14
Over the next three weeks, Jake’s new routines continued to solidify. He and Megan spent more and more time together. She often spent the night at the farmhouse with her foster dogs. He’d almost finished training Duchess. In fact, Mr. Nichols was coming out on Monday to see Jake’s progress with her.
His training business was still off to a slow start, but he was trying not to worry too much about it. He’d picked up a new part-time client whom he visited twice a week for training sessions. In his spare time, he worked with Dusty. She had shaped up nicely as a trail horse and might even be suited for some light lesson work.
Bug’s bite wounds healed, and she no longer had her magical purple spots. She was still too skittish to begin even basic saddle work, though. He’d concentrated his work with her so far on taking long walks around the property on a lead line to build her trust.
He’d just returned from one of these walks when he saw Megan standing by the upper pasture with Barnaby at her side, rubbing Twister as he hung his head over the fence.
Bug danced nervously at Jake’s side, but she didn’t panic at the sight of the dog. He and Megan had worked with her on this a lot over the past weeks, helping Bug to overcome her fear.
“Where’s Chandler?” Jake asked, because he didn’t often see her with one dog but not the other.
“He was adopted this morning,” she told him with a smile.
“That’s good news.”
“It is. He seemed really happy with his new family. I think it was a good fit.” Megan and Barnaby walked to the middle of the path in front of him and stopped.
Jake allowed Bug to approach at her own pace, head down and nostrils flaring as she sized up the dog at Megan’s side. Barnaby was just the dog for the job too, always quiet and submissive. He stayed close to Megan as Bug approached.
“We’ve made a lot of progress with her, don’t you think?” Megan said softly, watching as Bug sniffed at Barnaby from a few feet away. The dog watched, ears pricked, posture relaxed.
“We have,” Jake agreed. “Most animals are pretty willing to work through their issues, if you just give them the chance.”
“With the right person,” she added.
“That’s true.”
“Look at that,” Megan breathed as Bug put her nose right up to Barnaby. The dog stood, tail wagging, and greeted her, nose to nose. Megan pressed a hand over her mouth.
“See? She just needed a little patience.” Jake stroked Bug’s neck as she continued to sniff at the dog. “I’m going to go ahead and put her out with Dusty now, to make sure we end things on a good note.”
Megan nodded, following him toward the pasture. “The Spring Fling festival is this weekend. Will you be there?”
He nodded. “Most of the town will be. Have you been before?”
“No. We had just moved here last year this time and missed all the hype. But this year, we’re going to have a table during the vendor fair to advertise our program here at the castle, right next to the shelter’s table so we can show off our foster dogs.”
“Minus one,” he commented as he put Bug in the pasture, securing the gate behind her. He led the way into the barn.
“Yeah. I’ll get a new foster, but probably not before the festival. I think Priya’s already picked out a little poodle mix for me.”
“A poodle mix, huh? Sounds kind of frou-frou,” Jake said with a smile, looking down at Barnaby, who was currently rolling around on the barn’s dirt floor, paws waving in the air.
“Sometimes the frou-frou dogs are the easiest to adopt.” She looked down at Barnaby and shook her head with a smile. “This guy loves the barn.”
“He’d be a good barn dog.” Jake knelt, and Barnaby rolled to his feet, bounding toward him. Chandler, while more outgoing and sociable, had been too unpredictable to have around the horses, darting underneath them and barking in a way that had made both of the rescue horses nervous. Quiet, steady Barnaby had been the obvious choice for their work with Bug.
“He’s so shy that he’s had trouble bonding with any of our guests when they ask to meet the Fairy Tails dogs,” Megan told him.
“They just need to spend a little time getting to know him,” Jake said as he rubbed Barnaby’s belly.
“Hard to do when they only get to spend a few minutes with him. He takes a while to warm up to people.” She paused. “He loves you, though. You just said he’d make a great barn dog. Maybe you should give him a try.”
“Whoa,” Jake said as he stood. He remembered mentioning the possibility of getting a barn dog once a while ago, but he hadn’t really thought about it since. “I don’t know about that.”
“I’m not trying to pressure you or anything.” She walked over and placed a hand on his arm. “I was just watching you play with him, and it hit me how comfortable he is with you, compared to the way he acts around the potential adopters who come by the castle. Anyway, if you wanted to try him out, you totally could. Just keep him at your house for a few days, see what you think. He’d still be our foster dog, and if you don’t want to keep him, you can just give him back to me.”
