I made it home in record time, walked up the back alleyway to my house, and left him in the yard while I went inside and filled the laundry tub with hot water. Going back outside I turned the hose on, hoping to get the worst off him before he was allowed in. Stupid me though, didn't close the back door properly, and as soon as water shot out of the end of the hose, Theo made a run for it, heading straight for the back door and into the house.
The people two suburbs over could have heard my scream. Dropping the hose, I ran after him hoping to grab him before he covered my house in crap.
Lesson number one: never chase a dog you actually want to catch. They think it's a fantastic game and run around even more. The fact that this particular dog was less than a foot tall meant he could fit into an awful lot of small spaces, and let me tell you, he took advantage of every one of them.
I was in tears when I actually caught him. By that time most of his "prize" was spread around my house and all over my bed, where I had finally managed to grab him.
Dumping him into the tub, I grabbed his shampoo and squeezed about half the bottle onto his back. Suddenly he didn't look quite as pleased with himself.
"Too bad, little man. You should have thought about this before you rolled in that crap," I scolded. I did feel a bit bad when he looked back at me, ears pulled back, his eyes huge.
"Oh, you're good," I said to him. "But I'm the one who has to clean my house." I was not impressed, no matter how cute he looked.
Lathering the shampoo up to a foam, I rubbed it into his coat, still gagging at the smell. Getting my fingers into his fur, I stopped when I felt a little lump on his shoulder. I rubbed it to see what it felt like and noticed it was about the size of a grain of rice. I felt the back of my throat close as all sorts of horrible thoughts crowded my mind. I looked at Theo to see if it hurt, but he was showing no signs of pain, only humiliation at being covered in bubbles from head to toe.
Okay, calm down Chloe. Don't overreact. It was probably nothing to worry about.
No matter how much I told myself that though, I did overreact. I rinsed Theo off in record time, and as he ran a victory lap around the house, I ran for my phone to call the vet. Thankfully, they had an opening and could see him almost right away. I grabbed Theo and made a very fast exit to the door.
* * *
By the time I reached the vet, I had the utmost sympathy for Isaac since I was almost hyperventilating thinking of only the very worst-case scenario. I knew the lump wasn't causing Theo any pain, and he did still seem to have a lot of energy, so I could only imagine the cancer had not spread too far. That meant it would be treatable, didn't it? Surely I could organize some sort of payment plan to pay for his chemotherapy. I'd volunteer cleaning the cages if I had to. I just wanted them to help him.
Even though Theo had only lived with me for a very short period of time, I had completely fallen in love with the little guy. The idea that the bright look in his eyes would fade broke my heart. As did the thought he would no longer stand on my chest and look into my eyes demanding a treat or tap me with his paw so I would throw his stuffed cow across the room in a chasing game. Nor would he ever snuggle up to me in bed or give me beautiful Theo kisses.
By the time his name was called, I was rummaging through my bag looking for a tissue. I tucked Theo into the curve of my neck and walked toward the treatment room. A feeling of dread made my steps heavy, yet at the same time a sense of urgency ran through my veins. The sooner I got into that room, the sooner his treatment could start.
"Hello. I'm Mike," said a man so kind-looking I wanted to hug him.
"Hi, I'm Chloe," I replied, my voice cracking from emotion. Mike closed the door behind me and motioned for me to place Theo on the bench in the centre of the small room. I did as directed, and then used the back of my hand to wipe the tear that had escaped my lashes.
"What can I do to help, today?" Mike asked, passing me a tissue.
"I'm sorry. I seem to have gotten quite attached to this little fella." I smiled, took the tissue, and wiped my nose as Mike leaned down to bench height and looked Theo in the eye.
"Yes, I can see why. He's a cute little thing." Mike was obviously ignoring the seriously bad hairdo Theo was sporting, thanks to my mad dash there without even drying him off. Placing his stethoscope to Theo's chest, Mike was silent for a moment while he listened. "He's got a strong heartbeat." He smiled and wrapped the stethoscope around his neck. "What brings him here today?"
