arms outstretched.
Once he placed Tater Tot in her arms, he said, “I’ll be right back.I have to get something out of the pickup.”
A couple of minutes later, he rushed back into the kitchen to find Holly sitting at the kitchen table with the puppy still in her arms.Her fingers were brushing over the puppy’s back.It looked like they were adjusting to each other.
“I got his crate.”He carried it into the kitchen.“I’m just going to set it up here because he’s going to want to be wherever you are.But later, you’ll want to move it to your bedroom.He’ll use it to sleep in at night.Make sure to place it next to your bed.He’ll feel more secure to be close to you.This is all new to him, so he’s going to be scared at first.”
Her brow creased.“I need to do all of this, even though we’ll only be together a day or two?”
“Even then.”He had a sneaking suspicion they were going to be together a lot longer than a couple days.
Once Colin had the crate situated and they put the pup in it, he helped her clean up the kitchen and living room.All the while, she apologized for the mess.And each time he told her not to worry about it.
He could see that she’d been working on fixing up the place.She’d taken up the carpeting in the living room and put down a large area rug.And the walls looked as though they’d recently been painted a light blue-gray with white trim.The place was coming along, although probably not as fast as she would have liked.
She’d had him put all of the stuff in the front room just off the kitchen.He guessed at one point it was a dining room.Now it resembled a warehouse with boxes stacked literally to the ceiling.He wondered what was in the other boxes, but he didn’t dare ask.
The one thing he noticed while helping her was that there weren’t any Christmas decorations up.He found that odd since Kringle Falls was a Christmas town, and the holiday wasn’t far off.
Maybe she didn’t have time to decorate.He could understand that.He hadn’t gotten out his decorations until the past weekend.Sometimes, there just wasn’t time to do everything you wanted to do, and then you had to prioritize.He ended up prioritizing things more times than he would like.
At last, it looked like everything that could be a danger to the puppy was picked up.Now to block off the room with all of the boxes.“Do you have a baby gate?”
“What?”She looked at him like he’d just sprouted another head.
“Sorry.I wasn’t thinking.Of course, you don’t.”
“What do we need it for?”
“To keep him contained in whatever room you’re in.”He glanced around.“Maybe two gates would be better.”
“I don’t know.”She frowned, as though she felt overwhelmed by taking in the puppy.“How much are they?”
This is something he could help her with.“They are free.I have some extra at my place.I’ll just run over and grab them.”
“I don’t know.I feel bad about all the trouble you’re going to for me.”
He waved off her worry.“Don’t be.You didn’t ask to have a puppy dumped in your lap.I’m glad I was around to help.”
She turned to look at the puppy, who was lying on a fluffy blue blanket in the crate.“He is adorable.But I don’t think I’m the right person to do this.”
“You’ll get the hang of it.”He felt bad for her.She seemed so overwhelmed.He wondered why Merry had picked Holly, of all people, to take the puppy.
