a hedgehog.” Tyler grabbed his own shoes and jammed his feet into them. “You could even keep it in your pocket when you were at work.”
The image made Abby laugh out loud. “Interesting idea, sport. Now tell me how you’d get it out of your pocket!”
Given an interesting activity, the boys seemed to have forgotten their wrestling techniques. Abby breathed a sigh of relief. After an hour at the shelter and an hour or so at the lake, they could stop at that little malt shop in town for lunch.
With luck, she could find something else to entertain them until three, and then she could give them all back.
If she lasted that long.
How on earth did mothers survive day after day after day?
THE KIDS BOUNDED out of Abby’s car when she pulled to a stop at the animal shelter. She rested her palms at the top of the steering wheel and dropped her head against them for a moment, still reeling after Hubert’s announcement from his porch.
That’s it. Your phone jangles day and night. You come and go twenty-four hours a day and create a ruckus. Be out of here when your month’s rent is up July eighth. If you find another place sooner, I’ll gladly refund the difference.
He’d stalked back into his house but, Hubert-like, didn’t slam the door. He closed it quietly…with the finality of a judge passing sentence on a habitual felon.
She’d tried explaining the late-night calls from the hospital staff. The times she’d had to go back to the hospital for emergencies or to cover for a nurse who’d called in sick. The fact that the kids were just a one-time deal.
But to Hubert the explanations hadn’t mattered.
If she hadn’t been so aware of the stares of several neighbors watching from their porch swings and the curiosity of the three kids, she might have found it almost funny.
At a sharp rap on her car window she looked up to find three eager young faces plastered to the glass.
“Come on!” Drew urged. “They won’t let kids in there without an adult!”
Hurry, Tyler mouthed, as if she couldn’t hear through the door.
She got out of the car and took them into the shelter where the smell of pine disinfectant, dogs and cats assailed her nostrils.
An employee on the phone waved them on back. Down a short hall behind her, two rooms housed dogs and cats, and a third held a variety of small pets.
The boys headed straight for the door marked Dogs, while Lily veered off into the room at the left with a cat decal on the door.
Abby wavered, then bore to the right, figuring that the cats could scratch…but dogs had bigger teeth and she already knew the boys were impulsive.
Sure enough, Drew was on his knees in front of a giant black dog, his finger wiggling through the wire mesh. “Drew!”
He shot an unrepentant glance at her and went back to cajoling the dog to come closer.
“Drew,” Abby repeated, touching his shoulder. “We have no idea about that dog’s temperament. I want to give you back to your mother in one piece.”
He reluctantly pulled his hand back. “This is a really cool dog.”
Several cages down, Tyler had passed a pen of gamboling beagle mix puppies to crouch at a cage that appeared to be empty at first glance. “What did you find?”
He looked up at her, his eyes swimming with tears, then threaded his fingers through the mesh and whistled softly. “Here, boy. Come, on.”
At the back of the cage, a medium-size dog had pressed itself as far into the corner as it could. Possibly a springer-golden retriever mix, Abby guessed, given its dingy gold-and-white-spotted coat and the freckles.
Drew’s favorite glowed with good health, its coat and eyes gleaming. This poor fellow, with one bandaged leg, was covered in mats and burrs. His thin sides were heaving as if he’d just run a long way. Pneumonia, maybe?
“This is the saddest one here,” Tyler whispered. “This is the one you should take. He needs you.”
“He does look sad, but I can’t choose one just yet.” Abby rested her hands on Tyler’s shoulders. “I need to find a new place to stay—and there aren’t many options. I might not be able to find one that allows pets.”
“That almost happened when we moved here. We had to get permission before we could keep our dog Scout. Maybe you could ask?”
The dog in the corner lowered its head and painfully eased onto its belly to crawl forward a few inches. Its sad brown eyes were fastened on hers as it moved, and its timid approach drew her more than any of the bouncing, excited tail-wagging in the neighboring pens. “I wonder what happened to this one.”
At the sound of footsteps, Abby turned to see the attendant coming down the aisle. “Stray. She’s not doing too well, though.”
“So it’s a girl, then.”
“Yep. Looks like she had puppies a couple months ago, but no one has seen any sign of them. Maybe the owner found homes for them and just dumped her off in the country.”
Outrage burned Abby’s stomach. “That’s horrible.”
“The jerk probably figured it was cheaper than paying to have her spayed.” The middle-aged woman shrugged. “Happens all the time, and we end up with whatever survives. This one got hit. I’d guess she was out on some road, trying to follow her owner’s car after he dumped her.”
Abby’s stomach churned. “Someone who didn’t even care if she starved.”
“She’s still starving. Won’t eat. Barely drinks. I’d guess she’s homesick, in addition to her injuries.”
Sure enough, full pans of food and water in the pen appeared to be untouched.
“But she’ll find a good home, here. A second chance?”
The woman glanced briefly at Tyler, who was still staring at the dog. She shook her head. “People want young and healthy dogs. Outgoing, playful animals. This one’s so scared and nervous, we haven’t even been able to brush the knots out of her coat.”
The dog stopped at the center of the cage and rested its chin on the concrete between its outstretched front paws.
The pain and sadness in its huge brown eyes seemed to wrap around Abby’s heart. “I wish I could have a dog where I live now.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I just moved here, but I’ll be looking for another place to live. Do you think she’ll still be here at the end of the month?”
“There’ll be other dogs. Young, healthy, low-maintenance dogs.”
“And I work full-time, so a dog would be alone…”
“Then
