Page 7 of Second Chances
"Can you believe that the only coffee shop in town is at the gas station?"
"What? That's sacrilege."
"I know. I know..." Charlotte's voice trailed off. "You know what, I'm planning to—"
"Oh my god." Meg interrupted and set down her glass of wine.
"Meg, are you okay?"
"I think that there's a wolf on your patio."
"A wolf? That's not possible, maybe a coyote."
"There's a difference?" Megan's voice quivered as she inched her way to the patio door, afraid that the animal was going to lunge at the glass and rip her throat out.
"Wolves don't like people and are huge. Coyotes look slinky and aren't afraid to come around humans, but I've never seen one at that house."
Megan pressed her back against the wall beside the door and turned her head to try to catch a glimpse of the predator.
"Meg, tell me what's happening,"
"It's just sitting there," she whispered.
"Just sitting there?"
"Oh my god, it's scratching at the door. Can it get in?"
She heard Charlotte chuckle on the other end of the phone. "No, it can't get in. Meg, do me a favor and see if that wolf is wearing a collar."
Megan took a deep breath and tiptoed closer to the animal, which was sitting and staring into the house, each exhalation forming a small nose shaped steam patch on the glass. She heard it whimper and then let out all her breath in a huge exhale when she saw a plaid collar around its neck and a shiny name tag in the shape of a bone.
"It's a dog," she gasped.
She heard hysterical laughter from the other end of the phone. "Oh Meg, maybe I should come up there, I forgot what a city girl you can be."
"I'll be fine," Meg said and opened the patio door. "Hi boy, what's your name?"
"Meg, I've got another call. You lock the doors tonight and give me a call tomorrow, ok?"
"Ok," Meg said and disconnected the phone.
The wolf-dog stepped into the house and licked her hand. She bent down to read his name tag, Timber. “Are you lost, boy?” Timber responded by licking her face. He leaned against her and she swore that he was looking up at her lovingly. She wrapped her arms around the dog and buried her face in its thick gray neck fur. He didn't smell like a dog, he smelled like the outdoors.
She picked up her phone and punched in the numbers from the tag, but hesitated, it couldn't hurt to have him around for a little while before calling his owner, could it? His one eye was tiffany blue and seemed to be staring into her soul, while his other, a yellow-brown eye, seemed to be telling her that everything was going to be okay.
"It would be selfish of me to keep you here," she smiled. It felt good to talk to someone, or rather, something, and not be judged. "Someone is probably really missing you."
She sat down on the sofa and Timber curled up beside her.
She pressed 'send' on her phone and stroked the dog's velvety ears while it rang. She was surprised when a smooth honey tenor answered the line.
"I think that I have your dog, Timber."
"Oh shit, did he get out again? I'm at a job site, I'll pop out quickly to pick him up. I’m really sorry about that."
"It's okay," Megan heard herself giggle. She had already conjured up an image of the man to match the voice on the other end of the phone. "He's nice company."
"That he is. Just don't feed him any cheese."
