by Taylor Love
Ben turned her around, his heart breaking at the sadness she was fighting to hide from him.
“Don’t worry about what my father thinks. Trust me he will never treat you like that again, period.”
“You don’t have to-”
“But I do, and I will. I know you can take up for yourself. I watched you do a damn fine job of that tonight. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should have to. You may not need me to provide for you, but I will whenever I can because I want to. And I’ll damn sure always protect you even against my own family. This isn’t up for debate Tamara, I’m telling you. Understood?”
Tamara looked at him intensely for a few seconds, his face deadly serious, fierce in his conviction. Her heart melted. The tension left her body as her brain accepted his decree.
“Yes, Big Daddy Ben.” Giving him an impish smile she answered. “I understand and thank you.”
“Good, and I like the sound of that title! For real though...it’s you and me in this together. Always.”
Chapter Seventeen
THAT HAD BEEN A BITCH of a case! But in the end, they’d been able to convince the judge her client’s ex-husband was hiding his second income and to up the child support payments accordingly. The damn ex had been happy paying a low amount while the mother of his two children was on the brink of becoming homeless.
“Thank you, Ms. Reed! I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t pulled this off.”
“You would have made a way. Mothers always do.” Tamara proclaimed as she accepted the hug. “But I’m still glad we won! Go enjoy your weekend and celebrate.”
“I sure am! Thanks again!”
As her client hurried away, Tamara crossed the wide hall to take a seat on a bench. She wanted to make a couple of quick case notes in the file. Then she planned to follow her own advice and get out this courthouse. She might even celebrate too! Too bad she’d be doing so alone. Her island boo always knew how to help her relax, however Ben had called Wednesday and told her something had come up, he was going out of town this weekend. He had sounded pissed and in a bit of a rush, so she wished him safe travels and said she would talk to him when he got back.
Since the night they shared their mutual shitty childhoods, something had shifted in their relationship. In the five weeks after, there was a deeper closeness between them. Ben had given her a key and the code to his security when she left. The pair now alternated weekends at each other’s homes. She had quickly become just as comfortable in his house as he was in hers. The fact that this relationship was still going, much less growing still boggled her mind. Being thoroughly happy she was going with the flow. Shaking off the distracting thoughts of her honey, she focused on her notes.
Less than ten minutes later she put her case work away and finally tuned in to the world around her. The room she was sitting in front of was pretty busy, if the noise was any indication. Not that it mattered to her. Her goal was to get home and zone out, maybe even have a drink. She stood up gathering her things, when she heard a yap. Whipping around thinking she was crazy, she heard it again.
Tamara’s forehead wrinkled in confusion and she couldn’t stop herself from walking over to investigate. Opening the closed door revealed that her ears had been correct. All around the medium sized room were animals. There were about three medium sized dogs, two of which were out their cages being petted. Then there were three puppies in cages to the right. She blinked when she spotted two rabbit cages on a table in the corner, before her eyes traveled to the four cats on the other side of the room. One of which was being petted by a public defender she knew.
Before she could work her mind around what she was seeing, a perky person in a yellow shirt approached her.
“Hi! Do you prefer dogs or cats? Maybe one of our rabbits?”
“Prefer them for what?
“Which one would you like to interact with for relaxation?”
“I’m sorry, do you mind explaining to me what this is?”
“Oh sure!” The woman clapped her hands in excitement. “I keep forgetting this is new, so everyone doesn’t know. Pets to Love is partnering with the National Anxiety Foundation. We are bringing pets to nursing homes, hospitals and now courthouses to help people who are in stressful situations or jobs relax! There are scientific studies that show petting an animal, even for a few minutes lowers blood pressure. It also-”
“I get the gist.” Tamara said waving off the rest of the explanation. “I’m in the courthouse at least once a month and I’ve never noticed this before.”
“We only come here on Fridays and it’s our second week. Didn’t you see the banner above the door?”
“No.” Tamara mumbled. These old buildings had wide and ridiculously high doorways. A person’s eyes wouldn’t naturally go up that far. Tamara personally thought they were used in the old days to hang the guilty.
“People just walk in here and randomly pet animals?”
“Yes, it makes you feel better.” Perky leaned in as if she was sharing a secret. “Surprisingly a lot of people are stressed in courthouses. I mean, I could understand the people coming to court, or jury duty. But it’s the lawyers who are really the high-strung ones!”
“You don’t say...” Tamara bit her cheek not to laugh. The woman seemed earnest enough. “I’ll just look around if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all! Take your time. Come get me or one of the others,” she pointed out the other two people with the bright yellow shirts on. “If you want to take any of the animals out.”
“Will do, but I only plan to look.”
“Sure, have at it.”
Perky walked off towards the dogs and Tamara headed towards the cats. When she passed the other attorney, the man sent her a wide smile. That was the first one she’d ever seen on his dour face. When she peered into the last cage, she saw it was two older kittens. They eagerly ran towards her batting their little paws through the bars. Even she had to admit they were cute. She put a finger in, attempting to rub their tiny heads, but they only tried to bite her.
