Puppy Love Volumes 1 to 13

2. Puppy Love Rescue-1

Puppy Love Rescue

It was almost ten o'clock at night when Beth pulled into the parking space in front of her apartment. She sat in the car for a moment, trying to muster the energy to make a dash to her front door.

The storm was one of those horrible combinations of rain and snow—hard to see through and wet. She'd just managed to warm up from the dash to her car. Her hair was still so wet it was dripping down her forehead, and she wasn't looking forward to how the cold was going to dig straight into her bones the minute she left the safe confines of her car.

Well, she couldn't stay there all night. She took a deep breath, threw the car door open, and dashed across the slippery sidewalk.

She almost made it, too, but her boot slipped on a patch of black ice right under the awning of the building and she went sprawling, landing on her ass with a painful thump. She sat there for a moment, too stunned to move, and then the tears started. It was just too much.

She'd worked sixteen hours today and for what? So her boss could act disappointed that she hadn't worked eighteen hours?

And now here she was, wet, hurting, and starving. All she'd eaten today was a Snicker's bar and six cans of Coke.

She was running on empty.

As she struggled to stand, pushing her bare hand into the wet slush covering the grass, she thought she heard a soft whimpering sound. She froze, straining to hear the sound again, but a car driving through the parking lot drowned out any other sounds as it splashed through a puddle.

Beth finally stood, brushing at her butt. She didn't know why she bothered. The slush had already soaked through her new black skirt.

She reached down to grab her purse and heard the soft whimpering sound once more. She glanced around, trying to figure out where it was coming from, but didn't see anything. Was some animal injured and caught outside in this miserable weather? Poor thing.

She waited to hear the sound again, wet snow dripping down the back of her neck.

Nothing.

She must've imagined it.

She made it the last few steps to her front door and threw her wet belongings on the floor in the small tile entryway. She was shivering, her skin wet and covered in goosebumps. She quickly stripped out of her work clothes and threw on long thermal underwear followed by sweats.

Much better. But as she turned to make herself something to eat, she couldn't shake the thought that somewhere out in that storm was a poor helpless little creature. The temperature was supposed to drop below freezing sometime in the middle of the night. It could die.

She wasn't going to let that happen.

She bundled up—properly this time, not like she had this morning when the sky was a clear blue and didn't show a sign of snow—grabbed a flashlight, threw on her snow boots, and went back outside, hunching her shoulders against the cold breeze driving sleet into her face.

She tramped around, shining the flashlight along the edges of buildings and at the bushes near her door, but no luck. She was about to give up when she realized she was probably scaring the hell out of whatever the thing was with her bright light and stomping around.

She froze in place and turned off the flashlight, listening intently for the sad little whimper she'd heard before.

She was rewarded a moment later by a sound from her left. She moved a few steps closer and froze again, waiting.

There it was. Off to the right this time.

She kept this up, listening and moving closer until she zeroed in on a small bush right by the sidewalk about twenty feet from her car.

When she was finally certain that's where the sound was coming from, she knelt down slowly and turned on the flashlight. She shined it to the side of the bush, using the edge of the light to see what manner of creature she'd found.

Beth was rewarded by the sight of a small black nose and sad dark brown eyes staring back at her. It was a puppy. Not a newborn pup, but definitely a puppy with those floppy black ears and paws that were ten times too big for it. If the poor thing hadn't been whimpering she would've never seen it because it was so black it blended into the shadows perfectly.

"Come here, sweetie," she said softly, reaching out for it.

The puppy flinched away from her, burrowing deeper under the bush.

"Come on now, I won't hurt you. Don't you want to go inside where it's nice and warm, little guy?" She tried to coax the puppy out, but it had burrowed itself right into the middle of the bush where she couldn't reach it. The puppy was shaking, clearly freezing and scared.

Who the hell would leave a cute puppy like this out in the cold? What kind of people did those things?

She tried once more to get the puppy to come to her, but it just backed away further and yipped at her.

"Okay, okay. Give me a minute," she said, backing away from the bush.

She raced back to her apartment, watching to make sure the puppy didn't leave it's inadequate shelter for as long as she could. Just her luck she'd come back and it would be gone and she'd spend the rest of the night trying to find it.

But she was not going to let the poor little thing stay out in this mess. She'd never be able to live with herself if she did.

