Puppy Love, Volumes 1 to 13 Read online

"Adorable." Pete snuck his phone out and took a quick picture of the two pups.

  "I guess this is our cue to take them home, huh?" Julia said, glancing down at the sleeping puppies.

  "Guess so."

  They glanced at each other one last time. Julia so wanted to ask him to send her the picture or to ask if he was married or to…anything to keep the conversation going. But she didn't want to ruin the friendly camaraderie they'd formed.

  "Okay, so, maybe I'll see you guys next weekend?"

  He smiled. "Definitely."

  Only as she was getting into her car did she realize that the next Saturday was Valentine's Day.

  * * *

  February 14th

  Julia awoke to a wet puppy nose snuffling her face.

  "Mmm. It's too early, Maisey. Give me another half hour." She tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but Maisey was having none of it. She sat down and started barking in her high-pitched puppy voice.

  "Fine, fine, fine. I'm up." Julia crawled off the couch and stumbled to the kitchen to prepare Maisey's breakfast.

  It was Valentine's Day. All she really wanted was to stay in bed all day and pretend the holiday didn't exist. Yet another year without a date. She wouldn't really care, but she just knew her mother was going to call and give her an earful about it.

  As Julia got dressed for the dog park, she chose all black clothes in honor of the day. Some people dressed all cheerfully optimistic in their pink and red, but they were generally the people getting dozens of roses from their boyfriends and going out for romantic candlelit dinners.

  Not Julia.

  Never Julia.

  * * *

  Of course there was no one at the dog park. They were probably all starting their Valentine's at home being served or serving breakfast in bed.

  Only Julia had nothing better to do than spend her morning at the park with her pup.

  It was also colder than cold, but she chose to feel sorry for herself and assume that everyone was just at home warm and snuggled with their loved one.

  Including, of course, Pete.

  Ah well. Maisey was a better companion than 99.5% of the guys Julia had ever dated.

  A half hour later, Julia was about to leave when she saw Pete and Frodo arrive. She knew it was probably time to go, but she didn't want to miss the chance to see Pete and talk to him if only for a few moments.

  Pete carried Frodo to the gate even though the pup squirmed frantically to get loose. Once they were there, Pete finally gave up and let him down.

  Frodo made a beeline for Julia, yipping the whole way as he stumbled over something tied to his collar.

  When he finally made it to her and launched himself at her legs, the object tripped him and he stumbled, crashing into her.

  Julia bent down and untangled the object from his collar. It was a chocolate rose with a small green stem.

  Julia glanced up at Pete, raising an eyebrow in question. "Holiday decoration?" she asked, prepared to hand it back to him.

  "No. Uh, it's for you." He glanced at her and then away again, blushing. "Didn't quite work out as planned." He rubbed at his face. "Unfortunately, he's still a bit young for me to train him to carry it to you in his mouth."

  Julia laughed, trying to hide her shock. "Thank you."

  He'd brought a gift for her? What did this mean?

  Frodo barked at her, demanding attention, and Julia reached down to scratch behind his ears, grateful for something to do.

  Pete shifted his weight from side to side. "There's more."

  "More?"

  "Yeah. Here." He handed her a small envelope.

  She turned it over in her hand. It was a child's valentine's card.

  She opened the envelope to find a card with a picture of a bee on the front that said, "Will you BEE mine?" Julia giggled.

  On the other side it said, "Frodo and I would love to treat you and your pup to a romantic valentine's lunch if you don't have any other plans."

  Julia stared up at him, unsure what to say.

  "I'm sorry I didn't know how to spell Maisey," Pete said, chewing on his lip.

  "That's okay." She stared at him. "I thought…I thought you were married," Julia finally managed to say.

  "What? Oh god, no. I've been divorced for four years."

  "Really?" She felt a small thrill of excitement.

  "Yeah. You thought I was married?"

