It's a Dog's Life (a romantic comedy with a canine sidekick)

by Mayer, Dale

  "What are you doing?" Jane came up on her left.

  "Meow. Here, kitty, kitty, kitty. Come here, kitty." Giving Jane a disgusted look, Ninna walked forward. "What do you think I'm doing?" A weak, plaintive cry sounded to her left. "Oh. my God. What was that? Did you hear it?" She turned to face Jane.

  "What was what?" Jane stared blankly at her.

  "Didn't you hear it? It sounded like a kitten crying." Ninna spun around. Outside of a few rocks and the odd garbage can, there didn't appear to be anyplace for a kitten to hide.

  "Meow."

  "It is a cat. Where is it?"

  The two girls searched everywhere, until Ninna glanced over a picket fence to see inside her neighbour's yard. There, tucked up behind a stack of debris, was a tiny black kitten, huge eyes glistening up at her.

  "Oh, look at him. The poor thing," Jane said, staring down at it.

  "He's scared." Slipping through the gate, Ninna reached to pick it up but the kitten shied away in fear. Ninna didn't want to scare it any further, but it couldn't stay here. She tried again, but the kitten seemed to almost pull his head into his body like a turtle. "I can't get him."

  "Oh, for heaven's sake. Pick the thing up, will you. I hate this place."

  Shooting Jane a frustrated look, Ninna realized that hauling Stuart over here would make her look ridiculous. She had to grab it herself. Squaring her jaw, she scooped it up so fast, both of them were surprised.

  "Finally. Let's take him to your vet now. If it isn't his, we can bring it back."

  "I'm not bringing it back. Look where it is. This is no place for a baby." The two girls looked at the dilapidated back porch, with its sagging roof and exterior badly in need of a paint job. "If it isn't the missing kitten, it's about to become Stuart's latest adoption." Casting a cautious eye at the house, Ninna backed out of the yard and into the alleyway. "Let's go. This place gives me the creeps."

  Jane snorted. "It looks like a crack house. I wonder if it's deserted."

  "Hopefully. It's not like that's unusual in today's economy. If I hadn't socked away as much money as I did, I'd have lost my house, too." The kitten struggled in her arms, mewling in a horrible high pitched tone. Ninna whispered softly, cuddling the little thing tight up against her neck, trying to hold it securely enough that it wouldn't jump free, but not tightly enough to hurt it. She had to be holding it wrong for the fighting it was doing.

  Jane ignored the mewling and carried on with the same conversation. "Your house is barely big enough for you. If you gain ten pounds, you'll have to move."

  Trying to get a better grip on the kitten, Ninna snapped, "That's why I could afford to buy it. Don't knock it. It's small but cozy. Even better, it's mine."

  They rounded the corner to enter the side street, leading them back onto the front of the same block. Ninna nodded toward the vet's huge house. "There's the place."

  At the front door, Jane pushed the doorbell. It pealed loudly and set off a cacophony of barking and yipping. Jane and Ninna looked at each other wide-eyed. "Holy crap. How many dogs does he have?" Jane's shocked voice was barely audible over the noise.

  They could hear sounds of someone yelling at the dogs to be quiet. "Stop it. Move out of the way. How am I supposed to answer the door if you're all there?"

  The door opened, and Stuart stood in front of them. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Ninna?"

  Then his gaze landed on the kitten, busy using her throat and collarbone as a monkey bar. "Oh, you found him. That's wonderful." He opened the door wide. "Come in, please. Where did you find him?" He reached out to take the kitten from her. The kitten immediately mewed loudly and dug in his claws.

  Ninna winced. Her throat was going to look like the aftermath of a slasher attack. Eventually, the kitten was removed and she could swallow. Putting her hand against her throat, she said, "He was in the back alley, caught behind a pile of rubble in that deserted house almost at the end of the block." She glanced over at Jane. "This is my friend Jane. She helped me search."

  Stuart smiled. "Hi, I'm Stuart. Thanks for helping to find this guy."

  Jane beamed.

  "Ladies, step inside. Let me check him over quickly." He shut the front door and headed toward the back of the house. "Come back here. I have a room set up for these guys."

  Ninna followed, amazed at the dogs bouncing around them. One had only three legs but didn't appear to notice. Another, a big Doberman, was missing an ear, had a stumpy tail and his face was scarred up. She ignored the basset hound. She avoided touching any of them period. "You take in animals no one else wants, don't you?"

  He glanced back, surprised. Then noticed the dogs. "Sometimes. If they aren't going to be adopted out elsewhere, then...sometimes they need a break from the center and I bring them home for awhile."

  "But once you do, it has to be hard to take them back."

  Jane piped up. "I'm surprised you're allowed this many in a private home."

  "I'm not, but my brother's selling this place and didn't want to leave it empty. It's temporary. I'm building a house on acreage. But I need another month or two before I can move in. There will be lots of room for the animals there."

