Winning a Yes
Kathleen Tudor
Sage hummed along with the radio as she drove out of town. She’d never taken this route before, but she felt like she knew every turn and curve in the road. She’d studied the directions enough times, eagerly awaiting the day that her name would move to the top of the adoption list. When a new litter would be born. When she’d get the call.
Today had been that day! Or, at least, Thursday had been, and now she had a brand-new puppy crate in her back seat, her chequebook in her pocket and a whole weekend stretching ahead of her to bond with her new puppy.
She was practically bouncing in her seat as she turned her little Corolla into the long driveway that led up to the breeder’s home. The house was a pleasant green colour and the front door was so richly brown that it almost looked bronzed in the morning sun. She went up the porch steps, ready to meet her new puppy, but the sound of a gate slamming made her turn before she reached the door.
A guy who had somehow escaped her lewdest daydreams walked around the corner of the house, causing her to freeze in place. He stopped too, his head cocked and his eyebrows raised, and she realised that she was staring. And that her mouth was maybe open just a little bit.
She shut it with a snap, cleared her throat, and said, ‘Sorry, you startled me. I’m looking for Leonard?’
‘You caught me,’ he said, and the smile that came with the words made her a little dizzy.
‘Oh, I was— um—’ expecting someone three times his age, based on that name. This guy couldn’t be much older than she was. ‘Sorry, I’m Sage. We had an appointment?’
‘I get that a lot. You can call me Leo.’ He looked like he was holding back a laugh. ‘Come this way and meet the puppies.’ He extended one perfectly bronzed arm to gesture for her to follow, and she trailed in his wake as he led her back through the gate and then into a garage that had been converted into a kennel.
‘This is Audrey,’ he said, gesturing to the exhausted-looking Border Collie dam who was sprawled along the edge of a small enclosure. She thumped her tail a couple of times at the sound of her name, but didn’t look up, probably because she was half-buried in squirming bundles of black and white fur.
‘Oh, my gosh,’ Sage breathed.
‘And these are the puppies. They’re almost all—’ He broke off when the phone rang from inside the house. ‘Damn. Do you mind?’
‘Not at all.’
‘Feel free to get right in with them. I’ll just be a minute.’
He went into the house, the door shutting behind him, and Sage stepped over the low wire fence and sat. The puppies, sensing something new to explore, tumbled over each other to sniff her knees, climb into her lap, and chew on the trailing end of her ponytail. She laughed as she ran her hands over their soft coats and let them lick all up and down her arms.
One puppy in particular, took pride of place in the centre of Sage’s lap, hopped up to rest both paws against her chest and held her gaze with liquid brown eyes. Then the puppy stretched to its full height and licked her once on the chin. Sage cooed and scooped the puppy up, snuggling it close.
She was still cuddling the precious beastie and playing with her puppy’s littermates when Leo returned.
‘Oh, ah …’ He wrinkled his perfect nose and scratched lightly at his chin. ‘I was trying to say, before the phone rang, that they’re almost all available except for one. That one that you’re holding. I’m keeping her back for breeding.’
Sage felt her heart drop straight into her stomach. ‘But she’s perfect.’
‘That’s sort of the point.’
‘No, I mean perfect for me …’ Would it be too weird if she declared to this near-perfect stranger that she and this beautiful puppy were in love?
Leo reached down and took the puppy out of her arms, and she immediately felt the loss. He tried to direct her attention to one of the others, but they all paled in comparison. In his arms, her puppy whined.
‘Maggie wants to come home with me,’ she told him.
‘Boy, you sure move fast.’ He looked bemused more than irritated. Exasperated at the worst.
Sage stood and idly brushed off her jeans. ‘You run this place all by yourself?’ she asked.
‘What? Um, yes.’ Good. And she hadn’t noticed a ring, either.
‘Offer me some coffee.’
He blinked, looking confused.
‘While we discuss the puppies?’ she prompted.