“The feeling’s mutual,” I said with a smile, rubbing him gently behind the ear.
“All right. Let’s get the paperwork filled out so you can take him home.”
“You hear that, boy? Home! A real home, where you’ll never be treated badly again.”
If only I believed in signs of things to come, I might’ve been a little more prepared for what came after saving little Max.
Chapter 2
A few days after I adopted Max, still jobless and trying not to panic about it, my best friend called, and told me that we were going out with our friends for the night. Tammy complained that I’d been a bit of a shut-in lately, so she swung by after I got off work, and picked me up so we could go out and have some fun. That and it was Halloween night. I wasn’t about to turn down a night of fun on that night.
I guess I wasn’t technically jobless, just without a career. I’d been picking up temp jobs whenever I could, inside and outside our small little town. I was ready to go when Tammy knocked on my door. The dogs went crazy, but I hurried out and walked with her quickly to her car. I didn’t want to lay on the worry so soon, so I sugarcoated everything when Tammy asked how I was doing. I’d tell her eventually that in a month, this temp job would end too.
It was always fun to go out
midweek and catch up. My job assignment would end in just thirty days, so I had some time to look for something else, but I still had no idea what I was going to do to earn a paycheck after that. A girls’ night out was just the thing I needed to take my mind off my worries about my future employment or lack thereof.
“Hey, everybody,” I said, plopping down in the empty seat and setting my purse on the table.
“Hey, Jaime! Oh, I heard you got a new puppy!” Phoebe said.
“Max,” I told them and pulled up a pic of him on my cell. “He’s special needs. They were going to euthanize him because he couldn’t walk so I stepped in and adopted him.”
A chorus of ooh-ing and aw-ing erupted as they looked at the photo of my pup on my smartphone.
“He’s so sweet. I want to see him!” Phoebe said as she passed me my cell back.
“Stop on by. He’d love the extra company.”
“I definitely will. So what happened to him? Did he get hit by a car or something?”
“Worse.”
“Huh?” Phoebe asked, arching her brow as she took a sip from her drink.
“They used him as bait in a dog fight, the poor little guy.”
“That’s awful.”
“Yeah, I know. That was why I just had to step in and adopt him. My neighbor watches him while I’m at work.”
“He couldn’t have a better owner than you,” Phoebe said. “In other news, how’s work?”
I let out a long sigh. “I’m so glad I’m off the clock for the day. I swear, sometimes I think I work at an urologist’s office.”
“What makes you say that?” Phoebe asked, arching her brow at me again.
“Because the place is full of dick-holes!” I spouted. “Now that hump day is over, I need a stiff one.”
Marlene grinned lasciviously. “For hump day, I’ll take a stiff one too,” she quipped. “Hell, a good hand would do just as well as a good partner. Why is it that sex is so much like playing bridge?”
I chuckled. “I’m talking about a stiff drink.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll take one of those too. I may as well, because there aren’t many of the other stiffies to choose from. It seems to be slim pickin’s for a single gal like me these days.”
“Maybe you’re just being too picky,” Phoebe retorted.
“Who, moi?” Marlene said, batting her eyes innocently and pointing to herself.