Page 15 of Delayed Penalty

I flip him off and slip out, leaving the guys quickly before I’m late for my important date.

When I walk in,the first thing I hear is the barking from in the back, letting me know I’m almost late for dinner time. I do my best to make sure I’m here any night I’m not either on the road or at a game. If it is a game night, I usually try to stop by before.

“Good evening, Mr. Danielson. Your lady is waiting for you in her room,” Mrs. Andrews says as I hang my jacket up behind her desk.

“Good evening, Mrs. Andrews,” I say, leaning down and giving her a quick hug. “I’ll be back out to hear this week’s gossip in just a few, gotta make sure my girl has dinner first.”

I’ve been volunteering here at Little Paws Animal Shelter for the last few years. Starting out, I just came in to do random dog walks, but now I’ve sort of made this a little home away from home that no one knows about.

Back at home, we lived on a big lot of land out in the small town my parents still live in. Ivy Falls is a lot different than beingin New York City, but it was everything I ever dreamed of as a kid. We had a lot of land and a lot of animals, so when I moved to the city I hated the fact that since I was in an apartment I couldn’t have a pet.

Well, I could. But with how often I’m gone and with it being an apartment in New York City, I didn’t feel like I could give the pet the quality of life they deserved so I just started to volunteer.

In the last three months, I’ve grown very attached to a new little puppy that showed up to the shelter who has been having a difficult time getting adopted. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with her; no, Luna is a beautiful Golden Retriever, a perfect cream color with the longest, soften fur I’ve felt in my entire life. She’s perfect.

Only, she hates everyone but me.

She’s not mean or aggressive, but she’s not the typical Golden Retriever most people are used to. People come in knowing that there’s a Golden Retriever here, but the second she doesn’t immediately come over to the gate to say hello, or the second she backs away when they try to pet her, they move on to the next dog. She’s a year old, and in the three months she’s been here she’s only had one application put in, but they returned her the next day when they said she still wouldn’t let them pet her.

I got pissed because they should have given her time to warm up. She’s had so much change in her short life, that being brought to a new home and trying to force her to give her attention, she was probably terrified. She needs time to understand she can trust you before she’s willing to let you touch her, there’s not a damn thing wrong with that.

I like to say that she’s just misunderstood, a quirky girl full of love, just wanting to make sure you’re worthy before she gives it to you.

Mrs. Andrews has tried to get me to bring Luna home more times than I can count, but damn, I can’t bring myself to forcea dog into a lifestyle where I can’t guarantee I’m home all the time and being in an apartment isn’t exactly ideal for a dog. And I absolutely refuse to do that to little Luna. She deserves everything.

I head back to the rooms they keep the pups in, in which their crates are filled with the best cushiest dog beds we were able to find. They used to only have a small budget so they were mainly donation based. I put a stop to that and have been filling in all of the gaps in the process.

Well, at least, all of them she’s been willing to tell me about. Her husband got chastised by her when he let it slip that they still buy over half of the food themselves. I made sure that they—and another shelter they work closely with—had enough food to feed all of their dogs indefinitely.

Since then, she’s been more tight-lipped, but I’ll figure it out eventually.

“Hi, Ms. Luna,” I say as I walk up to her and unlatch the gate.

It only takes her a moment to realize who I am before she’s jumping up from her bed and trotting over to me, her tail wagging as she starts doing circles around me. She pushes her body up against me making sure I’m getting all the good spots for pets.

“Are you ready to go eat, pretty girl? I’ve heard you’ve been giving them quite the difficult time eating while I’ve been gone for a few days.”

The second I mention food she’s ready to go, sitting pretty at my feet waiting for me to hook her up to a leash. In the back is where all of the other dogs are and while most of them go out there off leash because it’s all fenced in, Luna gets a little nervous and will run back inside, which causes all of the other dogs to think she is trying to play so they start chasing her, which only scares her more.

It's much easier this way because we’ve found she also feels safer if I bring her out here and hold her leash.

“Let’s go get you some food and then we’re going to give you a bath. I hear you’re going to the park this weekend, hopefully you’ll meet your new family there.”

Even saying it, it hurts me knowing that if she were to find a family, it means I wouldn’t get to come spend so much time with her and I hate that. But until I’m in a place where I can give a dog the life they should have, I won’t do it.

I start questioning myself later that evening when Luna finishes eating and curled her ninety-pound body in my lap.

I would give anything to make this work.

Chapter Seven

Avery

He who must not be named

Hi. Look I know you’re pissed.

Can’t we just start over?

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