front of me, but he was sitting up nicely. He was perfectly still, just staring up at me as if he was waiting for something.
“That’s weird,” Victoria said from where she was combing out the fur of a mottled, medium-sized dog.
“What?” I asked her, still tense and braced for the worst.
“He wants you to pet him,” Josh said.
My hands were flat against the door panel. “Yeah, I don’t think—”
Butch eased down then, flat on the floor in front of me. He rolled over, gazing up at me and putting all four paws in the air, bending them at his knees. He looked very relaxed.
“Okay, that’s just nuts,” Victoria said.
Josh moved closer to us.
I was confused. “What’s he doing?”
It didn’t look like any attack stance I’d ever seen. Then again, what did I know?
“It’s a submissive posture,” Josh said. “You should scratch his belly.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I said. But my alarm was easing. My breathing slowed and my hands relaxed.
I became aware of the things around me: Reno and Vegas romping together in the pen, the fan spinning slowly on the ceiling, dissipating the scent of dogs and antiseptic. My clothes were wet, but warm and sticky against my skin. Thunder still rumbled in the background, and the rain was rhythmic on the roof.
Josh crouched down next to Butch. He slipped his hand gently under the dog’s collar.
“I’ve got him,” he said. “It’s up to you, but this is a really big honor.”
“An honor?” I couldn’t say I was feeling honored.
“He respects you,” Victoria said. “He’s never done that with anyone else.”
“Why would he respect me?” I asked, thoroughly confused.
“Scratch his belly,” Josh said gently. “You don’t want to be rude.”
“Rude?”
“Rude.”
I looked back down at Butch. He was gazing up at me with what looked like adoring eyes—coffee brown, round and, I had to admit it, friendly. For a minute there, I felt guilty for ignoring his invitation. But I came to my senses pretty quick. This could easily be a ruse. He might be pretending to be friendly but really waiting for an unguarded moment to pounce.
“Go ahead,” Josh said. “I’ve got him by the collar.”
I met Butch’s brown eyes again. They said: “trust me.”
Fine.
I decided to pretend for a minute that I was special, that I had a secret, previously undiscovered dog-whispering capacity that for some reason Butch saw when no other dog ever had. It was far-fetched, but it made me feel a little braver.
I crouched down like Josh had. Then I reached out slowly and cautiously and rubbed my hand along Butch’s chest.
In response, he stretched his neck out and made a little groaning noise deep in his throat. It sounded like a happy noise.
“He wants to be friends,” Josh said.
“Best friends,” Victoria said as she went back to combing the dog on the grooming table in front of her.
“I’m really not a dog person,” I said. But I kept rubbing anyway.
His fur was soft and thick. His skin was warm. His chest rose and fell with his breathing, and he held my gaze, looking supremely happy. The weirdest part was that I wasn’t scared.
Then he started to roll over.
I quickly snapped back my hand and stood to put some distance between us, but Butch didn’t move very far. He just rolled over and snuggled up to my legs, lying on his side with his weight on my feet.
“I’m trapped,” I said to Josh. But fear wasn’t yet rushing through me. My chest wasn’t tight, and there was no roaring in my ears.
“He wants to keep your feet warm,” Josh said, rising up himself. “It seems to be an instinct in some farm breeds.” He chuckled low. “And here I thought we’d start with Tippy.”
Victoria looked up again. “Start what?”
“I’m afraid of dogs,” I told her, deciding it was past time to stop hiding it. Josh hadn’t laughed at me, and Madeline had acted as though my fear was perfectly normal. Maybe it wasn’t as embarrassing as I’d always thought.
“You don’t look afraid to me,” Victoria said.
“She had a bad experience,” Josh said to Victoria.
“With Butch?”
“No.” I was quick to defend Butch. He’d done absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, of all the dogs I’d ever met, he seemed to be the . . . I don’t know, nicest.
“When she was little girl,” Josh said.
“Ah.” Victoria gave an understanding nod. “That’s hard to get past.”
“Especially if you don’t tell anyone,” Josh said.
“You should have told someone,” Victoria said.
“I told Josh.”
“I had to practically drag it out