"I, umm, I found a lump. Here, on his shoulder." I reached over to show Mike where I had found it. I watched with a sick feeling in my stomach as Mike ran his fingers over Theo's skin searching for the lump. I felt like throwing up when he stopped, obviously finding it. He picked Theo up, feeling around his body, I could only assume, for more lumps. I hadn't thought to do that. I felt a cold sweat break out on my back. After what felt like an eternity, he placed Theo back on the table and reached behind him for a gadget. I had absolutely no idea what it was.
"This is a scanner," said Mike, holding it up to show me what it did. "We use it to scan for microchips. That's what you can feel on his shoulder. I'm guessing you didn't have him chipped?"
"What?" I asked as my knees slightly buckled, relief washing over me. "Why would I have a chip in him?"
"People have their dogs microchipped so that if they get lost, their owner can be found." Mike ran the scanner over Theo's shoulder and after a second it beeped. Looking at the readout I could see a number displayed on the screen. "We run this number through a database, and it should tell us who the owner is."
"Oh. Well, that's me, but it was probably Betty who had that put in him." I took a moment to look at Mike. "So that lump is…just a chip? Theo doesn't have cancer?" I bravely asked.
I could see the corners of Mike's mouth turn up ever so slightly. "No. He seems very healthy. Give me a moment, and I'll get the girls at the front counter to run this number and see what it tells us. If you like, we can change the details of ownership for you."
Relief made me want to cry all over again, but instead I picked Theo up and held him tightly against me. He looked up at me and gave my hand a very special Theo kiss. I saw the huge smile on Mike's face as he left the room, and after the initial relief wore off, I felt extremely stupid. I could only imagine what Mike was telling reception girls about me. I'd probably given them the best laugh they'd had in weeks. When he finally came back into the room, I felt my face glowing from embarrassment, but held my head high anyway, just grateful Theo was okay.
"Well, that was interesting," said Mike, walking back over to me.
"Is everything alright?"
"Well, yes. It's just the microchip doesn't register on our system. It has too many numbers. Ours only contain fifteen numbers, whereas this one contains seventeen. I asked the girls, and they've never seen one with seventeen numbers, so we're not really sure what it's for. I wrote the numbers down for you though," he said, handing me a piece of paper. "If you still have contact with Theo's previous owner, you may be able to ask them about it." I took the paper Mike handed me. "Would you like us to chip him with a recognized chip today? That way if he ever gets lost it will be much easier for you to be contacted."
"Yes, please."
With shaking hands I tucked the paper into my handbag, still a bit too embarrassed to look Mike in the eye.
* * *
On the journey home, Isaac sent me a text asking if he could come over. I felt I owed him a bit of an apology for scoffing at his panic attack the other day, so I sent him a message asking for enough time to clean my house, and stopped at the bakery and bought the best-looking chocolate cupcakes they had.
I had just finished thoroughly cleaning the house when I heard a quiet knock on the door. The fact it was a quiet little knock and not Isaac's usually loud, obnoxious knock, meant he was either feeling sad or embarrassed. My guess was embarrassed. Opening the door, I quickly realized I was wrong.
"Isaac, what's the matter?" I asked. Isaac coul
d be a drama queen at times, but this time he looked genuinely upset.
"Oh, Chloe," he said, walking in the door and bursting into tears. I quickly closed the door, just in time to be engulfed. He had his arms around me and put his head on my shoulder, leaning a lot of his weight forward. Not for the first time today, I felt my knees buckle.
I placed my hands on his back and gently patted him. "Come on, let's sit down." Reluctantly, he let go and moved to the lounge to throw himself onto the couch. At least that was a bit of the usual Isaac I knew. I passed him the box of tissues and waited while he pulled himself together.
"Adam and I had a fight."
I took a deep breath and sighed. My day was going downhill really fast.
"What about this time?" I asked, my heart breaking for him just a little bit.
"I applied to be a flight attendant."
"Oh. You never mentioned that to me."
"I don't tell you everything, Chloe." I sighed again.
"So what does that have to do with your fight?"
"I have a job interview tomorrow, and he thinks I shouldn't go for it, but I thought because he was a pilot I could be a flight attendant, and we could fly across the country together." A fresh wave of tears came over him. "He's embarrassed about me, Chloe!"
"Oh, Isaac. I'm sure you're wrong. Why would he be embarrassed? What have you done?"
"I haven't done anything! He just doesn't want me to be around him when he's working."
"Did he give you specific reasons for not wanting you to go to the interview?" I was sure there was more to this than Isaac was telling me.
"He said we would probably be on different rosters, and then we would never see each other, but I know that's not the real reason."
Theo sauntered into the room, obviously wondering what all the fuss was about. Seeing Isaac, he ran to him and jumped on his knee. Isaac pulled him close for a cuddle. "What happened to his hair?" he asked between sniffs. Theo was still sporting a pretty wild hairdo thanks to the fact he had not been brushed after his bath, and he had dried it on the front seat of my car. I was probably going to have to visit the dog groomer to get it to sit flat again.
"I forgot to brush it after his trip to the vet this morning."
"What? Why did he go to the vet? What's wrong with him?" Isaac hugged Theo to his chest a little bit tighter.
"Well, nothing as it turns out. I felt a lump and may have overreacted a bit. Apparently, it's just a microchip."
"You overreacted? Like, how? How did you overreact?" prodded Isaac. I spent the next few minutes telling him about my morning. By the time I'd finished, he was glaring at me.
"Humph. Had a panic attack, did we?" he asked, his lips drawn into a very thin line.
"Yes. I'm sorry." I walked over to the couch and put my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I mocked you the other day for having one." He extended his arm and pulled me in for a hug. His way of forgiving me.
"Oh, I have cupcakes." I smiled, jumping up. I offered my hand to Isaac as Theo jumped down and trotted back up the stairs.
"I don't feel like eating," he replied, refusing my hand.
"They're Bartley's best chocolate cupcakes with real chocolate frosting. Handmade by Mrs. Bartley herself." I knew Isaac wouldn't be able to resist that. They were his favorite. "Come on, I've already got the coffee on. We'll go into the kitchen, and you can tell me about your interview tomorrow."
"Okay. You talked me into it. After that, you can help me move my stuff into your spare room."
CHAPTER SEVEN
I couldn't believe it. I was the most weak-willed person to ever have walked the Earth. I didn't want to do it, and I knew it was a mistake. One I would regret for quite a while, but standing there looking at Isaac, I didn't have it in my heart to say no. Anyway, it was what a good friend would do, wasn't it? I was nothing if not a good friend. Well, that was what I thought in order to convince myself I had done this for all the right reasons, and not because I couldn't say no.
Lifting the last of Isaac's suitcases onto my spare bed, I stood back and bit my lip.
"How long are you staying for?" I asked.
Isaac turned to look at me. "Just for the night." He sniffed.
"Oh. Okay." Well, that was good news.
I walked back toward the front door, ready to close it, when I saw Brody walking through my front gate. My stomach flipped. I hadn't spoken to him since the day we had broken into his house.
"Brody, hi." I smiled, as my heart did a little trippy thing.
"Hi, Chloe. Looks like Isaac's moving in." He smiled, showing me his crooked, front teeth.
"Yeah. Only for the night though," I added hurriedly.
Brody's smile broadened. He stopped at my door, one hand in his pocket, and looked down at me.
"Would you like to come in?" I asked, hoping he would say no and quickly leave. He stood close enough for me to smell his aftershave, and I really needed him to be at a much safer distance than that—preferably a couple of blocks away where I couldn't see him or smell him.
"Sure." He stepped forward over the threshold and moved past me as I closed the door behind him. "This is for Theo," he said, and held up a stuffed, fluffy bunny that was approximately the same size as my dog. Squeezing its middle, he laughed as it let out a high-pitched squeak.
"Thank you. That's really nice of you," I said, as Theo came bounding down the stairs and jumped up against his leg. All of a sudden my sleepy dog was not quite so sleepy. I watched as Brody leaned down and gave Theo a pat. As he handed Bunny over to its new owner, Theo gently took it in his mouth and ran back upstairs.
