by Adan Ramie
“If he is still stable tonight, you two can take him home.” She looked at Chuck. “You remember the rules from Charlie’s surgery, right?”
Chuck nodded. “No jumping, climbing, etc. Might be skittish. Probably won’t eat or relieve himself for a bit. Let him make the decisions about what his leg can take.”
Brenda took a few steps forward, looked into her sister’s eyes, then reached out and wrapped her in a hug. Chuck’s eyes widened as she shot a shocked look at Stella. After a moment, Brenda pulled away, smiled awkwardly at her sister, nodded at Stella, then left the room.
“Well, that was different,” Chuck said after she had gone.
“Very.”
Stella tugged on Chuck’s hand. “Why don’t you go check and see how the adoption drive is going? I can stay with our boy.”
Chuck still loved the sound of that, and hoped it would always fill her with as much warmth as it did in the moment. She pulled Stella to her by her hand, wrapped her arms around her, and looked into her eyes. Stella smiled and leaned forward. Their lips met again for only a moment before Chuck pulled away, not able to trust herself that she would not deepen the kiss and forget about everything else in her tumultuous life.
Now that Stanley was okay and her relationship with Stella had bloomed seemingly out of nowhere, she had a shelter to save.
CHAPTER 13
The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Chuck, Brenda, and Stella took turns caring for Stanley as he slowly came out of the anesthesia. When they were out of the sick room, they led prospective pet parents into the back rooms to meet the rest of the dogs, cats, pigs, rabbits, birds, and snakes. And still the fundraiser for Stanley – which had been converted in a fund to help wounded animals the shelter promised to care for in the future – went on.
By the end of the day, the kennels, cages, and terrariums were nearly ghost towns, Stanley was well enough to go home, over $15,000 had been raised to pay the shelter’s debts, and everyone was exhausted.
“That went well,” Brenda said after their young volunteers had been sent home to their families. “I have to admit at being surprised. The adoption drive went much better that I had anticipated.”
“Stella is a genius,” Chuck told her from a few chairs down. She let her head loll over the back of the chair with her eyes closed. “Without her, we might not even be able to open up tomorrow... except maybe to have a pet giveaway.” She thought of what Kenna had said earlier, and smiled at the way the day had turned out. Everything had flipped.
“That is the truth,” Brenda responded. “Where is she, anyway?”
Chuck lifted her head a few inches and opened one eye to look at her sister. “I think she went to call a client. Or one of the people on the team she has to work with for a particular client.” She dropped her head and stared at the ceiling. “Maybe Santa Claus. I really have no idea. My brain is hardly functioning at this point.”
“I stepped out to call a client,” Stella said from the door. She tucked her phone into the pocket of her jeans and let the door close behind her. “I had to make sure she wasn’t changing her mind at the last minute about some finalized designs I sent to the printers.”
“Do people really do that?” Brenda asked.
Stella smiled. “More often than you might think. Everyone thinks they can do my job. It is the selfie culture. Everyone is a photographer, and everyone is a social media expert.” She laughed and plopped down in the chair between the sisters. “What a crock.”
Brenda stood up on shaky legs. “I do not envy you your job,” she said, then held out a hand. “But I do want to thank you for what you did for us today. I still don’t quite understand what you did, but I know that without you, this thing would not have gone off like this at all. We owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” Stella responded, and shook Brenda’s hand. “Consider this a gift.”
“Well, if you two think you can handle Stanley, I am going to take off for home,” Brenda said. She glanced from one to the other. “If you have any problems, let me know. Otherwise, I am going to bed and not getting up until tomorrow afternoon.”
Chuck and Stella said their goodbyes to Brenda and watched her leave from their seats in the deserted lobby. When she had gone, their eyes met, and their hands twined together as if they had been holding hands for years.
“She can’t sleep past seven A.M., but it is cute that she thinks she’s going to,” Chuck said.
