“I do,” Tess said. “And I begged to make this call to you. Volunteers normally don’t. But the shelter has decided that you and Cami are the best family Hugo could have. He’s had his vet checks and vaccinations, and apart from being a little underweight, he’s healthy. You can come down and collect him?—”
Cami gasps and her eyes shine. “Now? Please can we come now?”
“I’m sorry,” Tess says. “We’re closed for the day now. We open at eight tomorrow.”
Cami coughs dramatically and falls back on the couch, her hand over her eyes. “I don’t feel well. I’m not well enough to go to school tomorrow.”
Danika laughs. “You are so not sick. But just this once, I think that’s okay.” To Tess, she says, “Cami and I will be there at eight.”
“Perfect,” Tess says. “It was an easy decision for us. Hugo was obviously so comfortable with you both, particularly Cami. But Cami’s letter was the best. There were a few damp eyes as we read it. I think Hugo is a very lucky dog.”
“We’re very lucky people,” Danika says.
Cami bounces to a sitting position and holds out her hand. “Can I talk to Tess?”
Danika hands over the phone.
“Thank you very much, Tess,” Cami says. “We’ll look after Hugo very well and love him so very much.”
“That is the best news,” Tess says. “Maybe you’ll send us photos from time to time for our webpage. We love the success stories.”
“We’ll do that,” Danika says.
She ends the call. “We can’t pick up Hugo until tomorrow, but we’ve got a bit of shopping to do before then: a bed, collar, leash, food, bowls?—”
“Some toys and treats.” Cami hugs herself and spins in a circle. “Can we go now?”
“Go get ready,” Danika says. “And you can call Kim and tell her and Bella the news when we’re in the car.”
Bella and Kim are delighted. They make arrangements to come over the next day to meet Hugo after school.
“And stay for dinner,” Danika adds. “Stay over, if you want, although I realise that might not work, being a school day.”
“Yeah!” Cami shouts, and over the phone comes Bella’s answering shriek.
“I guess we’re staying,” Kim says. “We have our sleepover early.”
The call ends and Danika concentrates on driving.Is this our new normal? Kim and Bella in all aspects of our lives?Sharing the important things, the joyful things? Almost like a family.
A family. She’d had her family once, before it was torn apart with Chris’s death, but there was still Cami, her parents. And now, it’s more. Bigger. A loving family of four: her, Kim, Cami, and Bella. Four people bound together by love and blood.
There are her parents, too, her brother in Perth, and Kim’s parents.
There’s still so much to sort out, but Danika feels in her bones they’ll work out. Money, the trust, the house. Their future.
“We’re here!” Cami’s shout brings her out of her introspection, and for the next forty minutes, she lets a delighted small girl drag her around the pet superstore, picking out a collar, harness, leash and all the paraphernalia apparently necessary for modern dog ownership.
Three hundred dollars later, and with the car boot nearly full, they drive away.
Tess is waiting for them at eight the next morning. With a smile, she holds out her hand to Cami, who takes it. Danika takes Cami’s other hand, and together they walk to the outside run.
Hugo is sitting in the shade, his eyes fixed on the gate.
When they appear, he runs over, and when he sees Cami, he jumps up at the gate and wags his tail so fast you could beat eggs with it.
Tess opens the gate and stands back. Cami goes in and flops to the ground. Hugo crawls into her lap and Cami hugs him hard.
“You’re coming to live with us now, Hugo, forever and ever.”