  "Well, it seems like every guy at the dog park is or is in a serious relationship. When you mentioned your son, I just assumed…"

  "Oh. I see." He looked away from her, clearly upset. "So, you weren't interested then. You were just being friendly."

  "What? No." She reached out and grabbed his arm. "I'm interested. I just…I didn't think it was possible."

  He stared at her for a moment. "So, you really are interested?"

  She nodded. "Really."

  "Then you guys want to come over for lunch? Get in out of this miserable cold?"

  "We'd love to. Wouldn't we, Maisey?"

  Maisey yipped and wagged her tail.

  "Well, then let's go." Pete scooped up Frodo and led the way back towards the parking lot.

  As Julia followed him, she felt a spring in her step. She couldn't help it. This was shaping up to be the best Valentine's Day ever. She had a puppy she adored and now a man she liked A LOT, who liked her puppy no less, had asked her out.

  What more could she ask for?

  * * *

  April 28th

  Julia was awoken by a chorus of yips as both Maisey and Frodo voiced their opinion that it was about time their parents woke up. She burrowed her head into Pete's chest. "Not yet, guys. Just give me another half hour, that's all I ask."

  Pete kissed her on the top of her head. "Don't worry, I've got it," he said, extracting himself from beneath her body.

  Julia kept her eyes closed as she heard the dogs run after him into the kitchen, both barking excitedly. She knew Pete really meant it when he told her to go back to sleep, but she didn't actually want to. She loved spending the early morning with him and the pups, sitting around the kitchen table with a cup of coffee as the pups romped together in the front room.

  Who could've imagined three months ago that this is where she would be now? Sleep-deprived, sure. But loved and in love, with two adorable puppies and the best man on the planet by her side.

  Life was perfect. It really was.

  Puppy Love Rescue

  It was almost ten o'clock at night when Beth pulled into the parking space in front of her apartment. She sat in the car for a moment, trying to muster the energy to make a dash to her front door.

  The storm was one of those horrible combinations of rain and snow—hard to see through and wet. She'd just managed to warm up from the dash to her car. Her hair was still so wet it was dripping down her forehead, and she wasn't looking forward to how the cold was going to dig straight into her bones the minute she left the safe confines of her car.

  Well, she couldn't stay there all night. She took a deep breath, threw the car door open, and dashed across the slippery sidewalk.

  She almost made it, too, but her boot slipped on a patch of black ice right under the awning of the building and she went sprawling, landing on her ass with a painful thump. She sat there for a moment, too stunned to move, and then the tears started. It was just too much.

  She'd worked sixteen hours today and for what? So her boss could act disappointed that she hadn't worked eighteen hours?

  And now here she was, wet, hurting, and starving. All she'd eaten today was a Snicker's bar and six cans of Coke.

  She was running on empty.

  As she struggled to stand, pushing her bare hand into the wet slush covering the grass, she thought she heard a soft whimpering sound. She froze, straining to hear the sound again, but a car driving through the parking lot drowned out any other sounds as it splashed through a puddle.

  Beth finally stood, brushing at her butt. She didn't know why she bothered. The slus
h had already soaked through her new black skirt.

  She reached down to grab her purse and heard the soft whimpering sound once more. She glanced around, trying to figure out where it was coming from, but didn't see anything. Was some animal injured and caught outside in this miserable weather? Poor thing.

  She waited to hear the sound again, wet snow dripping down the back of her neck.

  Nothing.

  She must've imagined it.

  She made it the last few steps to her front door and threw her wet belongings on the floor in the small tile entryway. She was shivering, her skin wet and covered in goosebumps. She quickly stripped out of her work clothes and threw on long thermal underwear followed by sweats.

  Much better. But as she turned to make herself something to eat, she couldn't shake the thought that somewhere out in that storm was a poor helpless little creature. The temperature was supposed to drop below freezing sometime in the middle of the night. It could die.

  She wasn't going to let that happen.

  She bundled up—properly this time, not like she had this morning when the sky was a clear blue and didn't show a sign of snow—grabbed a flashlight, threw on her snow boots, and went back outside, hunching her shoulders against the cold breeze driving sleet into her face.

