Love Unwrapped

by Hayden Hunt

  I probably should cancel my appointment at the animal rescue, though. Obviously there isn’t any reason for me to go look at dogs anymore.

  I sighed and lay down on the couch, pulling my phone out of my pocket so I could call the rescue.

  “Hello, you’ve reached Paw pals, how can I help you?”

  “Hi, I had an appointment to look at dogs later today, but I’m going to have to cancel it.”

  “Not a problem, when would you like to reschedule?” the man on the line asked perkily.

  “Um, actually, I won’t be rescheduling. I’m no longer looking for a dog.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” he said in a disappointed tone. “May I ask why?”

  I thought that was a little intrusive, and I tried to come up with a fake reason for why I wasn’t coming, but then I thought – what the hell? Why not tell him the truth? He asks an intrusive question, he’ll get an earful. Besides, I really need to talk about what just happened, and I don’t really have any close friends to go to anymore.

  “Well, actually, it was supposed to be a surprise for my boyfriend. But, I just found out that he’s a lying, cheating whore. And now I’m thinking he doesn’t really deserve a dog.”

  He was quiet for a moment. “Oh, I’m so very sorry to hear that…”

  I could tell he felt awkward. “Sorry, this all just happened, so I’m mildly overwhelmed with everything.”

  “No, that’s completely understandable,” he paused. “Maybe you should keep your appointment, anyway…”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “A year ago, I had a long-term breakup, and the only way I was able to get through was with the help of my rescue cat. I got her as a kitten, and she completely changed my life. Maybe a new pet is exactly what you need right now.”

  I thought about it. I knew he was just trying to push me to adopt an animal, as all workers from these rescue places often do, but a part of what he was saying made sense.

  Maybe this is what I need right now. I mean, I had been really excited to have a dog. It wasn’t all going to have been for Josh. And I really can’t imagine what it was going to be like tonight when I have to be home by myself. I may be angry now, but the depression could hit me at any time.

  “Sir? Are you still there?” the guy from the shelter asked.

  “Yeah, still here, just thinking…” I said. “You know what, actually, you’re right. Go ahead and keep my appointment. »

  ‘Really?” he asked, sounding surprised. Apparently his tactic of guilting people didn’t usually work so well.

  “Yeah, what the hell, can’t hurt to look around, right?”

  “It most certainly cannot. Fantastic! I will be here when you arrive, I’m closing tonight. My name is Gene, by the way.”

  “Nice to meet you, Gene. Or, it’ll be nice to meet you when I come in.”

  He laughed. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

  2

  Gene

  I was shocked that my suggestion about getting a pet had actually worked. I’ll freely admit that I try to guilt people into getting pets all the time, but it only makes a difference a quarter of the time. The other seventy-five percent of the time, I just piss people off.

  But, you know, I really don’t care about that too much. I’ll take peoples attitude if it means I might really get some poor animal adopted.

  It’s hard, working here. I do it because it’s what I truly want to do, but it does weigh on me.

  We’re constantly filled to capacity. Animals are always coming in a lot faster than they’re going out. And, thankfully, we’re a no-kill shelter, so I don’t have to watch any animals die, but I do have to see a lot of very abused animals come in who aren’t able to survive.

  This job shows me the best and worst of people. When people come in to adopt an older dog just to make sure he has a good life for the rest of his days, I see the best.

  Then, when I come into work and see a mother dog and her puppies left on the porch, the leash tied to the doorknob, I see the worst.

  It’s hard to reconcile these two images of the world. I know that all I can really do is try to give as many animals as I can their happy endings.

  I’m excited to know that there was now this guy coming into look at dogs, though. He was our only appointment for the night, and, thus, my only hope to get a poor dog out of here.

  I went around and fed all the dogs and cats before returning to the front desk and updating the bios of animals that had recently arrived. There is always something to do at this job, and that’s why I love it.

