“I’m sure he does.” She looks at him knowingly.
“Is Sadie still here?” he asks in that bored tone he’s perfected that makes him seem even scarier than he looks.
“She is, and I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you as well.”
Wes nods and leads me through another door to a room lined with kennels. I see all the different types of dogs either laying or sitting down. Some look so sad, and some look excited with their tails wagging. One is even standing on his hind legs with his front paws hooked on the grated door.
I’m instantly aware why I don’t come to a place like this because I feel so bad seeing their sweet faces looking at me. I may not be an animal person, but that’s probably because I’ve never had one and never considered getting one either. Until now.
Wes stops in front of a kennel, taking a leash off the hook next to it, and I step closer to see the name tag that reads “Sadie.”
“This is the famous Sadie?” I ask, seeing the medium sized dog with white golden fur. It’s longer than Bruno’s, but not as long as Sutton’s dog Bennet’s.
“Here she is,” Wes agrees, opening the door and putting the leash around her head then handing me the looped end.
I take it, expecting her to try and pull me down the aisle to the door on the end I assume leads outside, but she doesn’t. Even with the chaos around us, the cacophony of dogs barking and whining, she stands right next to me and looks up.
Wes walks ahead of us, and still she sticks by me as we head out the door to a lightly forested area. She doesn’t try to pull me at all, just keeps up with the leisurely pace. I can’t deny that being here with her, with both of them, does feel peaceful.
My mind doesn’t feel like it’s going a million miles a minute. I’m not fighting back memories trying to assault me. The cool breeze hits my face and the sense of calm surrounding me isn’t something I’m used to.
Sadie seems to feel it too because her steps are even as her paws crunch on the fallen leaves. She looks ahead, enjoying not being in the stuffy kennel.
“When are you going to accept that you’re keeping Bruno?” I ask suddenly without looking up at Wes.
“I’m not. I can’t. He deserves more than I can give him,” he insists and I furrow my brows, not sure why he thinks that.
“I think you’re giving him exactly what he needs.”
He shakes his head. “For now, but I’m not someone to plan a future with.”
I nod, feeling like he’s talking about us more than the dog, but that’s fine. If that’s his way of letting me know we will never have a relationship, he doesn’t need to worry about that.
“Me either,” I say honestly. Though, the more time I spend with Sadie walking next to me I think about what it would be like to have her at home, getting to do this every day. Someone to talk to who won’t talk back and give an opinion I don’t want. Someone who won’t judge me.
A built-in-best friend that doesn’t argue with me.
And she isn’t a bird who can scream out embarrassing things, which is much more appealing.
“How were your plans last night?” he asks smugly. Probably because he saw my car parked in the driveway all night.
“They were great.”
“Yeah? Want to tell me what they were now?”
“Not really.”
He huffs out a laugh. “You can’t help it can you?”
“Can’t help what?”
“Being a brat.”
“Obviously not.”
He halts me with a hand on my arm, turning me toward him. Sadie stops walking as well, still sticking close to my side.
“You’re testing me, aren’t you?”
