bring Bella for a minute? It’s about Mack,” he asked Lucas.
“Mack?”
“He’s under lockdown for observation. You know he’s had a tough year.”
“Sure,” Lucas said slowly. He looked to Olivia.
“You go on. I’m going off shift soon anyway,” she told him.
Olivia kissed Lucas and I wagged. Then Ty and Lucas and I went down the hall to the place with the metal doors that swept open with a pinging sound. We stepped into the shaking room and when the doors creaked shut and then open we were someplace in the building I had never been to before, though it smelled pretty much the same as everywhere else. Ty went to a window and picked up a phone and held it to his ear. “Got someone here to see Mack,” he stated. Then he waited. “Hello, doctor. Yes, I know the protocols but this is important. No. No, I know what Mack needs.” Ty slapped his palm against the glass and Lucas and I both jumped. “Dammit, Theresa, open the door!” He sounded angry.
There was a buzz and with a loud click a door opened. Ty, Lucas, and I walked through it. A woman met us in the hallway, staring at me. “What on earth, Ty? Dr. Gann—”
“Dr. Gann just approved this dog,” Ty interrupted. “Which one is Mack in?”
She looked unhappy. “Last one on the left.”
Lucas was looking around. “I’ve never been here before.”
“Yeah, well, I have,” Ty muttered.
We went down the hall and I started to wag when I smelled who was on the other side of the door: my friend Mack! With another buzz, the door opened and I bounded in. Mack was sitting in a chair and I jumped right into his lap.
“Bella! Hey!” he greeted. I licked his face. He seemed very tense—tense and afraid. “I thought you were lost for good, girl.”
“We all did. But she found her way back. All through the mountains, hundreds of miles. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Ty said.
“Sure is.” Mack scratched my ears and I groaned.
“Think how tough it must have been for her,” Ty continued. “But she never gave up. She knew we were all counting on her, that she really mattered.”
“Yeah. I do get the point, Ty. I’m not stupid.”
Ty came up to pet me. “You’re one of us, Mack. We need you.”
We stayed in that little room for a long time. As I pressed up against Mack, his hands on my fur, I could feel the sadness in him break a little, become a little less tinged with fear. I was providing comfort. I was doing my job. I was happy.
* * *
When we left Go to Work, we both smelled like Olivia. Lucas had his own car! I sat in the front seat. We did car ride to a completely new place, getting out and climbing some stairs. I could smell Lucas in the air and knew he had been here before. He opened a door and Olivia was sitting in a chair. Of course! I trotted over to see her.
“It is so, so nice to come home and find you here,” Lucas told her.
“I stopped and got some dog food and a collar for Miss Bella. And look what I found in the closet!” Olivia picked up a folded cloth and the scent hit me instantly—my Lucas blanket! “I’ll put it on the bed.”
Lucas came over and felt the blanket. “I forgot all about it.” He kissed her and I wagged. “So nice to live in a building that allows dogs, even giant ones.”
Olivia nodded. “A dog-friendly building in pit bull–friendly Golden, Colorado.”
The three of us cuddled together in a small bed. I had on a new, stiff collar. My Lucas blanket was draped over the foot of the bed, but I ignored it and lay right up between them. I stared at Lucas, who started to laugh.
“Almost forgot,” he said. He went into the kitchen and I remained with Olivia, groaning under the touch of her hand. When he came back, I smelled what he had and went on high alert, waiting rigidly.
“This is what she does.” Lucas chuckled.
“It’s such an itty bitty piece of cheese!”
Yes! Tiny Piece of Cheese!
“Right, the point is the ritual, I think. Watch her stare at it.”
They were both so happy to be doing Tiny Piece of Cheese that they laughed. Lucas lowered it slowly and I carefully removed it from between his fingers. The explosion of taste on my tongue lasted only a moment, but it was what I