“Come on, buddy, let’s get outta here for a bit.You wanna go for a car ride?”
Rufus’s head jerked up where he was lounging inside the threshold.
“Yeah?Go for a ride?”
He leaped to his feet and watched her with those eerily human eyes, ears cocked, tail swishing gently from side to side.She could almost read his mind.You serious?
“Yeah.Let’s go, handsome.”He was starting to trust her a little more.She’d left his harness and collar on to make it easier to catch him if need be, with a leash attached to the harness so he could drag it around the house and backyard to get used to it.
He didn’t love it.Their first few walks had been torture.He’d been terrified, crying and bucking and biting the leash, absolutely frantic to get away.If she hadn’t had him double leashed to both his collar and harness, he would probably have wrestled free and run for it.
She went to the door.Put on her shoes, picked up the leash for his collar, and squatted down.“Okay, c’mere.”
Rufus lowered his head, his ears going back.No growl though.Just an expression that saidaw, do I have to?
“Yes, you have to.It’s for your safety.”She didn’t dare let him outside with just the leash and collar yet.It was possible he would eventually run back to his old house if he got away from her and bolted, but she wasn’t taking the chance.
“Come on, you love car rides.It’ll be fun.”You can do it, buddy.Meet me partway.
Rufus huffed out a resigned breath and took a step forward.Then another.And another, until he was within reach, then stopped.Eyeing her as he waited.Fine.Put it on.
“Oh, brave boy,” she praised, earning another tail swish as she reached out to clip the leash to the collar and grabbed hold of the other one for insurance.
At least now he seemed to realize that she wasn’t going to drag him off to slaughter.“Yeah.See?Walkies and car rides are fun, right?All right, let’s go.”
His ears pricked up when she opened the front door, the tip of the right one flopping over.He practically dragged her through it and towed her to the car.
“Whoa, we really need to work on your manners—and patience.”Baby steps.He was going to be an amazing companion once he bonded with her, she could already tell.
She opened the back passenger door.He hopped right in, settling himself upright on the seat, mouth open in a doggy smile, tongue lolling.
“You are so freaking adorable,” she muttered, clipping the seatbelt to his harness before heading around to the driver’s side.
She undid the back windows halfway for him.Just enough that he could stick his nose through but not try to jump out.Not that he’d get far being buckled to the seatbelt.But she’d rather avoid anything that might make him panic.
Blue sky and puffy clouds arched overhead.She drove up the hill and turned left onto the main highway, heading for the west side of the island.
“I’m taking you to my favorite spot, Rufus.”Her favorite beach was down there on the sparsely populated windward side of the island, on an isolated spot that most tourists didn’t know about.
She loved the seclusion and wildness of it.In winter, fierce storms battered that part of the coastline.In summers, it was a popular spot for beach parties and bonfires among teens and twenty-somethings.She’d done a lot of partying down there on her summer holidays over the years.This place always made her nostalgic.
A gravel pullout served as the parking lot, surrounded on three sides by towering evergreens: Western Red Cedars, Douglas Firs, and native Arbutus trees endemic to this part of the coast dotting the rockier, south-facing areas.The ragged edges of their distinctive, peeling reddish-orange bark glowed in the sunshine, exposing satin-smooth bark beneath.
She pulled on a fleece and zipped it up to protect her from the wind, tugged on a knit cap to keep her hair from flying around, and took Rufus out of the car.The sound of waves hitting the shore filled the air, soothing her along with the incredible blend of spicy cedar and the salty tang of the sea.
Rufus hopped out and immediately took a running leap toward the trailhead that led down to the beach, nearly yanking her off her feet.
“Rufus,no,” she said sternly, and reeled him back in.For being only forty-five pounds, he was strong and wasn’t a fan of being controlled or restrained.
She adjusted the martingale collar up to rest just under the angle of his jaw, the way she’d seen on a training video online.“Sit.”
He looked up at her, seemed to weigh whether he wanted or not to obey, then gave in and settled back on his haunches.All the while giving the distinct impression of having just done her a favor.
“Good boy.Here.”She took a little dried venison training treat from her pocket and fed it to him, stroking his head.“I know this whole leash thing and having to do what you’re told is new, but that’s the way it has to be now.”He’d already come a long way in the past eight days.With time, he would only get better.
He gazed up at her, eyes dropping to her pocket for a moment before looking back up at her.
Gah.Adorable.She was ridiculously in love with him already.“Okay.Rufus,close.”She kept both leashes short and walked him on her left to the top of the trail that wound down the bank.