  She tramped around, shining the flashlight along the edges of buildings and at the bushes near her door, but no luck. She was about to give up when she realized she was probably scaring the hell out of whatever the thing was with her bright light and stomping around.

  She froze in place and turned off the flashlight, listening intently for the sad little whimper she'd heard before.

  She was rewarded a moment later by a sound from her left. She moved a few steps closer and froze again, waiting.

  There it was. Off to the right this time.

  She kept this up, listening and moving closer until she zeroed in on a small bush right by the sidewalk about twenty feet from her car.

  When she was finally certain that's where the sound was coming from, she knelt down slowly and turned on the flashlight. She shined it to the side of the bush, using the edge of the light to see what manner of creature she'd found.

  Beth was rewarded by the sight of a small black nose and sad dark brown eyes staring back at her. It was a puppy. Not a newborn pup, but definitely a puppy with those floppy black ears and paws that were ten times too big for it. If the poor thing hadn't been whimpering she would've never seen it because it was so black it blended into the shadows perfectly.

  "Come here, sweetie," she said softly, reaching out for it.

  The puppy flinched away from her, burrowing deeper under the bush.

  "Come on now, I won't hurt you. Don't you want to go inside where it's nice and warm, little guy?" She tried to coax the puppy out, but it had burrowed itself right into the middle of the bush where she couldn't reach it. The puppy was shaking, clearly freezing and scared.

  Who the hell would leave a cute puppy like this out in the cold? What kind of people did those things?

  She tried once more to get the puppy to come to her, but it just backed away further and yipped at her.

  "Okay, okay. Give me a minute," she said, backing away from the bush.

  She raced back to her apartment, watching to make sure the puppy didn't leave it's inadequate shelter for as long as she could. Just her luck she'd come back and it would be gone and she'd spend the rest of the night trying to find it.

  But she was not going to let the poor little thing stay out in this mess. She'd never be able to live with herself if she did.

  She ran into her apartment and went straight to her fridge. What did she have that might tempt a puppy to trust her? Asparagus? No. Broccoli? No. Apples? No. Raw chicken? Maybe, but no. Finally she remembered that she'd cooked up some bacon the day before and still had some left. She grabbed the container, threw it in the microwave for ten seconds so the bacon would smell enough to tempt the puppy, and ran back outside with it.

  When she knelt down by the bush again, she couldn't see the puppy. Had it run away?

  She flashed her light directly under the bush and saw a furry black ball curled up against the far edge. The poor puppy was covered in a thin layer of snow that had filtered its way through the leaves of the bush.

  Beth thrust the container of bacon in the pup's direction. "Here, pup. Come on, come try some bacon. It's very yummy. Come on."

  She saw the puppy uncurl, its dark little nose sniffing in her direction, dark brown eyes staring back and forth between her and the container. It clearly wanted to eat the bacon, but didn't trust her. She quickly grabbed a couple pieces of bacon from the container and backed away so the puppy could get the food without her being too close.

  It crept forward, its nose twitching, ready to run away at any sudden movement from her.

  She waited, not moving, until it finally reached the container and started gobbling up the pieces of bacon inside. She knew it probably wasn't the best food to give a starving puppy, but at least the pup was eating something and was closer to her than it had been before.

  She tore the two strips of bacon she still had into small pieces and started throwing them in the direction of the pup. It crawled forward, eating each one, leaving behind the shelter of the bush. She almost cried when saw the small trail of blood it left behind as its paws clawed at the ground. Poor thing.

  She waited until the puppy was well and truly free of the bush and then raced forward, scooping the pup up in her arms. It cried pitifully and tried to bite at her hand, but she ignored it. The little creature couldn't weigh more than ten pounds, so it was easy to cradle against her chest as she raced back inside.

  "Trust me, sweetie, this will be better than that nasty bush," she whispered to it as she made her careful way back inside.