  He entered a room that looked identical to an examining room at the center. Walking around a large examining table, he carefully lowered the kitten on to it. It took only a few minutes to check the little furry body over. "Good. I'll give him some food and take him to his bed. He'll be just fine."

  Stuart looked directly at Ninna. "Thank you. I wouldn't have wanted to lose him here. Not when the new house is almost ready."

  "He's going to love that."

  Stuart grinned, his gaze taking in both women. "I don't know about him, but I sure will." He carried the kitten into the kitchen. Ninna, not sure what to do, followed. After he'd fed the kitten, he straightened. "Would you ladies like coffee? I'm sorry, I tend to focus on my four legged friends and forget about the two legged ones." He said it in such a boyish way Ninna couldn't help but be charmed.

  "Thanks, I'd love one," Jane said.

  Ninna glanced at Jane in surprise. She never drank coffee. But the look she flashed back at Ninna warned her not to say anything. Ninna's glance went from Jane to Stuart and back again. Jane was doing her best, look-at-me-because-I'm-cute look. If it worked, fine. Any guy who fell for that stupid stunt wasn't someone she wanted for herself.

  Stuart never appeared to notice. Bonus. He turned and puttered around the gourmet kitchen. He seemed quite at home here.

  "This is a great kitchen." Ninna studied the huge white oak cabinets. "Do you cook?"

  "Sometimes. Being a bachelor it was either learn or live on take-out food." He shrugged. "So I learned." He flashed that shy grin her way and damned if her heart didn't go bump. "How about you?"

  Jane jumped in. "I love to cook. But I don't have anything as nice as this kitchen to cook in."

  Talk about an understatement. More like a fib. Jane lived in a classy penthouse of with the most beautiful gourmet kitchen Ninna had ever seen. Jane also couldn't cook worth a damn. Ninna loved to bake. Not that she should be doing any with her diet plans. She was a fair cook, but plain, nothing fancy.

  Several of the dogs moved through the kitchen. Ninna stiffened as the floppy basset hound entered. He looked just like the one from the center. She eyed him carefully, but he ignored her to sniff the little kitten. The other dogs didn't appear to care. There was no fighting between the animals. Everyone was well mannered.

  "What about you, Ninna? Do you cook?"

  She flushed, having been sidelined by the arrival of the basset hound. "Sometimes. I love to bake."

  Cookies? I love cookies.

  Ninna's gaze widened at the same damn voice. She glanced at the talking dog, realized it was staring at her, and hurriedly looked away. "Love to bake breads actually. I don't bake many cakes or cookies."

  Pity.

  "Not likely," she muttered softly.

  "Hah. There you are. So glad you've decided to get over yo
ur snit and talk to me."

  Against her better judgement, Ninna turned to look at the dog. His tongue lolled off to one side, as he panted deeply.

  "I love cookies."

  "You look it," she snapped, glaring at his rotund body. Both Stuart and Jane looked at her in astonishment. Oh, shit. She explained weakly, "Sorry, I was replaying a conversation in my mind that hadn't gone so well yesterday. I guess I wish I said more than I did." Knowing her face was probably shining like a kid's hot pink glow stick, she mumbled, "It's time to head home. No time for coffee, sorry. Glad the kitten is going to be fine." She turned and raced to the front door.

  God, how could she have done that?

  She was such a loser.

  Chapter Three

  Ninna stormed home, cussing under her breath. What was wrong with her? Her hasty exit only amplified her idiocy. They'd really think she was ready for the looney bin. And maybe she was. Hadn't she considered it earlier? Though stress might be the problem, she still had to deal with the fallout of the symptoms. Time to make that call to her shrink. She'd managed to put it out of her mind with the kitten incident, but no longer. Racing into her house, she slammed the front door.

  She didn't bother to look to see if Jane followed. Jane would check out Stuart until he made his interest or disinterest known. Jane loved men and always those who were the least interested in her. She could do with a shrink herself. They'd have a heyday with a woman who persisted in setting herself up for failure.

  For herself, well, speaking aloud to no one about topics unrelated to the conversations going on around her, well, that definitely counted as nuts. She headed right to her bedroom where her address book sat in her night table drawer. Flicking to the end of the small leather bound address book, she stopped at Dr. Theon's contact information. At one time, she'd known this number by heart.

  Punching numbers so fast that she misdialed twice, she finally calmed down enough to get the right sequence in. Of course there was an answering service. Relaying a message for him to call her tonight, if possible, and if not, first thing in the morning, she shut down her phone. For the first time, she really breathed. Long slow breaths.

  "Feel better?"

  Glancing at Jane, who now leaned against the door jamb, she nodded. "Yes. I do. I know you don't like for me to go to the doctor, but I need to see him. I definitely don't want a relapse."

  "And you won't have one if you stay calm." Jane straightened up. "Come back out to the kitchen. I'll put on the tea kettle."

  Following meekly, Ninna allowed herself to be talked into sitting down on the couch while her friend warmed up another piece of pizza and delivered a cup of tea.

