Page 82 of A Heartfelt Christmas Promise
As she fumbled with the key in the dark, something shuffled behind her.Please don’t let it be a skunk.
She fumbled with her phone to get the light on the lock so she could hurry inside, but as she did, something bumped against her leg.
Her breath caught. She stood as still as the wind right before disaster strikes. With her eyes squeezed shut, another prod hit her about midcalf. She inhaled, but the air was fine.
She slowly tilted forward to look down.
Still half expecting a skunk, she let out one long breath as she realized it was nothing but that little puppy again.
Sitting with his chin straight up in the air, he lifted one paw and pushed on her leg.
“What are you doing?”
He cowered and backed up a few steps with his tail between his legs.
“It’s okay. Come here.”
He flopped to his belly, putting his chin on the ground with eyes squinted closed.
She opened the door to the warehouse, then leaned down and scooped that little puddle of a pup into her arms. “What are you doing here? Where’d you come from?”
He commenced a serious flurry of kisses, his soft little paws patting her face as he did.
“What is all that for? Do you want to come upstairs with me?”
He answered with a high-pitched yelp, then licked her ear. His sharp little nails grazed her neck.
“You are just a baby. Don’t scratch me, buddy.”
He laid his head on her shoulder.
“Do you want to come in with me? You do seem quite content, but someone has to be looking for you.”
Vanessa stepped outside. “Here doggy, dog. Are you missing a puppy?” She whistled a couple of times, but didn’t hear even a skitter.
She walked inside and locked the door behind her.
The puppy didn’t squirm as she climbed the stairs to the corporate apartment. “Hopefully, you won’t pee on the floor. At least it’s for the most part hardwood flooring, and there are a ton of paper towels stored in that closet. Welcome to my house.”
She put him on the ground.
He sat there looking more like a stuffed animal than a dog, the way he was sitting on his butt with his paws forward.
“Let me find something for you to eat. You’ve got to be hungry.” She opened the cabinets. “Let’s see. How about saltines?”She took a couple out of the sleeve and sat on the floor in front of him. He jumped up and spun in a circle. “Here you go.” She broke one of the crackers into a few bite-size morsels, and held them out in her flat hand.
He gobbled them as if they were steak.
“You make those look pretty tasty.” She got the jar of peanut butter out of the cabinet and fixed a couple of peanut butter crackers for herself. He climbed into her lap trying to get her cracker. “Hang on.” She scooped some peanut butter onto her finger. The puppy lapped it up. “Oh, you really like that.”
Long after he stopped licking the peanut butter from her finger, he licked the air with his sticky tongue, his tail going a mile a minute.
“Now that our bellies are full, we can relax.” She filled a bowl with water and put it on the floor for him, then turned on the television and sprawled out on the couch.
Just as she’d kind of hoped, the puppy ran back across the room, coming to a sliding stop by her on the slippery hardwood floor, then tried to climb up on her.
“You’re still a little too small for that.” She reached down and gave him a lift of the butt. He walked on top of her, then licked her chin before wrapping himself into a tight little ball right in front of her stomach.
“Oh my gosh. Now I really want a house so I can have a puppy. You are the sweetest thing.”
