July 3rd 2021

Chapter 184
Our Space For Dogs

The house had felt emptier in the months since they'd lost Trix and Lou. Everything had been great, on the whole, but it just couldn't be helped. There was always this feeling like they were forgetting something, missing something. They'd all lost count of how many times any one of them had gone in on an old reflex, to reach for a leash, or fill a bowl, or buy food that they didn't need, not when they only had Crowley now. Other times, they'd spot an old toy that had once been favored by one or the other of their lost dogs, or they'd look to a spot where they used to sit, or see a mark of their presence in something chewed, or scratched… They'd been gone for months, but they had not been and wouldn't soon be forgotten.

But now here they were, months later, and they were very much a dog family, wanting to give a loving home to more of them, either to stay or temporarily as a foster. Maya and Lucas had both been telling themselves that the right time for getting new dogs in the house would be right when they decided it was time, and now here they were.

"Alright, so, what's the plan here?" Maya asked as they drove up to the shelter. "We need one of those… especially with her." She and Lucas both turned in their seats to look into the back, to the mirror giving them a view into the car seat, where Marianne was tilting her head this way and that along with the music from the radio, feet and hands tippy-tapping as well. She was off in her own world, not listening to them, still unaware of where they were and what for.

"We could have left her at home," Lucas pointed out, smiling to himself all the while as he watched their daughter.

"Tell that to your face, Friar," Maya whispered with a smirk. "Also, wasn't it your idea that we bring her?"

"I said we could. Never said we should have," he turned a look to her.

"Fine, play it like that. But seriously, plan."

"Well… Here's the plan: we go in there, and we remember that it's no point to have a plan."

"Lucas…"

"You know as well as I do that nothing we say here is going to mean a thing once we're in that place, dogs everywhere," he gave her a look. She tried to argue this point, but… She sighed. "Alright, let's go," he smiled and hopped out of the minivan to go and bring out Marianne.

Even if they'd had a plan, they probably would have come out of there that day exactly as they did, with Maya needing to call her sister and ask her to come meet them at the shelter so that they could use the car and minivan both to bring home the dogs. They couldn't have brought everyone there in a single vehicle, and they knew that about a minute after they walked into the shelter.

"I wasn't sure what time you'd get here, I'm so glad I didn't miss you," Tanya Hillard approached them with a great big smile soon aimed squarely at Marianne Friar. "Oh, let me see this girl, hello, sweetheart," she took her into her arms as Lucas offered her out. "Excited to see my good friends? Yes? Come, come," she put her on her feet and took her hand. They were off. Lucas and Maya shared a look. If that wasn't grandma envy, they didn't know what was.

"Let her hold on to her while we're here," Lucas suggested. Maya signed back her agreement.

"Listen, before I take you through, I have a favor to ask you," Tanya turned back to look at them as Maya pulled her hands back down.

"Sure, what is it?" she tried to sound casual.

"Well, it's only that I have a pair here, they have a family waiting for them, but they can't pick them up yet, long story. The point is, until they do, I don't feel right about keeping them here. I was about to call around to see if anyone could take them for a few weeks until they can go home, and then you called, so this is a long way of asking if you might take them."

Maya and Lucas turned to one another at the same moment, both of them with a look on their face that said their immediate instinct of saying yes had been paused to check with the other. Recognizing this, they turned back to Tanya. They would take the dogs to foster, and just like that their tally started at two. They would come to find them in the end, the better not to confuse matters.

"Hey, guys," Mateo appeared now, leading one dog back through who looked like he had just gotten washed. "Tanya said you'd be coming, I…"

He stopped as the dog at his side suddenly stalled, turned, and scampered up to Lucas in an unmistakably happy spirit. He barked and looked ready to stand up on his hind legs, tail wagging the merry beat of 'you, I know you.' And he did. Lucas recognized him with a surprised chuckle.

"Jax? What are you doing here?" he asked, scratching at the dog, who only grew giddier for having been called by his name. It caused a similar reaction in Maya; she'd heard about this dog.

"You two know each other?" Tanya asked, only to connect some dots in her mind. "Former patient by any chance?"

"Second week of residency," Lucas explained, his attention primarily on the black and white border collie. "He didn't have a name back then, but I gave him one. Named him after my grandfather." He'd been working at the ranch stories so much at the time, and then there had been this dog. Even sick as he'd been at the time, there'd just been something about him that reminded Lucas of the man. So, he'd become Jax. "You've been here this whole time, bud?" And now they had three. Lucas had let him go before, because it was the nature of things, but finding him here today, like this… He wasn't about to let him go again.