  Even when all the paper work was finished and all the dogs were fed, there was always the opportunity to take them for walks or give them attention. And I feel that part of my job is equally as important as the logistics part.

  As I was finishing up the biographies, our doorbell chimed, and I saw a man walking toward me.

  He wasn’t young, but he wasn’t old, either. I’d guess he was in his early thirties.

  He was pretty cute. I wasn’t trying to check him out, but I couldn’t help myself. He had fantastic dark brown hair and very clean cut facial hair, which I loved. And he had a sense of style – I loved the scarf that was wrapped around his neck.

  “Hi,” he said, as he walked in and saw me. “My name is Eli, I had an appointment to look at some dogs.”

  “Hello, Eli!” I extended my hand. “My name’s Gene, I believe we spoke on the phone earlier.”

  “Gene, right, the guy who tried so hard to get me to come down here.”

  I laughed. “What can I say? I really want some of these dogs adopted before Christmas. Go ahead and follow me, I’ll take you back to see them.”

  I watched his eyes flit around the room. “Wow, this is really cute, the decorations you have up.”

  We had a big, beautiful tree sitting out in the front of the building, and I had garland lining all the desks and shelves.

  “Thank you, I did it myself, actually.”

  “Did you?!” he asked. “You did a fantastic job!”

  “Thanks!” I said cheerfully. “What can I say? I’m kind of obsessed with Christmas.”

  “Me too!” he said, excitedly. “I actually just opened up all my Christmas decoration boxes at home and plan to do the house later.”

  “How fun!” I said, and I genuinely meant it. Decorating for Christmas is one of my favorite things to do.

  I like to turn up the Christmas music, bake something in the oven so the house smells really nice, and set the mood before I have a blast pulling everything out.

  This guy seemed really nice, and I couldn’t help but think about our conversation earlier when he had told me about his boyfriend cheating on him.

  I probably shouldn’t have pushed him to tell me why he was cancelling his appointment. It was none of my business, and he’d had a right to lay it on thick. Honestly, I felt like I should maybe apologize.

  “Look, I’m sorry about before, on the phone. I was being a little pushy, and it had certainly been none of my business why you hadn’t wanted to keep your appointment anymore…”

  “Oh, no, don’t even worry about it,” he shrugged me off. “Seriously, it was actually kind of nice to get it off my chest. I mean, literally, this just happened a few hours ago, and I hadn’t been able to even vent to anyone yet. So, you know, thanks for letting me vent.”

  “Not a problem but… wow! Just a few hours ago?” I asked, surprised. “If I were you, I wouldn’t even be able to force myself out of my house yet.”

  I still remember when my ex dumped me seemingly out of nowhere. In similar circumstances to Eli, too. He had fallen for another man and had left me for him.

  We were together two years, and that boy had been my everything. He was my first serious relationship, and, for a long time, I’d felt like I’d never find someone else. I had spent months locked in my condo, leaving only for work and groceries. And I hadn’t needed many groceries, because, honestly, I hadn’t cared about ea
ting most days.

  And here this guy was, finding out his boyfriend was cheating on him, and he was out a couple hours later looking for a dog. I admired that.

  “Well, you know,” he shrugged. “It’s worse if you just sit around at home and do nothing. And, honestly, I’m a lot more angry than I am sad. Fuck that guy, I’m gonna get a damn dog without him.”

  I laughed. “I mean, that’s certainly the better attitude to have.”

  I liked this guy, I liked his demeanor. If I hadn’t known he had just gotten out of a long-term relationship, I might’ve even flirted with him a bit.

  “So, what kind of dog are you looking for?” I asked, as we walked into the dogs’ hall.

  “Oh, I don’t know, I’m kind of open to anything.”

  “Well, what kind of time to do you have to devote to a dog? Is high-energy okay, or are you looking for something low-maintenance?”

  “Hmm… I have quite a bit of time off from working during the year, but the days I do work are rather intensive. I don’t mind hiring a dog walker or sitter, though, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “And what do you do for a living?” I asked.