She ran into her apartment and went straight to her fridge. What did she have that might tempt a puppy to trust her? Asparagus? No. Broccoli? No. Apples? No. Raw chicken? Maybe, but no. Finally she remembered that she'd cooked up some bacon the day before and still had some left. She grabbed the container, threw it in the microwave for ten seconds so the bacon would smell enough to tempt the puppy, and ran back outside with it.

When she knelt down by the bush again, she couldn't see the puppy. Had it run away?

She flashed her light directly under the bush and saw a furry black ball curled up against the far edge. The poor puppy was covered in a thin layer of snow that had filtered its way through the leaves of the bush.

Beth thrust the container of bacon in the pup's direction. "Here, pup. Come on, come try some bacon. It's very yummy. Come on."

She saw the puppy uncurl, its dark little nose sniffing in her direction, dark brown eyes staring back and forth between her and the container. It clearly wanted to eat the bacon, but didn't trust her. She quickly grabbed a couple pieces of bacon from the container and backed away so the puppy could get the food without her being too close.

It crept forward, its nose twitching, ready to run away at any sudden movement from her.

She waited, not moving, until it finally reached the container and started gobbling up the pieces of bacon inside. She knew it probably wasn't the best food to give a starving puppy, but at least the pup was eating something and was closer to her than it had been before.

She tore the two strips of bacon she still had into small pieces and started throwing them in the direction of the pup. It crawled forward, eating each one, leaving behind the shelter of the bush. She almost cried when saw the small trail of blood it left behind as its paws clawed at the ground. Poor thing.

She waited until the puppy was well and truly free of the bush and then raced forward, scooping the pup up in her arms. It cried pitifully and tried to bite at her hand, but she ignored it. The little creature couldn't weigh more than ten pounds, so it was easy to cradle against her chest as she raced back inside.

"Trust me, sweetie, this will be better than that nasty bush," she whispered to it as she made her careful way back inside.

Once inside she wasn't quite sure what to do with him, so she grabbed one of her blankets and a pillow and threw them in the bathtub to make a small little nest. Under the bright lights of her bathroom the puppy looked even worse than he had outside. His coat was matted and dirty, all four paws were bloody, his eyes were a goopy mess, and he was so skinny all she could feel were his bones. She tucked him down into the soft, warm bed and left to get her phone.

He cried—a high, pitiful sound—the minute she left the room, so she raced back as soon as she could.

He flinched away from her touch, but he clearly didn't want her to leave him alone either, so she sat on the floor next to the tub as she looked for the number of a nearby emergency vet. The first one she found looked wrong to her somehow—too cold and formal—so she kept looking until she found the website for a place right up the street. It had a simple, homey looking website with a picture of Dr. Russ, a smiling man with kind eyes that was probably close to her age, holding a golden retriever puppy in his arms. Yes. This man was who she needed.

She dialed the number and waited as the phone rang ten times. Finally, when she was about to give up, a sleepy man's voice answered. "Barks and Bites Veterinary. This is Dr. Russ. How can I help you?"

Beth explained what had happened and answered a handful of questions for the doctor.

"Hmmm," he said when she was done. "If you don't object too much, I think the best bet would be for me to come to you. Sounds like the little guy's had quite a night of it already and I'd hate to see you have to take him back out in this weather and risk losing him. Is that okay? I can meet you at the office if it isn't."

"Oh no, that would be fantastic. Are you sure?" she asked, surprised at the generous offer.

"Positive. Now, where am I going?"

"Riverview Apartments, 123…"

"Oh, I know where that is. That's where I live actually. Which building?"

"Five."

There was a long pause. "And apartment?"

"102."

He laughed slightly. "Alright. Give me about five minutes and I'll be right there."

Beth sat next to the puppy, waiting. It had fallen asleep, curled into a tight little ball. It was whimpering, twitching as it ran after or from something in its dreams. Poor little thing.

She'd always wanted a dog, but she'd never had the time for one. Still didn't, really. But maybe this was a sign that it was about damned time she changed her life.

She wanted so badly to pet and comfort him, but didn't want to scare him, so she just rested her chin on the edge of the tub and watched.

A minute or so later she heard a door slam somewhere in the building and the sound of someone running down the staircase. This was followed by the sound of someone knocking on her door. Exactly how close did the vet live to her? And how had she never noticed him before?

