I put on my seat belt and said, “I swear, if you’re calling me because you’re claiming that Noah is in desperate need of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation . . .” I mean, I would probably be too freaked out to do it, but if it meant keeping him alive, I could probably take one for the team.
Maybe.
“No, it’s nothing like that.” It was then that I noticed the frantic edge in her voice, making me feel like a jerk for teasing her. “I’m at Noah’s place with the movers and there was someone here watching his dog because I told him we’d be in and out all day and that guy just took off and I remembered that you mentioned that the dog tries to get out and run off and everybody’s asking me what to do but I’m so distracted and I cannot start this job by losing Noah Douglas’s dog.”
Honestly, she was extremely lucky that Magnus hadn’t run away already. “Okay, there’s a leash hanging up in the kitchen. Put it on his collar and hold on to him until I get there. Things are going to be fine. I’m on my way. I’ll take care of him.”
Traffic was terrible and I could hear my phone buzzing, presumably with texts from Shelby asking if I was almost there yet. Shelby had never really liked animals, and I could only imagine that this was freaking her out. Magnus was a sweet boy, but he was a big dog and might not be all that easy for her to manage.
When I arrived, Shelby was waiting out front with tears streaming down her face. “I’m so glad that you’re here!”
I hugged her briefly and moved to take the leash. “Are you okay?”
She nodded and gulped. “This has to go well. It just does. I cannot blow this again. This is my last chance.”
“I’ve got this,” I told her. And I meant it. I was going to do whatever I had to do to make sure that this was a success. Shelby was my framily (my friend who was also my family), and I had her back. “Go and do whatever you need to do. I’ll take him for a walk.” Magnus wagged his tail at me, apparently pleased to see a slightly familiar face. Or maybe he understood the word walk.
“Thank you,” she said. “I owe you one.”
A mover stepped out of the front door. “Are we taking the mattress or leaving it here?”
“Leaving it here. I’ll be inside in a second to tell you what else goes and what stays,” she said. Then she whispered to me, “Can you believe Noah Douglas has a mattress on the floor? Like he’s still in college? I can’t wait to buy him an actual bed.”
I didn’t want to think about Noah in any bed. “Sounds fun. Anyway, we’re off.”
She waved happily to me, her good spirits restored now that I was in charge of Magnus.
“Come on, boy.”
We’d only been walking for a couple of minutes when I noticed a dog sitting across the road from us, watching. He looked like a black poodle mix. He had on a collar, but I didn’t see any people with him. The road had a sharp bend here, and I was afraid he might run out into the street at the wrong moment and get hit.
I tugged Magnus to come with me, and I crossed the road. The dog growled slightly, as if warning us not to come too close, but there wasn’t any real conviction behind it. In fact, he looked like he was trembling a little. I put the loop of the leash handle around my wrist to free up my hands. I told Magnus to sit and he did as I asked. I crouched down and pulled out one of the treats I still had in my pocket and offered it to the dog. He waited a few moments, sniffing the air between us. In the end his hunger won out, and he came over to scarf down the treat.
“Good boy,” I said, and then I reached out carefully and picked him up. He was light and easy to carry in one arm. I took a look at his tag. His name was Sunshine, and I put his address into my maps app. When I asked it to give me directions, it told me to walk about a minute south to get to his house. I had to turn my phone around to determine that