"I was hoping to ask you a few questions about the other day, but maybe now's not a good time." Even with Isaac's bedroom door closed we could hear his heartache.
"Isaac and Adam had a fight. He thinks it's over between them." I shrugged. "Take a seat, and I'll see if he's feeling up to it."
Walking back up the hall, I knocked on Isaac's door, tentatively opened it, and looked inside. He was lying on the bed, his pillow covering his face.
"Isaac, Brody wants to talk to us," I said, approaching the bed and pulling back the pillow.
"Do you mind? I was trying to end it all," he cried dramatically.
"With a pillow?"
"Yes. It's supposedly pain free and silent." The silent part I was looking forward to.
"Stop being ridiculous, and get out here to face Brody with me. It was your idea to break into his house after all," I scolded.
"We did not break. We only entered," he huffed, sitting up. "And there is no way I can face Mr. Hottie with my eyes as puffy as this."
"You'll probably get the sympathy vote from him, and he may go a bit easier on us." I could see he was not going to be persuaded quite that easily. I had to rethink this - fast. "What if I run upstairs and get that eye mask you gave me for my birthday, and then after we answer Brody's questions, I'll run you a lovely bubble bath and get you a glass of that wine you like so much."
I could see Isaac consider my offer. He threw the pillow onto the bed and moved to look in the mirror.
"Ahh!" he screamed. "I am not going out there looking like this." He spun around to face me. "No, you'll have to do it without me. But the bubble bath does sound nice, thank you."
"Coward," I muttered, letting out a very big breath and slamming the door on my way out.
Reaching the lounge room, I saw Brody flicking through the book I had left on the chair. I felt embarrassment sweep over me.
"Fifty Shades, hey? I've heard it's pretty erotic." Brody smiled, looking at me through those dark lashes.
"It's actually very romantic. Great story line," I stammered. I ripped the book out of his hands and stuffed it under the nearest cushion, the blood pounding in my ears.
"Ha! You're funny, Chloe McDermott. I like you. In fact, I think I like you a lot." He looked at me quite intently, humor in his eyes. "Where's Theo gone?" he asked.
"Probably taken Bunny and introduced it to my lovely bed
. It's been a pretty stressful day." I had no idea how to respond to Brody's initial remark and was grateful to avoid a response to it.
"Does he get along okay with the cat?"
I looked at him with confusion.
"Cat?
"Isaac's cat. I assume it came with him." Shit. I'd forgotten about that.
"Umm, no. He stayed with Adam," I lied.
"What's it name?"
"Name?" My mind had gone completely blank.
"Yeah, the cat's name. What do you call it? I mean, if it comes into my house again, I should at least know what to call it."
"Oh, umm…Kitty. His name is…umm…Kitty."
"Good name for a cat, I suppose. I thought you said it was a girl though." I could see the cogs working in Brody's brain. He was trying to trip up my lie and was doing a particularly good job of it.
"No. He's a boy. Definitely a boy!" I smiled a bit too brightly. Brody smiled back at me, obviously very pleased with himself as he had flustered me yet again.
"Can I offer you anything to drink?" I asked, hoping for a distraction.
"No, thank you. I won't stay long. I can see you're busy with Isaac. I just wanted to ask about the other day. Can you tell me again what happened?"
I ran through the events of that afternoon, editing it where necessary.
"I just want you to be honest with me, Chloe. Did you break into my house?" he asked, looking at me—almost pleading for the truth.
"No. Not really. I mean…we didn't break, we just entered," I said, repeating Isaac's words, hopefully with some conviction.
"I found the back door lock broken, and I know that I didn't leave the chair in that room. If you did it I just want to know." I thought about this for a second. He didn't look angry. In fact, his eyes were full of vulnerability and confusion. A lethal combination to a sucker like me. But did I trust him?
Ahh! It's no use trying to fight it. I never could be convincing in a lie. I had to be completely honest.
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