As soon as she disappeared down the narrow, winding road, Josh said, “Come on, boy.”
With a final plaintive whine, the dog followed him back inside. Josh fixed himself breakfast. The dog watched him as he cooked, so he fixed the pooch a plate, too. A bit later, he let the dog out to do his business. When Josh checked a few minutes later, the dog was waiting at the door.
By that evening, Josh had realized he liked having a dog around, someone to keep him company when he was home alone. Someone to help keep his mind off a certain blue-eyed redhead.
Josh got out his laptop and looked up how to adopt a stray dog—because yeah. Already he was thinking in terms of keeping the pooch. He learned he needed to turn the dog in at the local shelter and let the people there know that he wanted to adopt the animal. If the owner couldn’t be found, Josh would be first in line to claim him.
By Monday, he was calling the dog Roger for no other reason than that Dog and Pooch were getting old. The nameseemed to stick. When Josh called, “Here, Roger!” the dog came running.
Josh took Roger with him to Bravo Construction that morning. Tia, the office manager, took a liking to the guy. Roger kissed up to Tia shamelessly, giving her long, soulful looks with those big golden brown eyes of his. The dog clearly adored women. Josh couldn’t wait to see him fall all over Riley.
At noon, when the shelter opened, Tia suggested that maybe Josh ought to just keep him, because whoever had lost him should have taken better care of him.
“Am I right, Roger, honey?” she asked.
Roger jumped right up from his nap in the corner near the door and hustled over to Tia’s desk. He plunked his head on her lap. She made a big fuss over him, scratching his back and fiddling with his ears. Roger ate that up.
“It’s the right thing to turn him in,” said Josh reluctantly. “Just in case there is someone who really cares for him.”
He put Roger in the truck and off they went.
At the shelter, he learned from Marina at the front desk that Roger had been neutered but not microchipped. Given that he had no tags, either, there was no way to contact his possible owner.
“If nobody claims him, I would like to adopt him,” Josh said.
Marina nodded. “The holding period is five days,” she announced, all business. “If he’s still here on Friday, you can come for him at noon.” She handed him a form. “Your application for adoption. Just fill it out now and give it to me before you go. That will speed things up on Friday.”
Josh liked the sound of that. “So you think his former owner is unlikely to show?”
“No way to say for sure. The owner could wander inlooking for him. But we have no way to contact this unknown person, so yeah. Your chances aren’t bad. If you claim him, you will also have to pay for his exam, vaccinations and microchipping.” For the first time, Marina smiled. “And we are more than happy to accept donations, as well.”
Josh donated five hundred bucks. All those lost and homeless pets could use it. And how could it hurt to kiss up to Marina?
It didn’t seem to hurt at all. Marina’s smile was downright blinding as she explained that five hundred dollars made him a founder. She took his home address and said he would receive a Founder’s Certificate in the mail—or he could pick it up on Friday. She added, “We here at Second Chance Animal Sanctuary thank you for your generous support.”
That night, Josh went home to an empty house. He missed Shane. And now he missed Roger, too. Plus, he longed to call Riley.
But then the phone rang. It was Lenore with one of her emergencies. “Shane and I are stuck in the parking lot at Big Country Grocery. The car won’t start…”
“Are you kidding me, Lenore?” He was shaking his head.
“Josh, I’ve triedeverything. Just please come and give me a boost or whatever.”
“Are you out of gas?”
“Of course not. I said, I checkedeverything—and Shane wants to speak with you…”
Shane came on the phone. “Hi, Dad!”
“Hi, son.”
“We need a boost!”
Lenore must have grabbed the phone back. Before hecould reply to Shane, Lenore was begging in his ear again. “Please, Josh. We really do need your help…”
Twenty minutes later, he pulled into the parking space next to Lenore’s Telluride.
“Dad! You’re here!” Beaming from the back seat, Shane waved at him.