Rescuing her digit, she finally walked to the other side of the room. Bypassing the rabbits, which for some reason had always freaked her out, to stop at the first puppy cage. While the other puppies close by were moving and jumping around at a new face, this little guy was sitting down in the middle of the cage just looking at her. Hunching down she smiled in its direction.
“Hi, aren’t you a cool customer?” The dog cocked its head and slowly walked forward as Tamara stuck in a finger. Sniffing her offering, before giving her a couple of licks. It’s little tail wagging slowly.
“Isn’t she a cutie!”
Tamara almost toppled over as the woman from before snuck up behind her. Recovering, she smoothed down her suit and stood.
“It’s a she?”
“Yes, we call her Precious.”
“Is she like the dog that Obama had? You know I think its name is...Bo?”
“A Portuguese Water Dog? Yes at least partially. Precious is a mutt. We’re just not sure exactly what she’s mixed with. The mother was a stray. Guess the water dog genes are dominant as all the puppies came out looking strongly of the breed.”
“There are others?”
“Usually are.”
Did Tamara detect a little bit of “duh” in that tone?
“The others have been adopted. Precious here isn’t the most outgoing around a lot of other animals or people. But I’ve played with her one on one, and she is just as energetic and sweet as all the other puppies.
“Wait, these animals are for sale?” Tamara glanced around.
“Of course.” There was that implied “you stupid” again. “Our goal is to find forever homes for them all. We rotate which animals we bring out each week and to which location.”
“I think I read somewhere these dogs are hypoallergenic.”
Now Ms. Perky brightened even more. “Yes! That’s correct. Do you have dog allergies?”
“Not th
at I know of. How old is she?”
“Twelve weeks. The state allows us to sell at eight, but we didn’t start releasing them until two weeks ago after they were spayed and neutered.”
Tamara didn't know why she even asked. In her mind a canine was either a puppy or a full-grown dog. “And she’s the only one left?”
“Yep, her last littermate was bought three days ago.”
“Huh...I’ll take her.” It was one of those times where you recognized your voice, but just don’t remember your brain thinking up the words.
“That’s great! She’s three-hundred dollars and has had all her shots to date. Don’t worry, we’ll give you a list for the future ones.”
“Whoa! Three-hundred! We just discussed that she’s not a purebred.”
“She isn’t.” The lady had the nerve to laugh in her face. “A purebred of this dog would cost somewhere around $2,500.”
“You’re shitting me!”
“No ma’am I’m not, and that’s on the low end. Our costs only cover the vaccinations and spaying. You are actually in luck as we do Friday specials which is $50 off, which is why she’s so cheap.”
“Cheap is not the word I would use.”
Tamara mumbled before looking down at the puppy. Whose eyes were pinned on her, while its little tail wagged as fast as a church lady’s fan in the middle of summer.
“Crap.” Turning back, she doubled down. “Okay, do I need to fill out an assessment sheet and come pick her up tomorrow or what?”
“Oh no. We’re not the humane society. We’re a pet store. Come with me.”
In the back of the room, too close to the rabbits for her liking, was another table with numerous forms. Tamara filled out a “buyers” sheet which was in triplicate, then showed her driver’s license before forking over that high fee. For which she had to process on her credit card. When the card cleared, the sales lady beamed. Capitalism had won out again. Tamara was sure they wanted to bring joy to a few stressed out or down on their luck people, but they wanted that money even more. The woman added so many sheets of paper to her “information folder” that she felt like she was closing on a house. Handing it over, they walked back to the cage where a leash was clipped onto the puppy's collar.
“Congrats on your new pet!” The leash was given to Tamara. “I think Precious will make a wonderful asset to your family. Have a great day!”
“Wait!” Panic was setting in. “I don’t get a cage?”
Turning the lady gave her a faintly annoyed smile. “We gave you a free leash.”
“Let me rephrase, how much for the cage she was in?” Not even letting her respond Tamara rushed on. “I have a fifty on me, and you can do with it what you want...deal?”
At the thought of pocketing some money her smile grew bright again. “We’re always happy to help out new pet parents.”
The fifty was quietly and quickly handed over and the woman promptly left. Tamara looked at the dog who was still looking at her, and made some quick decisions. She decided to put her briefcase in the cage, and drape her purse across her shoulders, which meant she left the courthouse with a cage in one hand and a super excited puppy in the other.
It was official—Tamara had lost her mind.
Chapter Eighteen
TAMARA HAD GONE STRAIGHT from the courthouse to Petco. Sitting in the car she took a quick look at the tip sheets and thought “what in the hell”. She knew nothing about shopping for pets but had seen enough commercials to know she could take the dog inside the store. As soon as she put the puppy on the ground it veered off to a tree and peed. Tamara’s first thought was thank goodness it wasn’t number two, her second thought was did she need pampers for this thing? She knew it was an idiotic thought, but the reality that this animal would need training was just sinking in.
Inside she quickly grabbed a bed, a few toys, along with a feeding and water dish. Then she turned her attention to food, it was crazy how many different types they had! When she looked at the ingredients it was even worse. The all-natural brands almost had her cursing. They were twenty dollars and up! And the damn ingredients sounded better than what she ate.
