"Then it's best that the dog already has a new home."
"I will sue this department and get the dog back, you watch my words."
I give a breath of relief when the woman turns around and leaves the station.
"Thanks, Emma. You didn't need to do that, but thank you so much."
"She didn't touch him, did she?"
"No. He knew to hide behind me."
She moves past me and sees Buddy. His tail is wagging slowly as if he doesn't know if it's okay to be happy now. Emma takes him into her arms and cuddles him.
"It's okay, baby. That mean old woman is gone and you're going to live with us."
My eyes go to hers when she says that, and she blushes prettily. It's definitely too soon to ask her to move in with me. She hasn't even seen my home.
"Are you okay, Tristan?"
"I am now. I didn't want the situation to escalate so much that the sheriff had to interfere. Thanks for coming when you did."
"You don't have to keep thanking me for that. We had a date."
I love the way she says that as if it's the most important thing in the world for her. Spending time with her definitely is up there with my priorities. The sheriff makes his appearance before we leave.
"Everything okay, Carlton?"
"Yes, sir. Just Buddy's ex-owner making trouble. She did threaten to sue us, but I don't think she's got a case."
"No, she does not. Particularly because you made sure to document everything. Nice to see you, Miss Matthews."
"Hi, Sheriff."
She seems a bit shell-shocked to meet the sheriff himself, but I know he's a good man and he'll stand by me if the woman takes things to court.
"We should go, Emma. They're waiting for us at the shelter."
I place my hand on her lower back, ushering her and Buddy out of the police station. We go towards my patrol car and I open the passenger door for her. She gets in with Buddy and I lean in to buckle her into the seat. She smells like something sweet. Strawberries, maybe. I keep myself from reaching out and kissing her.
I get behind the wheel of the patrol car and look at her with what I'm sure is a silly look on my face.
"I'm so glad you're part of my life, Emma."
She blushes, but doesn't say a thing.
The drive to the shelter is short, and I keep trying to pet Buddy from my seat. He seems to be enamored of Emma and I can't say I blame him. When we get there, Emma lets me do the gentlemanly thing, and I open the door for her and take Buddy into my arms.
He's shaking, probably because everything is unknown to him. Hopefully, he doesn't have to stay at the shelter for any length of time. We go inside and the lady at the front desk smiles at us. I'm in my uniform so she recognizes me immediately.
"Oh, the sheriff said you'd be coming with a puppy. Is this him?"
"Yes, this is Buddy, and we'd like to foster him."
"You know the owner came by here and made a fuss about getting her dog back. Thankfully, you had him with you." She hesitates as she sees Emma beside me. "Oh, is this your wife?"
"I'm his friend and we're going to be sharing fostering duties fifty-fifty if that's okay."
"Okay, we can do that. Let me process him first and then we'll put you both in the fostering paperwork."