"Hi hi," Marianne waved at the dog, and he noticed and approached her. He was taller than her, but not so much that he towered over her. Jax was four years old, Lucas remembered, and the way he behaved around the toddler, he knew he was familiar with being around children. He bowed his head under her extended hands, and she stepped up to pet him. Oh, how she loved being around dogs… It was no wonder they responded to her as they did.

"I'm going to check and see if Cara can come out here with the car," Maya smirked as she pulled out her phone. Lucas couldn't have done it, what with his phone already put to quick use in recording the encounter of Marianne and Jax.

Sure, they were already primed to return home with three dogs, but two of them would only be with them a little while, and anyway they'd only just gotten here, had been accosted twice before they got very far. They wanted to walk around and see who else was here. They never knew, right?

Tanya picked Marianne up before they went through the door, knowing as well as Lucas, Maya, and Mateo did that it was going to be loud with echoing barks from this end of the room to the other. The way she perked up, even as she held her hands almost to her ears, her parents guessed she was understandably overwhelmed but at the same time she was curious because… well, dogs.

"Can I show you one? Got a good feeling," Mateo turned to Maya with a smile.

"Yeah, sure, lead the way," Maya nodded to him before turning back to the others. Lucas was seeing to Jax, which was really not so difficult with how the dog trailed him so close. He knew he was getting out of here and he was going with the man he'd already made friends with. Meanwhile, Tanya was walking slowly along with Marianne, telling her about this dog and that dog, so she was in great hands and Maya could follow her sister's boyfriend. "Cara's on her way," she let him know when the message came through.

"How many dogs did she think you'd bring back?" Mateo asked with a knowing look.

"I think right now we're on track with what she wagered," Maya admitted just as he stopped and opened one of the kennel gates. When she looked inside, she understood very easily what Mateo had meant when he said that he had a good feeling. Maya crouched, before setting one knee to the ground as the dog took a slow advance toward her.

"This is Artie," Mateo told her. "He's two years old, boxer lab mix."

"Hi, Artie," Maya addressed him in soft tones. "He hasn't been here long, has he?" she guessed just by the way he carried himself.

"Yes and no," Mateo replied. Maya looked up at him. "Someone took him home, but they brought him back."

"Because of his leg?" she asked. Mateo had no definitive answer, but he had a gut feeling and it was the same as Maya's. Artie was missing one of his hind legs. Trix… Their sweet girl had been missing half of one of her legs, too. You almost couldn't tell from watching her go, although in her last few months it had become harder for her to get around. Artie here, he looked like he hadn't quite gotten a handle of things, which told her maybe he hadn't always had just the three legs. Whatever the case may have been, Maya saw him, and he reminded her of Trix, and… yeah, Mateo's feeling had been very good.

She sat on the ground with him for a few minutes while he got familiar with her. It didn't take more than half of that before he came and she could pet him, but she gave him more time. You're not coming back this time, promise. And they had four.

Maya watched Artie's shuffle as they went along, and she listened to Mateo's rundown of what he knew about him, about the leg he had indeed lost. He hadn't had it easy from the start, and Mateo told her it might take him time to open up, to humans and other dogs alike, but if he could be gotten to that point, they'd have a real sweetie on their hands. The way he'd looked at her back before they'd started on their way out, Maya could believe that.

She heard a squeak of a bark from nearby and looked to the side. There stood Marianne, all of three feet away from them, holding a small dog in her little arms and staring back at her. It gave another squeaky bark and Marianne giggled.

"Where did you…" Maya didn't know whether to be confused, like her daughter, just a couple months shy of two years old, had managed to unlock a kennel door all by herself in order to liberate her tiny friend, or just amused at the sight of them together. Clearly, someone – Tanya – would have done that for her, but all that mattered here was that she was able to hold and carry the pup all by herself and she looked proud to do so. "Who's this?"

"She doesn't have a name," Mateo explained. "Or she didn't have one when she came in here. We've been calling her Squeak, because, well…" At the sound of the word, the dog gave her bark.

"She seems to like it," Maya breathed out. The statement was true of the name as much as Marianne, who stood there with the year-old dog, a yorkie poodle mix according to Mateo. They already looked like they'd riot if they were split up. "Cara better get here fast before we find more… Alright, come on, bring your friend there, pumpkin." And they had five.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners