Liza was spending a lazy afternoon with Nicole and Bianca on a summer day. "Okay girls, where do you want to go?"
"Let's just go for a walk down the street," Bianca suggested.
They gathered a few things to do, including their books from the library's summer reading program. They had invited Charles, but he had an important call with Diana to arrange venues for his latest book tour. His latest novel was already doing well during presales, and he needed to keep the momentum going. Liza decided to let him have some alone time and offered to take the girls out to reduce the noise level in their home.
"Thank you so much. I love you. I'll start cooking something around six if that's okay." Charles said.
"Perfect, see you soon. Love you too." Liza gave him a quick kiss and was out the door.
Liza and the girls walked to Central Park. They had a few favorite places to visit when they went there, and Liza watched Bianca and Nicole as they found a place to spread out their blankets and get out their books. They decided to read this afternoon, as they both were close to completing the summer reading challenge.
Liza knew that next they would want to go to the Ancient Playground which was nearby. Then they would tour all the sculptures and invent stories about each one. Going to the park was something Liza loved to do with the girls, and it boosted all of their imaginations. As the girls were getting older, they were finding new activities in the park to enjoy together. After a while, Nicole asked if Liza would go to the street food vendor to get them a snack.
"I don't know. Remember, your dad is going to want to make dinner when we get home," Liza reminded them.
"But it's just a small snack. Please," Bianca whined.
Liza finally caved into their demands, buying each girl a mini soft pretzel. She was a little bit hungry herself, so got something as well. On the way back with the girls' food, Liza noticed they were playing with a dog.
"Hey, what's your name?" Liza asked the dog, as if she expected an answer. She looked to see if the animal had a tag.
It was a beautiful dog, small and energetic with soft brown fur and big soulful eyes.
"Is this a girl dog or a boy dog?" Nicole asked.
"Um, a girl," Liza said, discreetly lifting the dog and checking. "She has a collar, but she doesn't have a nametag."
"What should we do? I don't want to leave her here," Bianca cried.
"Let's see if someone approaches us while we are here. This is a big park. It is possible that she just wandered away from her family."
They waited a while but no one approached them. "I guess we should ask one of the park personnel," Liza suggested. They were able to find someone at the park police precinct, but he was not much help. "I don't know, lady. Just see if someone comes up to you," was his answer. "This happens all the time."
"We tried that," she told him impatiently.
"Well then let me call the dog warden if you don't want bothered." He started to pick up his phone.
"You know," Liza said, "That's not necessary. We will take the dog for the night and maybe someone will claim her tomorrow."
"Okay, suit yourself."
Liza told the girls about her plan and they were delighted. "Yes, we get to keep her!" Nicole exclaimed. Liza gave the officer her information and told him to call her if anyone reported a missing dog. Liza told the girls they weren't keeping her forever, but just for the night.
They walked back to their house, unsure of what they needed to do for their new furry friend. The girls took turns carrying her, as they didn't have a leash. Approaching home, Liza thought about how she would break the news to Charles.
As they walked in the door, the dog raced into the kitchen, skidding on the slippery floor. Charles was cooking, and the dog was excited to smell all the enticing scents of food.
"Wow, I totally didn't expect this," Charles said in shock, emerging from behind the counter after stirring their dinner. Although Liza knew he wasn't a cat person, she thought maybe he would be open to this temporary pet.
The girls beat her to telling the story. "Daddy, she had nowhere to go. It was getting dark," Bianca said. Looking outside he could see that was not the case, but let Bianca talk. It didn't get dark for a few more hours. After Bianca had concluded her persuasive speech, Nicole added, "Besides, she's so sweet. How could we let her stay there in the scary park or in a cage?"
Liza explained what happened, ending with how the officer was going to call the dog warden and likely put her in the nearest shelter overnight. She could tell Charles was softening to the idea, his face changed from distress to acceptance. He let the girls take the dog upstairs. They were fighting about where she should sleep, both wanting her bed next to theirs.
"Sorry, I know this was something I should have asked you about first. But you saw her sweet little face. She's probably pretty young. The girls were so persuasive, I'm sorry I couldn't say no to them."
He finally spoke, laughing as he did. "They do present a good case. They should be lawyers."
She hugged him, "Thank you for letting her stay with us."
"The last time we had a dog, it was a big ordeal. The experience ended up hurting the girls when they were going through an already difficult time," Charles said. He sat at one of the kitchen barstools with a glass of red wine, waiting for the dinner timer to sound. He poured Liza a glass as they waited.
"Well, we aren't in a difficult time now. And this is just for a few days, until the owner is located," Liza explained.
He sighed as she sat down next to him. "Our last family dog was gone so fast. I got him right when we were essentially abandoned by Pauline. Toby was a golden retriever. I thought having a pet would cheer them up."
"Hmm, I'm sorry. I didn't know that." She rubbed his arm. "I'm sure that was tough, considering."
"Well, it started out well intentioned. Our mutual friend, Jay, thought Nicole and Bianca would enjoy going to the shelter he volunteers at to help with the animals. I thought it could ease their heartache a little. I was desperate. They didn't know where their mother was, and I was pretty useless at first. Dealing with my own grief, you could say. They enjoyed helping out that afternoon and I got a break. But then they saw this dog, Toby. He was about a year old."
"I didn't realize this happened before, the girls talking you into having a pet. You didn't mention him at work. Or really ever."
"He was only in our lives for a few months. The problem was we all fell in love with him, not just the girls. He became ill very quickly with a rare heart disorder. I was the one who found him when he passed away. I told the girls he went to go live on a farm so he had more room to run around in the country."
"The old farm story, I'm familiar," Liza said sympathetically. "I had to tell Caitlin that about a cat we lost."
"Well, they were pretty young. I just didn't want to tell them he was gone for good. They didn't need another loss. They were mad at me for a while, but they got over it." Charles rubbed his face, then ran his hands through his hair. He walked out of the room and returned with a photo album.
He handed it to Liza without saying a word, and she flipped through it. She could see how much the three of them loved their dog. The girls were young in these pictures, maybe five and seven, she guessed. She thought back to the first time she babysat and how much fun she had with them. "This must have been right after I met your girls. I had no idea."
"I think Bianca forgot about the dog. But Nicole still remembers him." Liza stopped on a photo of them playing frisbee at his country property he had sold a few years ago, where they used to have company picnics. The family had some good times with Toby.
"Well, I guess our next step is to see if this dog has a home," Charles announced casually. He picked up the album after she was done looking at the pictures, and placed it back where it belonged. In a few minutes, he was back in the kitchen with her.
They heard a noise as the dog wandered down the stairs, the girls following right behind. "Oh, she came to check on us!" Liza exclaimed. "I guess she wanted to make sure everyone was together." They ate dinner, then cleaned up the kitchen. The girls were helpful, offering to take the dog out for one last evening walk. They fashioned a leash out of a backpack strap. Liza added to her list to get a proper leash and some pet supplies tomorrow.
Charles laughed as he watched the girls with the dog. "She is a cute little thing. I guess we can let her come upstairs for the night so she's not scared. But after tomorrow, we have to find her owners." As they settled into bed for the night, the dog ran into their room, jumped on the bed and cuddled up between them.
"Sorry dear, you're getting blocked by a dog tonight," Liza said as Charles attempted to move over to her side of the bed.
"Yeah, I was afraid of that." He laughed. "I'll allow it this one time."
"Okay, goodnight sweetie," she said, patting the dog's head.