Finally deciding to compromise with a middle grade bag of food, she threw it in the cart. She threw in a couple of cans of wet food as well, just in case it was a finicky eater. The puppy was getting agitated by all the smells. Her last stop was the pee-pee pad isle. Grabbing three packs she went to check out. She knew she would need some other things, but that could wait until tomorrow.
THE REST OF FRIDAY flew by with getting the dog situated. The puppy was cautious in exploring its new environment. But that didn’t last long. Soon the furry little thing was running all over the place. When it was time for bed Tamara put an old throw blanket in the cage, rubbed its little head and closed the door to her spare bedroom. She had gone on to get ready for bed and everything was good. Twenty minutes later she laid down, got comfy and closed her eyes. Then she heard the first whine.
Ignoring it, as she figured the dog was just testing her. Boy, had she been wrong. The wailing just kept coming, along with a few baby barks that would have been cute any other time. She refused to be the sucker that fell for it...or so she thought. Tamara held out for thirty minutes then marched to the room intending to admonish the little whiner, only to fall victim to the proverbial “puppy eyes”.
Taking the puppy and pet bed in her room, she put everything in the corner. Then gave the dog a stern talking to, since she had to establish herself as the dominant one in this house. Ten minutes later, she heard whimpering coming directly below her side of the bed. Leaning over, she was looking directly into a pair of big brown eyes. Sighing in defeat, she got out of bed to retrieve its blanket. Spreading it on the bottom of the bed opposite her side, before placing the wiggling animal on it.
“Look, you stay on your side, don’t make me regret this. If you do it’s back to your cage and I won’t care how much you cry. I need some sleep. Do we have an understanding?”
The dog just circled a couple of times before laying down.”
“I thought so.” She grumbled settling in under the covers. She couldn’t believe this morning she was animal-less and had returned with a dang puppy. Crazy, but she was too tired to focus on it now. Tomorrow was soon enough to sort it all out.
SATURDAY FOUND TAMARA waking up still tired, but she was more disturbed at feeling wet.
“What the heck?” Cracking open her sticky eyes, she pushed the offending wetness away.
“Oh, hell nawl! We will not be doing licks in the face. You are with black folks now.”
She swore the dog laughed at her.
“That’s not funny. You just gave me doggie germs.” Sniffing Tamara looked around. “What am I smelling? Is that puppy breath or what?”
Sadly, it wasn’t. Tamara followed her nose to the dog blanket to discover pee.
“Bad dog!”
The dog shrunk back at the tone of voice. Even though she wasn’t the one who had peed in the bed she suddenly felt guilty. Softening her tone, she said.
“Well, I know what we are not calling you. It’s not Precious, that’s for sure.”
WITH EVERYTHING THAT had been going on, Tamara almost forgot that the girls were coming over tonight. When Ben had mentioned he wouldn’t be coming she’d invited them over for a girls’ night. They usually had one about every two to three months, alternating between going out some place and staying in. They had one rule, zero talk about work. They came to chill and stuff their faces only, as a way to de-stress. They hadn’t had one since January, mostly due to her weekend boyfriend. Seeing as how it was May, they were long overdue.
What had seemed like perfect timing before, didn’t seem ideal now that she had this dog. Between getting more things from the pet store and getting the puppy situated with the house, time had flown. Thankfully, as the host she was only responsible for dessert. She had bought a sampler of different cheesecakes the day she invited them. It was coming up on seven and they’d
be here any minute. Scratch that, they were already here. Rushing to the door she saw Monique on the step, with Jessica just getting out of her car.
“Hey girl, come on in.”
Waving Monique in, Tamara waited until Jessica made her way up the driveway.
While the other two got settled in, she brought out glasses and wine from the kitchen, before running back to get some place settings so they could eat. They all had on lounging pants and t-shirts, and Tamara was glad to be braless and free. When they did Netflix and chill, they never went back out. Plopping down in her favorite armchair, she was ready to chow down.
“What did y'all bring?”
“I got us five different sushi rolls.” Jessica said. “I’ve been craving some lately.”
“Good. That sounds right up my alley. We can count it as healthy.”
“I brought a side salad.” Monique added taking it out the bag. “We can count that too. Maybe it will help balance out all these wings that hopped in my bag.”
Jessica was rubbing her hands together. “Ooh! What flavors?”
“Honey BBQ, chipotle and regular.”
“Great, I’m starving. Someone start me a plate with a little of everything.” Tamara requested, as she finished filling up their wine glasses.
Pulling up Google Play on her internet TV the three argued over what movie they wanted to see, while digging in. They settled on the action movie, “Widows” which none of them had found time to see last fall, figuring what could be better than their girl, Viola Davis being devious? Fifteen minutes into the movie they were all invested, trying to guess what would happen when they heard the first bark.
Monique whipped her head around. “What was that?”
“What was what?” Tamara questioned while turning up the TV on the low.
The next yap was followed by a whine, and they all turned their heads towards the sound.
“That.” Monique insisted. “I know I’m not crazy or hard of hearing. Did your neighbor get a dog?”