Stella grinned and scooted her chair closer to Chuck. “How long do you plan to sleep?”
“I figured I would be up and down with Stanley, so I might not wake up in earnest until about noon. What’s your plan?”
Stella slipped off her chair, uncrossed Chuck’s legs, and straddled them. Chuck gawked up at her as she leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I thought I might take your lead.”
With Stella’s hot breath in her ear, and their chests pressed so tightly together, a current of lust clouded Chuck’s brain. For a moment, she could not speak. In all her life, she had never met a woman whose voice was so tantalizing, or whose touch was so electric. She swallowed through a thick lump of wantonness that snuck up the back of her throat.
“Help me put Stanley in my car, and I’ll follow you back to your apartment,” Stella said. She kissed the tip of Chuck’s ear, climbed off her lap, and started toward the door to the back rooms. At the doorway, she turned and glanced at Chuck over her shoulder. “Coming?”
Chuck stood quickly, then had to steady herself on the back of a nearby chair as her head swam. She laughed and pushed off the chair, then walked toward Stella. “Let’s do this. Time to finally go home.”
They gently transferred Stanley into a dog carrier designed to keep him in a seated position, loaded and strapped him into Stella’s car, then leaned against the outside of her driver’s side door for a long minute in each other’s arms.
“Still remember how to get back to my apartment?” Chuck mumbled, her face pressed against Stella’s neck. Her arms draped around Stella’s waist in a gesture both casual and possessive.
Stella pulled her face away to look into Chuck’s eyes, but kept her hands in Chuck’s back pockets. “Still want me to stay?”
Chuck could not help but smile. After everything, the girl of her dreams was still skeptical about her feelings, or at least kind enough to give her an out. Either way, it was more endearing than if she had simply agreed, and Chuck’s heart warmed to her a little more.
She leaned down and kissed Stella on one cheek and the other, then leaned her forehead against Stella’s. “I would love it.”
It would be so cozy taking care of their little survivor together. They could take turns getting up to take him to relieve himself every few hours and cuddle together with him on the bedroom floor, where he would need to stay to stop him from forgetting his injury, trying to get up, and jumping off a piece of furniture. But after a while, once he got the idea, they could move to the bed...
Chuck laughed out loud.
Stella pulled away, clasped Chuck’s hands, and met her eyes. There was an insecurity in her face Chuck had never seen before. Chuck calmed herself down long enough to grab Stella and plant a kiss on her forehead before she pulled away again.
“What is so funny?” Stella asked.
Chuck leaned against the car and gave Stella a sheepish grin. “I don’t know if you have any real idea what you are getting yourself into.”
Stella’s face went from open insecurity to closed skepticism. “What do you mean?”
Chuck fought the urge to pull Stella back into her arms. She tucked her hands into her pockets, leaned against the car, and gave Stella what she hoped was an innocent, boyish grin. “Once Stanley is totally out of the woods, I will be able to let all the rest of my brood out to roam the apartment freely. That means more dogs, cats, and other critters than you might have ever seen in an apartment before.”
Stella smirked and looked her up and down. “You mean I finally passed the
test, and I can meet the rest of your family?”
Chuck ran her finger along the edge of Stella’s ear, down her neck, and only stopped to clasp her bicep in one hand. “You passed the test a long time ago. I was afraid...”
“To make another mistake like Kenna?” Stella asked knowingly.
Chuck smiled. “She was a big one, and with all the lives counting on me to be my best, I can’t afford to go into anything serious without a lot of deliberation.”
“Are you saying this thing between us is serious?” Stella asked. She pulled Chuck’s hands out of her pockets, nudged her legs apart, then deposited herself between them. She captured her bottom lip in her teeth, then let it slide out slowly while Chuck gawked.
Chuck could barely hear her own response over the sound of her blood churning through her brain and other parts of her body. “I sure hope so.”