  "Are you seeing things again?"

  There it was. Out in the open. "Yes. And hearing things."

  "Maybe it was the pizza?" Jane studied the dripping hot piece on the plate in front of her with a suspicious eye.

  "No, it wasn't. It started this morning." I shrugged. "As I walked into the center."

  Jane's face lit up and she snatched up the pizza. "Easy. It was brought on by stress. You were panicked about this job right from the beginning."

  "I thought of that," Ninna answered patiently. "But I've been panicked about having no job for months. This only started today."

  "Same thing," Jane mumbled around dripping cheese.

  Ninna sighed. It wasn't, but the difference would be splitting hairs. Jane was right about one thing. Stressed was exactly what she'd been this morning. "Maybe, but I can't afford to lose this job either. This has to stop."

  "So what if you are having a relapse? You dealt with it before, you can do it again.

  Ninna stilled, staring at her staunch friend. She was right. So she'd had a relapse. That wasn't earth shattering news. She'd had them before. And she'd recuperated and had gone on. She could do it again.

  Feeling better, she got down to enjoying her evening with her best friend. "So what did you think of Stuart?"

  ***

  She was home. Troy ducked back around the corner of the small house, his jacket catching on the vinyl siding. Excitement sped through him as her shadow rippled on the other side of the thin curtains. She was in her bedroom, moving from one side of the room to the other. His imagination filled in the missing pieces. The damn curtains were thicker than he wanted. Sheers would have been more convenient - for him. Damn, she was cute.

  'He'd been here night after night, unable to help himself. Usually he didn't work the same area consecutive nights, but the lure of seeing her had him changing his pattern. He knew better. He'd stayed free of jail all these years by being careful. Smart.

  A burst of anger set him off. She was making him stupid. The longer he stood there, the more his warring emotions fought with him. She fascinated him. At the same time, he was taking risks, making mistakes.

  Because of her.

  Blind to the dangers, he watched her shadow cross the room to her bed. She crawled under the covers and leaned up against the headboard. She was going to read.

  Perfect. She did this every night.

  He loved it when people followed the same pattern night after night.

  Made his job so much easier.

  ***

  Waking up in the middle of the night several hours after Jane had left, Ninna wondered if the pizza had been a good idea. Her stomach heaved. She stood up and raced to the bathroom.

  Walking back into her bedroom a few minutes later, she realized the moon was hiding behind approaching storm clouds. Shivering at the gloomy night, she walked through her tiny house and double-checked the doors, windows and security system. All normal.

  But it didn't feel normal. It felt dangerous. Scary. She couldn't quite place it, but something felt off. She knew one thing. There was no way she'd get back to sleep now. Grabbing a book, she propped herself against the headboard and started to read.

  A shadow fell across her bedroom window. She shuddered and watched it closely. It was the one thing she'd hated about the house. Her bedroom was on the ground floor. Living alone like she did, just added to her nervousness. The shadow never moved. She stared at it, swallowing hard. Should she turn her light off? Or would that be worse? Was someone watching her house? Or were the shadows and trees playing with her.

  There was nothing funny about this.

  Throwing back her bedding, she slipped across the room to peer out the corner of her window. The shadow was there, but she couldn't see what created it. It moved suddenly, slipping around her house.

  Her heart pounded and her stomach squeezed tight enough she had trouble breathing. Oh God. Please let it not be an intruder. She didn't know how to scare him off. The rash of break-ins had happened while home owners had been away. Maybe if she made some noise, let whoever it was know there was someone inside, they'd leave?

  Making a decision, she turned on the back kitchen light. The shadow slunk away. She followed through the house until she couldn't see it anymore.

  Whoever it was had gone. As she dialled the police, shivers raced down her spine.

  What if this guy came back?

  ***

  The next morning, Ninna fought off her drowsiness with huge mugs of coffee. She needed another four hours of sleep, but needed her job more.

  Her arrival on day two was easier, she was also earlier and appeared to have beaten the crush she'd walked into the day before. She could also go in a different door. All of it helped to change her perspective with this arrival. Coffee burbled as a fresh pot finished dripping. Grabbing a cupful, she headed to her desk. And almost smacked into Stuart.

  He reached and gently clasped both her arms above the elbows to steady her. "How are you feeling? Maybe you shouldn't have come in today?"

  Instead of stepping away, she leaned back slightly to look up into his face. What was he talking about? Her confusion must have shown, because he added, "Jane explained how you'd been sick last night."

  Oh she had, had she? Funny, Jane hadn't told Ninna about that conversation and they'd
covered the subject of Stuart pretty intently.

  "I'm feeling much better. Still a little tired, though," she added. Hopefully, that gave her an excuse for the bags under her eyes that no amount of makeup would cover.

  "You take it easy today. If you start to feel worse, consider leaving early."

  Ninna smiled. "Thanks for the sentiment, but I need this job. Sick or not."

  He frowned. "I understand. However, we don't want anyone else getting sick, especially anyone working around the animals."