“Okay, here’s what I’ll do,” she said to Ryan, making it up as she went along. “I’ll phone the dog warden and tell him I simply wasn’t prepared to leave Stanley at those run-down kennels with those unpleasant members of staff, and I’ll say that… um, I’ll say that I’ll look after him for the seven days the council are required to care for stray animals.”
Ryan seemed to consider this. “Will he agree to that?”
“I don’t see why not. The warden was obviously run off his feet when I spoke to him, and if they’re using those awful kennels to board stray animals, then surely it can only be because they have budget problems and can’t afford anything better? If I look after Stanley, I’ll be saving the dog warden service money, won’t I? Instead of paying those terrible kennels to board Stanley, I’ll be doing it for free. It’s a win-win, right?”
Ryan didn’t look entirely convinced, but he nodded anyway. “I suppose if you put it like that. What if the warden doesn’t agree?”
“Well, then he’ll just have to come to my house and seize Stanley by force, won’t he?” Grace said, with feeling. “But I’m sure it won’t come to that.”
She had no idea if that was true, but there wasn’t time to worry about it right now. According to the dog warden, he would be busy all day rounding up the many other stray dogs he had to deal with. It might be hours before he even figured out that Grace hadn’t delivered Stanley to the boarding kennels as agreed.
Still, she didn’t want to risk appearing untrustworthy in any of this, and she believed in being straight and honest with people. Pulling out her phone, she dialled the number for the dog warden.
When the call rang and rang and then went to the warden’s voice mail, Grace let out another sigh of relief. By leaving a message, she could explain the situation and come clean withouthaving to have an actual conversation about all this before she’d fully figured out her next steps.
Using the professional tones she’d long ago learned in the hospitality industry, Grace left a brief voice message in which she succinctly explained her decision not to leave Stanley at the boarding kennel and made her offer to look after the dog instead. Although she’d already provided the warden with her contact details, she left her phone number again anyway before hanging up.
“What now?” Ryan said, giving her an amused look.
“Um, well, I suppose I’m now in charge of looking after Stanley.”
“Exactly. But aren’t you supposed to be at work soon?”
“Well, yes, but that’s no problem. I’ll, er, I’ll… drop Stanley back at my house and then I’ll go to work and…”
Even as she spoke, she knew that leaving the dog alone in her house for the duration of her eight-hour shift wasn’t really an option. First, it wasn’t fair on the dog, and it stood to reason that Stanley would inevitably need to get outside for a comfort break. Second, as cute as Stanley was, the animal was still an unknown entity to her, and for all she knew, he might destroy her house if left alone for so long.
So how could she square the circle of having to go to work and also having to make sure Stanley was properly cared for and supervised?
“I’ll explain to my manager that I’ll have to take a couple of extra breaks today in order to rush home and deal with an, er, unforeseen emergency,” Grace said, not liking this idea one bit, but at a loss to come up with a better plan at such short notice. “When I take my breaks, I’ll drive home and let Stanley into the garden to do his business and then I’ll dash back to work again. I never take sick days or ask for special dispensation at work, soI’m sure my manager will be okay with this for just one day until I find a better solution.”
Ryan kept his gaze on her throughout her summary of this proposal, and she saw that the amusement in his eyes had only deepened.
“That sounds pretty complicated,” he said.
“It’s the best I can come up with right now and still make it to work on time.”
“Hmm. Or maybe I could just look after Stanley today instead?”
The humorous tone in which he said this made it obvious that he knew this was by far the easier option.
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering.”
“But it doesn’t seem fair. If I hadn’t dragged you into all of this yesterday evening when you were just walking down the street and minding your own business, then you wouldn’t be involved at all.”
“But Iaminvolved and I’m happy to help,” he said with an easy shrug. “I already told you I was taking some time off work right now. It’s no trouble me for me to take this little guy home and look after him today. That gives us time to work out what to do with him tomorrow and the day after and so on.”
Grace knew it was the better option, but she still felt bad about plunging this man, who was still little more than a stranger to her, into this unexpected chaos.
It was only when Stanley barked and wagged his tail and licked Ryan’s face again, causing him to laugh while scolding the dog good-naturedly for dispensing such slobbering affection, that she accepted she was looking a gift horse in the mouth.
“Are you sure you don’t mind looking after him?” she asked.
“I’m sure.” Ryan slid her a glance, his eyes still twinkling with humour. “You’re overthinking all of this, Grace. I’m not workingtoday, and you are, so obviously it makes sense for me to take charge of dog care duties. We’ll have a grand day together, won’t we, Stanley?”
Stanley barked in agreement. Grace blew out a long breath of relief. She’d lost count now of how many times she’d done that this morning. For a woman who always had everything in her life under control, the events of the last twelve hours had tested her usual ability to stay cool and calm under pressure.
“Thank you, Ryan.”
“My pleasure,” he replied, and then nodded towards the time on the dashboard clock. “We’d better get going or you’ll end up being late for work after all, and I get the feeling you wouldn’t like that very much at all.”
Grace popped the car into gear and pulled out into the road again, wondering how, after barely an hour in her company, Ryan already understood her well enough to make such an accurate observation.
And also wondering why his insight into her personality should leave her feeling so strangely thrilled.
