She leaned in to give me a kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”
“You sure will. It’s puppy adoption day.” We grinned at each other.
“ThankGod,” she said dramatically.
“Oh, come on. You’re going to miss them,” I teased.
“Not even a little bit. After this experience, I can safely say I’m never getting a puppy.”
“Well, you’ve done a great job with them,” I told her. “And what about Violet? You two seem pretty fond of each other.”
Phoebe looked down at the pit bull. “I like this girl a lot. I hope she and Minnie get along well enough for us all to live together until she’s adopted and I find a job.”
I wanted to suggest thatsheadopt Violet, but that seemed pushy, when she hadn’t even decided to stay in Vermont yet. Pets weren’t allowed in her condo in Boston. She’d been clear about that, and a condo was no place for a dog Violet’s size anyway.
I took Minnie home, and we shared a quiet evening together, one of the last nights we’d ever share in this apartment. Minnie was overjoyed to be back at home with me. We had dinner together and played with her tug toy for a while, and that night, she curled up in bed beside me, the way she’d always done.
The next morning, we got ready together and headed to the shelter. I was only working in the office until noon today because the afternoon would be spent on puppy adoptions, which I would be completing at the cabin. I hadn’t seen a reason to bring them into the shelter when I could bring the paperwork with me to Phoebe’s house.
My house.
I still couldn’t quite believe it was going to be my house. I spent a quiet morning at my desk, updating the online profiles for our available pets. Violet’s puppies were currently listed as “adoption pending,” and if all went as planned, I could change that to “adopted” in about an hour. I gathered the adoption paperwork and set out for the cabin, leaving Minnie with Alleya for the afternoon.
“Hey,” Phoebe said as she greeted me at the door. Her hair was up, and her cheeks were flushed, likely from puppy wrangling.
“Ready to send these guys home?” I asked as I gave her a quick kiss.
“You know, I think I might miss them atinybit once they’re gone,” she said, giving the puppies an affectionate look.
I followed her gaze, noticing that she’d tied little bows around their necks, and my heart melted into a hopeless puddle right then and there. Elizabeth’s bow was pink, while Cherry wore a cherry-red one. Sunny’s was a sunny yellow, and Blaze’s was bright blue. As they romped around the kitchen, wrestling with each other, the overall effect was too adorable for words. “That is one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.”
Phoebe beamed at me. “Thanks. I thought they should look good for their new families. I bathed them and everything. I also think we should take them to the pen in back before their families get here so their first impression isn’t of their new puppy having an accident on the floor.”
“Great idea.” I bent to scoop up Sunny and Elizabeth while she lifted the other two, and we headed out the back door with them. Violet followed us. She watched as we put the puppies into their pen before settling contentedly in the grass nearby. “You’ve been such a good mama, Violet. I bet you’re going to be lonely tonight without them around.”
“I bet she’ll be relieved too,” Phoebe said with a laugh. “She’s definitely been enjoying more time away from them lately.”
“I would too if I had four babies trying to nurse on me all the time.” I walked to the table on the patio and pulled out the four folders I’d brought home with me, one for each puppy. I got everything ready for the adopters while Phoebe went inside to clean up in case anyone needed to go in the house.
“That was the last time I have to clean up puppy pee,” she announced as she came back out a few minutes later. “And if I start to feel sad about saying goodbye to them, just remind me of that fact, because I amsoover the pee.”
“And the poop,” I agreed. The sound of tires crunching over gravel in the driveway reached us at the same time, and Phoebe gave me a nervous smile. “I’ll go greet them,” I told her. “You stay with the puppies so no one gets tangled in their bow.”
I walked around to the front of the house, where a tall man was getting out of his car. This was Brody Reynolds, one of the vet techs who’d seen the puppies for their checkups. He had the first appointment of the afternoon, and coincidentally, he was here to adopt our firstborn puppy, Elizabeth. “Hi, Brody,” I said.
“Hey, Taylor.”
I led him around the side of the house. “I’m sure you recognize her, but she’s in the pink bow.”
“She’s hard to miss,” he said, smiling broadly as Elizabeth bounded across the playpen to topple Blaze. He walked over to greet her, rubbing her head while she attempted to chew on his fingers, and then we sat at the table to fill out the adoption paperwork.
A few minutes later, he was on his way back to his car with Elizabeth tucked under his arm. Phoebe watched with a somewhat wistful expression, but whatever she was feeling was tempered by the arrival of the next family—sisters from the local university who were here to adopt Sunny. They cooed over him as they signed the paperwork, arguing good naturedly over who would drive home and who got to hold the puppy.
Next up was the young couple who was adopting Blaze. They’d bought him a fancy matching collar and leash to wear home and were already snapping happy selfies with him before they made it to the car. Last but certainly not least, Holly arrived to pick up Cherry. Her senior dog had passed away two weeks ago, and she’d been doting on Cherry extra hard in the weeks since.
“I’ll miss you, little one,” Phoebe said, lifting the puppy to give her a squeeze. Cherry kissed her face enthusiastically. We’d spent so much extra time with Cherry, nursing her back to health after her surgery. I’d still get to see her since Holly volunteered at the shelter, but Phoebe…well, it depended on whether she stayed.
We sent Holly and Cherry on their way, and then it was just me, Phoebe, and Violet left in the backyard. Violet stood beside the empty playpen, whining softly.
