Page 83 of Hawk

“I was planning on it, but now I wonder if maybe she needs a home worse than the puppies do.”

I looked over at Hawk, who was holding one of the puppies. He shrugged. “This is your dog, mouse. It’s entirely up to you.”

I looked from the puppies to Milly.

“Maybe I could just come and meet her?”

Hawk

The second Sylvia had made the comment about it being hard for adult bullies to find homes, I knew what choice Mika would make. My boy had a heart as big as Texas, and the idea that she might not find a family of her own would haunt him if he didn’t at least give her a shot.

I put the puppy down and walked over to the gate with him. “Listen to me, baby boy, this is totally your choice. Just remember, some decisions are best made with your head, not your heart.”

She looked like a perfectly nice dog, and I was fine either way, but I wanted him to have the dog he wanted, not the one he felt the sorriest for.

“That’s the same thing Mary Ellen told me about getting involved with you, and yet here we are.”

“She did not. Mary Ellen loves me.” Which was true, mostly because I kept my word and kept Mika safe, but still, she loved me.

“Now she does, but in the beginning, she wanted to hire a different security firm because she said important decisions should be made with your head, not other body parts.”

Mika went out of the gate, and instead of walking over to the man and the dog, he sat down and waited for her to come to him, just like I’d done with Seph at his house weeks ago.

“What do you think, Milly girl?” the man asked. “Should we go over and say hi?”

Mika gave a light pat to his leg, and Milly rushed towards him. She was short, but she was stocky. I had no doubt she weighed a considerable amount, but she climbed right into his lap.

He laughed and started giving her pets and scratches.

“How old is she?” he asked the man who was standing there holding the leash.

“We don’t know for sure because she was dropped off, but the vet thinks this was probably her first litter. Based on her size and her teeth, his guess is that she’s two at the most.”

“Why don’t we get the puppies put back, and you can spend a little time with Milly.”

She’d flopped down on his legs and laid her head down like she’d found her spot and was going to take a nap.

“Here,” the guy said, holding out the leash for Mika. “You take this, and I’ll help him with the pups.”

By the time we were back, he’d taken her into the play area and removed her leash. The two of them were running around playing, kind of like the puppies had done when we first brought them out. Mika threw a ball for her, and she tackled it, shook it, and then dropped it on the ground before running back to Mika without the ball.

“Milly girl, we’re going to work on what fetch means,” he said, running back to the ball and picking it up. He threw it, and they went through the whole routine again.

“She’s pretty,” I said.

“She is, isn’t she? One of the pups looks just like her.” He picked the ball up again and tossed it. “Do you think she’d miss her babies if we took her?”

“I don’t think her babies will be here much longer, do you?”

He shook his head. “And then she’ll just be stuck here waiting for someone to take her home. I don’t understand how someone could drop her off like that. She’s such a sweet dog, and they always say that’s based on how they’re raised.”

“She does seem like a sweetheart,” I agreed.

“Well, come inside and see if she likes you. She might be my dog, but you have to live with her, too.”

I opened the gate and went inside slowly. Milly really seemed to like Mika, and I was a big dude. I didn’t want her to think I was a threat in any way. I copied his move from earlier and sat down on the ground. She looked at me curiously and then up at Mika, waiting for him to let her know what to do.

That made me wonder if maybe she’d even had some training. Mika came over and sat down next to me.

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