“Would you mind coming back to the office? I need to set this down back there.”
“Sure.” She shut her laptop and decided she could leave everything at her high top. She’d never risk that in the city, but Cedar Falls was a different kind of place.
She walked past the bathrooms toward the Sin Bin’s back offices. Paperwork was strewn everywhere. Tommy certainly didn’t ascribe to Dot’s clean desk policy.
On the wall across from his desk chair was a bulletin board pinned with order forms and schedules. A Packers’ calendar hung on the wall next to his computer. She took a glance and saw “Harper” written in blue and underlined twice on that day’s date. Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. But she pretended not to have noticed.
“What’s going on? You sounded so mysterious on the phone,” she said.
He set the box on top of the papers on his desk. “Before you say anything, let me explain.”
She nodded and ran her closed index finger and thumb across her lips to zip them shut.
“Last night, after closing the bar, I was in a hurry to get home. When I was backing out of the parking lot, I almost hit a small dog.”
Harper’s eyes widened. “Oh no!”
“It jumped out and almost went under my tires. Poor little thing was very skinny, and her fur was matted. Looked like she’d been homeless on the streets for a while.”
“Is she okay?”
“I took her to the emergency vet. They say she needs medicine and someone to take better care of her. They think she’s around two years old. Some sort of tiny doodle mix. She wasn’t wearing a collar and there’s no chip to tell us who she belongs to. I’ve put up some flyers around town and posted on Facebook to see if anyone lost her, but so far no one has come forward.”
“Oh goodness.” Harper pointed to the box. “Is she... in there?”
“She is. And this is where I need your help.”
“Sure, what can I do?”
“Well, you’ve seen how crazy it can get in here. And with my hours, I can’t take proper care of her. So, I wanted to ask... just until we can find her a permanent home... do you think you’d be able to look after her?”
Harper’s hands went to her chest. “Me? Oh wow. I mean, yes, of course.” She immediately wondered if Dot and Mary would be okay with this. But she could deal with them later. “Can I see her?”
Tommy carefully lifted the lid of one of his supplier’s ventilated cardboard boxes that he was constantly breaking down for recycling.
Inside the container was a very small, freshly bathed dog, curled up on a soft teal fleece blanket. She had short cream-colored fur that looked like she’d been knitted by Harper’s grandmother back in Brooklyn. The dog opened one black eye, seemed to smile at Harper out of the side of her mouth, and then snuggled back into her bed.
“Oh, she’s the cutest!” Harper couldn’t get over it. Her heart melted. She put her hand on the dog, who was so warm and cozy in her makeshift bed. She felt the gentle push of the dog’s rib cage as she breathed.
“Isn’t she? I just can’t take her to the shelter. I’m afraid of what may happen to her there.” He picked the dog up and held her to his chest. “I’d take her out to the farm, but you saw my mom’s Labs. Ray and Floyd play so rough.”
“How long do you think it’ll take to find her owners?”
“Hopefully not long. And if no one steps forward, I’ll think of a plan B.”
He didn’t have to ask her twice. “I’ll do it,” she said.
“Thanks, Harper. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Oh, it’s no problem at all.” Harper rubbed her nose with the hand that had been petting the dog.
“I wish I knew her name. I’ve just been calling her ‘the dog.’”
“I think that works for now.” Harper sneezed. And sneezed again.
“Bless you.” He handed her a bag from It’s a Dog’s World pet store. “Here’s some food for her. And I got two small bowls, one for water and one for food, and a leash. Packers swag, of course. And a stuffed lamb chop toy, but she didn’t seem interested in it.”
“She’s probably just out of sorts.” Harper took the supplies. “I’ll take her back to the house with me now.” She barely got the sentence out before she sneezed again.