Page 35 of Throw Away the Key
“Yeah, I'm Mike. I'm here to drop off your foster dog?”
“Oh my god, I forgot that was today!” Emma exclaimed, clapping her hands. She peered around the man, recognizing that a small strip of leash was wrapped around his leg, a blur of movement behind him.
“Who is this little ball of energy?” Emma drew closer, gingerly taking steps forward in case the dog was skittish.
“This is Coco.”
“Coco! Hi, Coco,” Emma rested her hands on her knees as Coco peeked around the man's leg carefully, her curly brown fur framing her little face.
“What breed is she?”
“She's a toy poodle mix. We think she's mixed with some sort of terrier, but I'm not completely sure, since she’s a rescue.”
Coco's floppy ears and bright brown eyes watched Emma as she knelt down to the floor. “Hi, Coco,” she whispered as she held out her hands, palms facing upward. Coco inched closer to sniff her fingertips. “I'm Emma. She's so tiny!”
“Yeah. We don't think she's going to get much bigger. She's about two years old, so she's technically still a puppy but her last foster placement had her long enough to train her to go outside for the bathroom, so she’s used to going for walks in the morning and evening. She was crate trained, so I brought one for you.”
“Oh, I don’t want her to have to be in a crate,” Emma whined as Coco licked her fingers.
“You might change your mind on that,” Mike laughed. “But, you know, do what feels comfortable.”
“I didn't know you were fostering a dog,” Zora came up, running her hands along Coco's back. “She's a cutie.”
“Yeah she is,” Emma scratched behind Coco's ears as she rested her chin in one of Emma's palms.
“She seems to like you too,” Mike observed as he stood up straight. “I'll be right back, I just need to go to the car and get the rest of her stuff.”
Emma didn’t look up, completely focused on Coco, who was wiggling closer, her wagging tail moving her entire backside. Emma laughed, Coco matched her energy to a tee. “Okay, sounds good.”
“How long are you fostering for?” Zora asked.
“Uh, they asked me to foster for a month. I had wanted a dog for a while. I didn't want to bring one into your house because if I’d gotten a puppy, I worried that we’d ruin all of your carpets upstairs.”
“Yeah, that would have been interesting,” Zora wasn't anti pets, but she did like her house to be a certain way. Sadie had given Emma the encouragement she needed to submit her application.I wish she was here right now.
“But yeah, I figured fostering will give me a better idea if I can handle a dog of my own or not. Plus it helps out the shelter for a while.”
“Smart. Great idea. Think you need to adjust your schedule for her?”
“Um, I don't think so, but let me see how she fares with my current schedule. If she needs an extra walk at midday, I could probably just run home at lunch.”
“We can circle back on that whenever, just say the word.”
“Thanks,” Emma scooped Coco up and brought her close to Granny. Coco sniffed and jutted her nose out, kissing her hands. Granny lit up at the contact.
“My, she is darling! Zora, have you thought about having a bookstore mascot? Because I think Coco could be the perfect one.”
Emma’s eyes brightened. “Oh my god, that would be amazing if we could have her here in the store!”
“Well, how about you see how she fares at your apartment first, before we go and make any commitments? We need to make sure that she's not going to pee all over the merchandise and that she doesn’t have some secret love of chewing books,” Zora mused.
“Okay, you have a point. We probably also want to make sure that we're not going to bother anyone's allergies.”
“You know, poodles are said to be hypoallergenic,” Granny pointed out, clearly advocating for Coco’s presence.
“Yeah, but whatever she’s mixed with may not be. We’ll have to see.” Emma hugged Coco to her chest as Coco littered her neck and chin with kisses and nuzzled her chest. “This is gonna be an adventure for us.”
Coco looked at her curiously, her little head tilting, as if she understood and was considering the possibilities.
