Sam comes out to meet us, and I hug her tight.
“Missed you, squirt.”
“Missed you more.”
I let her go so she can hug Joe, but he’s far too excited to let it go on for more than a couple of seconds. “Can we see her now?” he asks, shrugging out of Sam’s hold.
“Jeez, give me a second to say hello.” She laughs at him and ruffles his hair, which of course he grumbles at.
Sam leads us inside and into a room at the back. I can hear dogs barking, no doubt at our appearance, and I immediately feel bad because I feel like I’m getting all their hopes up.
“Wait here,” Sam says, gesturing for us to sit on the beanbags and chairs dotted around. “I’ll go fetch her.”
Joe immediately plops down onto one of the beanbags, so I lower myself into the one beside him. Suddenly he seems a little nervous, twitchy even, and I put a hand on his arm.
“I’m sure it’ll go fine.”
“Yep.” He starts nibbling the edge of his thumbnail. Before I can question him further, the door opens and Sam walks in. She’s leading perhaps the prettiest dog I’ve ever laid eyes on. Jax is a silvery-blue colour, just like her photo, with big brown eyes, and I swear she’s smiling at me as she bounces in, tail wagging furiously.
But she’s not alone.
Behind her, sauntering in like it owns the world, is a slinky black cat. The cat rubs against Jax like they’re the best of friends, and Jax’s tail wags harder as she looks down and licks the cat’s head.
Sam comes to a stop a few feet in front of us. Jax sits... and so does the cat. I’d laugh if I didn’t have a niggling suspicion that I was being played somehow. “So,” she says, “this is Jax.” She shoots a quick glance at Joe and then adds, “And Jinx.”
I raise an eyebrow and give both Sam and Joe a pointed look.
So that’s why Joe was looking all squirrelly.
Sam sighs. “I know, I know. But they were brought to the shelter together and I tried to separate them so we stood a better chance of re-homing them, but...” She motions to where Jax is still sat in the same spot, but Jinx is now curled up at her feet. No...onJax’s feet.
It’s not cute. Nope. Not cute at all.
“You focus on getting to know Jax.” Sam bends and unhooks the lead, setting Jax loose. “We can work out what to do with Jinx later.” She scoops up Jinx as Jax trots over to me, tail wagging as she sniffs my hands. I gently stroke her, and slowly she gets more comfortable with me, and it’s a matter of minutes before she’s trying to lick me and yeah, I’m totally fucking smitten. Then the most pitiful meow splits the air and I look up to see Jinx struggling to get free. I sigh, accepting the inevitable.
“Put him down.” I ignore Sam’s smirk and watch as Jinx runs over to Jax as though they’ve been apart for years. He purrs loudly, rubbing back and forth under Jax’s chin, and then without an ounce of hesitation, jumps onto my lap, turns around a couple of times, then settles down.
Fuck’s sake.
Sam has the good grace to hide her smile, but Joe is full-on beaming. I close my eyes and groan. I have a dog with her head now resting on my hand as I scratch her chin, and a lap full of purring cat.
And I’m also pretty sure I’m going to be calling Sean with an apology because I don’t think I’ll be going to Charnwell tomorrow after all.
Sean laughsfor a full minute when I FaceTime him later.
I’m in the kitchen with two new pet beds on the floor in front of me. The small one is empty because Jax and Jinx are currently snuggled together in Jax’s dog bed. They’re both sound asleep after tearing around my house with Joe for the past hour.
“I can’t believe you brought them home.” Sean’s eyes crinkle with amusement.
I run a hand through my curls, knowing he’s going to laugh even more when I explain. “I couldn’t leave them there.” To his credit, his expression softens. “Sam knows my house is suitable, so she was able to let me have them today.”
“They’re gorgeous, Vic. Both of them.”
I eye my new housemates and smile. “Yeah, they are.”
We watch as Jinx yawns, stretches his paws out, then curls them back in over his face. It’s ridiculously cute.
Sean sighs and I face him again. “So, I’m guessing this means you aren’t coming up tomorrow night?”