  “I’m a state legislator, actually.”

  I raised both eyebrows. “A legislator, really? Senate?”

  “No,” he smiled, “Assemblyman.”

  Suddenly, it dawned on me. “Wait, Eli Davies? Is that you?”

  “That’s me.”

  “Oh my God,” I laughed, “I totally voted for you!”

  “Did you really?” He laughed back. “Well, thanks for your vote.”

  “Not a problem!” I said excitedly. “You seemed like the man for the job.”

  Though I vote in every election, I normally wouldn’t remember the name of one of the assemblymen I had voted for. But Eli had stuck out to me during his campaign because he had been so young, only 32 at the time.

  But he was very liberal-leaning, openly gay, and shared a lot of my values. And his age was hardly a deterrent, when he was clearly very qualified. He’d studied law and governmental policy at an Ivy League school.

  Okay, I sound like a total fan girl right now, and I’m not. I just remember really looking into his qualifications.

  “So, you have a lot of days when you’re not in session, then?” I asked.

  “Quite a few. And we’re in recess right now until January, so I’ve got a lot of time to spend bonding with a new dog.” He looked around. “Oh my God, there are so many of them!”

  “I know,” I said, frowning. “It’s rough. We always have a ton of dogs here – just not enough people with whom to place them.”

  “God, that’s awful. I don’t know how I’ll even begin to choose just one…”

  He began walking quietly along the wall of cages, and the dogs were barking like mad at him. I could tell he got sadder with each dog we walked by, and I knew the feeling. Seeing this many dogs without a home is heartbreaking.

  He stopped when we got to a small, quiet dog curled up in the corner of the cage.

  “Is that a Jack Russell Terrier?” he asked.

  “Sure is,” I said.

  As soon as he stopped to look at this pup, my heart soared. This dog had a special place in my heart, and I desperately wanted someone to adopt him.

  “Wow, I didn’t think I’d see any purebreds here. Not that I was specifically looking for one or anything, it just caught me by surprise.”

  “Well, honestly, we normally don’t have purebreds. But little Cody here has kind of a rough story. First, he came to us when he was about six months old because the family who had initially bought him said the kids were no longer interested in him. He had been a birthday gift, and once he was no longer a puppy, he wasn’t as cute and he was too high-energy. Happens a lot with puppies who are gifts.”

  “You’re kidding!” he looked appalled. “I can’t believe that!”

  “Oh, if you were here all the time, you’d believe it. It’s sad, but I see it on a daily basis. It’s why I don’t encourage people to give animals as gifts. They’re a commitment, you know, and people should make that choice for themselves. Of course, children are pretty much never ready for that commitment, so, if the parents don’t step up, this is where the dogs end up.”

  “Uh, just to be clear, when I had been planning on getting my boyfriend a gift of a dog I was going to bring him in to pick the dog up with me.”

  I chuckled. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t judging, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. That’s what I figured you were doing, I wasn’t worried.”

  “Well… how long ago did Cody come in?” he asked.

  “A few months ago.”

  “A few months?!” he gasped. “I’m surprised people aren’t jumping to grab a purebred Jack Russell.”

  “Oh, right, I forgot to mention. After our vet checked him out, we realized that Cody was deaf. Which probably caused some of the high-energy issues for the family that’d initially had him. Nobody wants a deaf Jack Russell because they’re much harder to control.”

  I could see the empathy in Eli’s eyes. He turned his attention back to Cody, kneeling down in front of his cage and sticking his hand inside.

  “Come here, buddy,” he whispered.

  Of course, Cody couldn’t hear what he was actually saying, but he took notice of the fact that there was a hand in his cage. He jumped up and immediately ran over to his hand, licking it wildly.

  “Oh my god, he’s such a sweetheart!” Eli cooed.

  “Yeah, I’ve really fallen in love with Cody. He’s been a total doll.”

  He kept petting him for a few minutes, and I started getting excited that I may have found a match.

  He stood up after a moment. “Okay, I’ll take him,” he said quickly.

  “Really? Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely,” he said, with complete confidence. “I have a connection with this dog, I can already feel it.”

  I was downright giddy, but I was trying to hide it.

  “And you’re going to be fine with how high-energy he is? I mean, he truly is energetic.”

  “Trust me, I know. I had a Jack Russell growing up, and…” He looked at Cody. “Yeah, we’ll be fine, I can feel it.”

  “Fantastic!” I said excitedly. “Well, uh, why don’t we go ahead and start some of the adoption paperwork?”

  “Awesome!”

  We walked back up to the front desk, and I explained all of our adoption procedures. How he’ll have to sign our papers, pay the adoption fee, and then how I’d bring the dog over to his house later that night.

  The reason that I’d be bringing Cody as opposed to having Eli walk out with him was that we required a house check on all pets adopted out. We felt very strongly about placing our animals in good homes. So, we basically brought the animals over to make sure there wasn’t anything potentially neglectful about the new living situation.

  It sounds overly cautious, but I have had to refuse adoptions several times over the years to people who had clearly been animal hoarders and had not had an appropriate environment for pets.

  Of course, I didn’t really expect that to be a problem with Eli. I was well aware of how much money state legislators make in California. I’m sure he had a nice-ass house. There’s no way he wasn’t going to be able to provide for Cody.

  But rules are rules. And he didn’t seem to mind, anyway.

  As he finished up paying the adoption fee, I made copies of the paperwork.

  “Okay, this is for you.” I handed the papers to him. “And here is a voucher for a vet check-up. It expires in a month. But, Cody is already up to date on all his vaccinations, and he’s been fixed, of course. And, well, I’ll go ahead and bring him by after I close up.”

  “That’s fantastic. Thank you so much.”

  “Oh, it’s no problem.” I smiled.

  Then, he stared at me for a second. “No, I mean, really, thank you. If you hadn’t given me a little nudge, I never would’ve come down here. I’d
have been sitting depressed in my house right now. You’ve turned an awful day into a fantastic one for me, and I appreciate that.”

  For some reason, I got actual butterflies when he said this to me. It was the way he looked at me, with such genuine happiness.

  “It’s really no problem at all. And thank you, for taking Cody! I’ve been wishing someone would come along for him for a while now.”

  He nodded. “I think we’ll be really happy together.”

  “I genuinely hope so,” I told him.

  “Alrighty then, I’ll see you later,” he said, as he tapped on the desk before turning around.

  “See ya!” I said, as he walked out the door.

  I gotta say, I may have a little crush on that man.

  3

  Eli

  I can’t believe the whirlwind this day has been. First, it started off with me being absolutely thrilled that Josh was going to be moving in and spending Christmas with me. Then, I was rocked by the news that he had been cheating on me this whole goddamn time. And, then, finally I was completely stoked to have a new friend in my life.

  I realize that might sound like a weird way to talk about a dog, but I don’t care. That’s how I honestly feel. I can’t believe I almost didn’t even go to the shelter today, because adopting Cody has completely turned things around for me.

  I didn’t even bother putting up Christmas decorations because I was too busy. After I left the shelter, I immediately went to the pet store to buy a bunch of things for my new companion. Food and water bowls, dog pets, treats, toys, I spent way more money than I should have getting things for this dog. He is absolutely going to be spoiled rotten.

  I wasn’t even thinking about my ex, and, honestly, I don’t think I was going to start. I mean, I really shouldn’t. There will be nothing for me in looking to the past. He doesn’t deserve that attention.

  I only need to move forward from here. And, it shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ve got a good job, a nice house, I’m a fairly attractive guy, something else will pop up for me. And, in the meantime, I’ve got a new dog!

  I had felt mildly embarrassed in front of the shelter employee, Gene, though. I regretted spilling to him over the phone. It hadn’t been very becoming of me.