The sound of him knocking woke the pup who started crying and scratching to get out of the tub as Beth walked towards the door.

"Hi," Beth said as she opened the door. Dr. Russ was even more attractive in person, his eyes an amazing aquamarine color. He wore sweats with Colgate printed down one leg and a plain grey sweatshirt. "Come in, please," she said, backing away from the door.

"I hear my patient." He smiled at her as he stepped into the apartment, glancing around. Only then did Beth realize how messy the place was. This must be why her mother was always telling her to keep her place clean. Same as her mom's advice to always wear clean underwear. You never knew…

"Yeah, he's in the bathtub. I thought that might be a nice safe place for him."

She trailed behind Dr. Russ as he made his way into the bathroom and knelt down by the side of the tub. "Hey there, buddy, how are you?"

He held out a handful of food to the puppy who snuffled at his hand, devouring the few bites of food in seconds, and then poked at the hand demanding more.

Dr. Russ laughed. He had a rich, soft baritone that made Beth smile. She leaned against the wall and watched Dr. Russ talk to the puppy, feeding it small bits of food. He had an amazing calmness about him that the puppy responded to immediately. Within a minute, the pup was licking his fingers and wagging its tail slowly.

"That's my boy," he said, softly, scooping the pup up in his hands and inspecting it. The puppy hardly even struggled as Dr. Russ inspected its paws, coat, and teeth. The whole time he kept talking to the puppy, whispering soft, calming words.

Once or twice the pup drew back from him, but in general he let the vet look and poke at him without any problems.

"You have a way with animals it seems," Beth said, softly, not wanting to disturb him or upset the puppy.

"Yeah, I'm better with them than humans most times." He smiled at her for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the puppy.

Finally, he set the puppy down with one last pat to his head and stood to face her.

"Well, it's a good thing you found him when you did. I doubt he would've made it through the night. As you can guess, he's malnourished, his coat's a mess, he probably has worms and a few other nasty things from living wild, but overall he's in pretty good health. I don't see anything that requires us to take him in tonight, but I would like to see him in the office tomorrow. I'll clean up his paws and coat a bit right now, but just keep him warm, get him plenty of water, and let him eat anything he wants and we'll deal with the rest in the morning."

Beth let out a sigh of relief. She hadn't even realized how scared she was that something would be seriously wrong. "Thank you. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."

He smiled. "My pleasure. Just glad I could help. Do you have any supplies for dogs, by the way?"

She shook her head. "Last time we had a dog, I was ten."

"Well, then, good thing I brought this with me." He hefted a large cloth grocery bag in his hand. "Let's see…what do we have? Some dog food. It's for sensitive stomachs, so should be fine for the pup. We'll get him set up with puppy food tomorrow. A little doggie shampoo. I wouldn't recommend using it now, but for later. A water bowl. A couple chew toys. Another blanket if you want it."

Beth stared, her mouth hanging open as he continued to unload his bag of goodies. "Are you sure? What do I owe you for all this?"

"Nothing. You rescued the poor little guy. Least I can do is lend a hand."

She stared at the puppy who was now snoring softly, snuggled deep in the folds of the blanket. "Do you think he has an owner?"

He frowned for a minute. "Do you want to keep him?"

She paused. She really hadn’t thought about it. She was supposed to work another grueling day tomorrow, but when he'd said the pup would need to come into the office, she hadn't even hesitated to agree. "I think I do," she finally said.

He shrugged. "Then keep him. If you see flyers and a little crying kid running around asking for her puppy, then deal with it at that point. But, my experience? That pup's been on his own for a while. At least a couple of weeks. I think you can be pretty sure that no one's going to come looking for him."

She frowned as she stared at the puppy again.

"Hey, their loss is your gain, right? And his, too, I'd think."

She nodded, still wondering who could abandon such a cute little guy like that. Sometimes she just didn't get people.

"So, when should I bring him by tomorrow?" she asked.

"Whenever you want. I'll let the front desk staff know you're coming."

"Thank you again." She smiled at him, once again struck by how beautiful and kind his eyes were.

"You're welcome. See you tomorrow."

She listened as he made his way back up the stairs and closed the door to his apartment. He must live on the third floor, either directly above her or across the hall. What a small world.