CHAPTER 14
The drive to her apartment seemed to take longer than it ever had before. Chuck was anxious, grumbling at slow drivers, wishing she could press the gas pedal down to the floor and get home in only moments, but knowing that Stella would never endanger Stanley – or anyone else – for the sake of getting somewhere faster.
This time, Chuck told herself, the somewhere was her apartment. For better or worse, it was an extension of herself, and for a moment, she wondered if the place was a mess. She did not remember trashing it, per se, but she also could not remember the last time the whole place had had a proper cleaning. Hopefully Stella still liked her once she saw her obvious flaw of not being an ideal home custodian.
After a brief conversation about the logistics of getting Stanley in his kennel up three flights of dimly lit stairs – as, naturally, the super still had not made the time to fix the elevator – Chuck and Stella carried Stanley to his new, part-time home.
Inside, Stella flopped down onto the futon unceremoniously while Chuck rounded up the free-roaming pets and stashed them in the pet room. Snagglepuss slapped her a few times, but she managed to get out of the room without too much bloodshed. As she closed the door on them, she tried to ignore the withering glare from Bagheera at being locked up with the rowdy boys.
“So, am I going to get to properly meet them all soon?” Stella asked from her spot on the futon, where she had sat up partially and now looked right at home.
“Of course,” Chuck said, and made her way to the kitchen. She reached into the fridge and pulled out two chilled brown bottles. “Want a beer?”
Stella looked over her shoulder, made a face, then shrugged. “Beer isn’t my favorite, but after today, I think anything would help. Bring it over.”
Chuck twisted the tops off both bottles, tried to sail each into the trashed, and missed both times. For Stella’s benefit, she walked over, picked them up, and made sure they landed inside the second time around. Then she brought the beers over to the futon, settled down beside Stella, and handed one over.
“Not bad,” Stella said after one hesitant gulp. She slipped off her shoes, pulled her legs up onto the futon, and adjusted her body so that she could drop her head onto Chuck’s shoulder. They sat in silence that way, sipping their beers and staring off into space, until Stella breathed a loud sigh of contentment. “I could get used to this.”
Chuck took another drink of her beer, and it showered down on a bucket of butterflies in her belly. Not one known for making great relationship decisions, she was stuck. Would it be better to let Stella make all the moves without encouragement?
But, even if she did that, it seemed almost the same as it was with Kenna. At first, Chuck had pursued her, and Kenna played hard to get for over a year before she finally took the reins and directed the rest of their relationship’s course. The only thing she did not have control over was when Chuck moved out. Chuck had to make that one herself.
“What are you thinking about?” Stella sat up, put her empty beer on the coffee table, and turned to face Chuck. She curled her feet up and crossed her legs under her, then gazed into Chuck’s face with an open, imploring expression. “You seem so far away.”
Chuck opened her mouth to answer, then closed it. Telling her the truth could amount to making a move when she still was not sure what she should do. On the other hand, not telling her could put an unnecessary strain on what had already been an amazing whirlwind that seemed like everything she needed.
She chose the first option, and hoped for the best. “I’m worried that if I make a move on you, it will be too fast, and this thing between us will sour from the beginning. I do not want to push you into anything you are not one hundred percent sure you want.”
“Is that all?” Stella asked, then reached over and took Chuck’s hand. “You are one of the least pushy people I have ever met. I feel like you have let me take control from the very beginning.”
Chuck squeezed her hand, gave her a sideways smile, then looked down and stared at scratches on her hand-me-down faux leather furniture. “I also worry that if I don’t make a move, that if I let you take control of everything, it will end up like relationships I have had before where I was a fairly inactive participant.”
Stella chuckled. “Are you scared I’ll turn into your ex if you let me have too much control?”
Chuck blushed, but nodded. “Too much or too little. She was...” Chuck searched her mind, looking for the right word, but not coming up with one. She sighed. “When we met, Kenna was a totally different person than the cold, unstable woman you met.”
“And you think you did that to her, that you changed her for the worse.”
Chuck looked into Stella’s eyes, but no matter how hard she searched, she could not find what she was looking for: the spark of darkness. She dropped her own eyes to their joined hands. “I want this – us – to be different. I really enjoy your company, Stella. You are smart, kind, savvy, and, to be honest, the most gorgeous woman I have ever laid eyes on. I don’t want to lose this connection we have to some stupid thing I do.”
Stella got to her knees, crawled the small space that separated them, and draped herself over Chuck’s lap. “If you want to try to make something of this,” she said, putting one hand over her heart and one over Chuck’s, “I need you to promise something.”
“What’s that?” Chuck whispered.
Stella smiled, dropped her hands, and clasped Chuck’s in her own. “Promise me you will stop comparing it to what you had with her. I may have some things in common with her, but I am my own person. You will never meet another person like me.”
Chuck smiled. “I knew that as soon as we met.”
“And I will never meet another person like you,” Stella finished. She wrapped her arms around Chuck’s neck and pulled her into a tight hug. “I want to see what comes from this.”
“So do I.”
Stella pulled back and looked Chuck in the eyes. “Then let’s make it work. Let’s put our past relationship baggage out of our minds, and start fresh with each other. Deal?”
“Deal.”
A low moan escaped the bedroom where Stanley’s kennel was stationed. Chuck lifted Stella off her lap, sat her on the futon, and excused herself. “I can take first watch.”
“What do you want me to do?” Stella asked from the living room.
“Feel free to take a shower, eat something, watch television... Make yourself at home!” Chuck bent down to look at Stanley’s weepy eyes through the thin bars. “Don’t worry, little man. You are on your way to the puppy pad as soon as I get this,” she said, holding up a soft muzzle, “over your little face. I can’t have any fresh bites on me the first time I spend the night with the beautiful woman in there.”
She opened the cage and Stanley peeked out. His tail tapped against the hard-plastic kennel walls, and he tried to stand on his front two legs. When they wobbled beneath him, he let out a low moan that was too close to a growl for Chuck’s comfort.
“Sorry, Stan,” she said, and slipped on the muzzle.
He tried to pull away, but she was stronger and faste
r. Once she had the muzzle secured, she twisted the locks on the sides of the kennel, pulled off the top, and put it aside. Then she gently and slowly lifted Stanley’s little body out of the kennel and cradled him to her chest.
“You are light as a feather, my man,” she whispered.
The bathroom off the bedroom had a toilet, a sink, and just enough floor space for her to spread out puppy pads. Unfortunately, she had not thought to spread them out when she got home. She groaned as she flicked on the light, anticipating the work involved in holding a dog fresh out of surgery in one hand while spreading out puppy pads with the other. But when the light flickered to life, she found herself surrounded by them. A sticky note attached to the mirror explained everything:
“I know how you forget things, so I put these out. I also brought over some leftovers you can eat tonight. I won’t say you owe me, but... – Brenda”
Chuck grabbed the first of a stack of hand towels her sister had obviously refolded and left out for her, wrapped it around Stanley’s torso, and got onto her knees. She lowered him to the floor on the tips of his toes just as he squatted to pee.
“Cutting it close, my man,” she said, but smiled.
The fact that he was already relieving himself was a good sign that his recovery might not be as hard as she worried it would be. It would take a lot of time, true – probably three months or more – but he was on the mend. The little soul she and Stella had spent so much time trying to save was going to make it after all.
When he had finished, she lifted him again and brought him back to his kennel. She laid him inside gently and pulled off his muzzle. Before she could pull her hand out of the kennel, his face shot forward, his mouth opened, and he licked her hand from palm to fingertip. Gingerly, she stuck out the back of her hand, worried that he would be angry and disoriented, but he only licked her more.
“You are such a sweet soul,” she told him. She scratched behind his ears, then reassembled the kennel and closed it. “Get some rest, little guy.”