  Once inside she wasn't quite sure what to do with him, so she grabbed one of her blankets and a pillow and threw them in the bathtub to make a small little nest. Under the bright lights of her bathroom the puppy looked even worse than he had outside. His coat was matted and dirty, all four paws were bloody, his eyes were a goopy mess, and he was so skinny all she could feel were his bones. She tucked him down into the soft, warm bed and left to get her phone.

  He cried—a high, pitiful sound—the minute she left the room, so she raced back as soon as she could.

  He flinched away from her touch, but he clearly didn't want her to leave him alone either, so she sat on the floor next to the tub as she looked for the number of a nearby emergency vet. The first one she found looked wrong to her somehow—too cold and formal—so she kept looking until she found the website for a place right up the street. It had a simple, homey looking website with a picture of Dr. Russ, a smiling man with kind eyes that was probably close to her age, holding a golden retriever puppy in his arms. Yes. This man was who she needed.

  She dialed the number and waited as the phone rang ten times. Finally, when she was about to give up, a sleepy man's voice answered. "Barks and Bites Veterinary. This is Dr. Russ. How can I help you?"

  Beth explained what had happened and answered a handful of questions for the doctor.

  "Hmmm," he said when she was done. "If you don't object too much, I think the best bet would be for me to come to you. Sounds like the little guy's had quite a night of it already and I'd hate to see you have to take him back out in this weather and risk losing him. Is that okay? I can meet you at the office if it isn't."

  "Oh no, that would be fantastic. Are you sure?" she asked, surprised at the generous offer.

  "Positive. Now, where am I going?"

  "Riverview Apartments, 123…"

  "Oh, I know where that is. That's where I live actually. Which building?"

  "Five."

  There was a long pause. "And apartment?"

  "102."

  He laughed slightly. "Alright. Give me about five minutes and I'll be right there."

  Beth sat next to the puppy, waiting. It had fallen asleep, curled into a tight
little ball. It was whimpering, twitching as it ran after or from something in its dreams. Poor little thing.

  She'd always wanted a dog, but she'd never had the time for one. Still didn't, really. But maybe this was a sign that it was about damned time she changed her life.

  She wanted so badly to pet and comfort him, but didn't want to scare him, so she just rested her chin on the edge of the tub and watched.

  A minute or so later she heard a door slam somewhere in the building and the sound of someone running down the staircase. This was followed by the sound of someone knocking on her door. Exactly how close did the vet live to her? And how had she never noticed him before?

  The sound of him knocking woke the pup who started crying and scratching to get out of the tub as Beth walked towards the door.

  "Hi," Beth said as she opened the door. Dr. Russ was even more attractive in person, his eyes an amazing aquamarine color. He wore sweats with Colgate printed down one leg and a plain grey sweatshirt. "Come in, please," she said, backing away from the door.

  "I hear my patient." He smiled at her as he stepped into the apartment, glancing around. Only then did Beth realize how messy the place was. This must be why her mother was always telling her to keep her place clean. Same as her mom's advice to always wear clean underwear. You never knew…

  "Yeah, he's in the bathtub. I thought that might be a nice safe place for him."

  She trailed behind Dr. Russ as he made his way into the bathroom and knelt down by the side of the tub. "Hey there, buddy, how are you?"

  He held out a handful of food to the puppy who snuffled at his hand, devouring the few bites of food in seconds, and then poked at the hand demanding more.

  Dr. Russ laughed. He had a rich, soft baritone that made Beth smile. She leaned against the wall and watched Dr. Russ talk to the puppy, feeding it small bits of food. He had an amazing calmness about him that the puppy responded to immediately. Within a minute, the pup was licking his fingers and wagging its tail slowly.

  "That's my boy," he said, softly, scooping the pup up in his hands and inspecting it. The puppy hardly even struggled as Dr. Russ inspected its paws, coat, and teeth. The whole time he kept talking to the puppy, whispering soft, calming words.