The next day Liza and the girls went to the nearest animal shelter to have the dog scanned for a microchip. Nicole and Bianca were happy to come along, trying to stall as they didn't want to go to their summer day camp. This was a more exciting adventure, they thought. "Well, she was chipped," a volunteer named Hannah said. "I will call the owner now. Are you ready to say goodbye?"
The girls agreed to say goodbye, but asked Liza if they could wait in the lobby for her to be picked up. After twenty minutes passed, the volunteer returned. Liza was a little late for work and was getting impatient. Charles was already at the office for his editing meeting, but would be home later to write. She sent him a quick text, asking him to stall with their coworkers.
"You are still here? Why?" Hannah inquired.
"We were just waiting to see her picked up," Bianca said tearfully. "I don't want her to stay in a cage for too long."
"I'll be right back. Please give me a second." Hannah went back through the shelter office doors.
"I think if the owner can't take her, we should." Bianca suggested. "Don't you agree?"
"Yes, but we do have to consider that dad isn't here. Maybe he doesn't want a dog," Nicole told her sister.
"He would do it for us," Bianca whispered.
After another ten minutes, Hannah was back.
"I have some interesting news. You can decide what you want to do. I can see you are already attached to her. She belonged to an elderly lady, and the owner can't care for the dog just yet due to medical problems. But the shelter is overcrowded, and placing dogs in foster care frees up space."
"What does that mean?" Liza asked.
"Well, you can take her home with you after you fill out these papers if you want her temporarily. She will be a foster dog until the owner can take her back."
"One more question, what's her name?" Liza asked.
"She's called Martin."
"That's an unusual name for a girl dog," Nicole said.
"I don't know," the volunteer shrugged.
"Oh, okay. Maybe we will call her Martina?" Bianca suggested.
"Or Martie," Nicole said.
"Ooh, I like that. That's what we will call her. Martie," Bianca agreed.
"There's someone we need to call first. I need to make sure your dad is on board with this," Liza said.
She called Charles' phone, worried he wouldn't go along with the girls' plan. Liza didn't want to admit it to the girls, but she was hoping to keep Martie too. "I know you said you had a hard time with your last pet, but would you consider this?" Liza asked, "Just let us foster for a little while until the owner can take her back?"
"What did you agree to?" Charles asked suspiciously. She told him everything. He was silent for a while, but she could tell he was caving to the idea. Then Bianca took the phone. "Please, daddy?" she whined. After a long conversation, Charles agreed to fostering. He was done with his meeting, and opted to work at home for the day with the dog. After dropping the girls off at their day camp, Liza brought him Martie and left for work.
"This dog is already changing our lives," he remarked, frustrated by the situation. As if on cue, Martie jumped up on his lap and licked his face. "If she wasn't so affectionate, this would be an easier decision." Liza kissed him goodbye and wished him luck with the dog.
During his lunch break, Charles went to the pet store and sent Liza pictures of the supplies he purchased for their foster dog. "You don't have to stop after work now. I know you're busy today. XO," he texted. She could tell that despite his initial protests, he was enjoying having Martie with them.
At home that night, they read up about her breed. Hannah the volunteer had a lot of information for them, and they passed their screening to foster animals. Martie was known as a Mauxie, a mix of a Dachshund and Maltese. "She's easy going and adoring. She is easy to train but has a fearless attitude, so we need to watch her with other dogs."
"Interesting," Charles said. Liza left the room to get her reading glasses. Martie was already making friends with him. When Liza walked back into the room, Charles had sat down in his usual spot on the sofa. Martie was already resting her soft head and tiny paws on his leg. He was amused by this, petting her while she curled up closer to him.
"She knows who she has to butter up," Liza joked. She continued reading. "They have a sparky personality that makes them a fun companion to anyone. They will stay small enough to live in an apartment. We will have to put some extra effort into grooming, it says."
"I'll let you arrange that with the girls. If we have her for that long. We do have a vet appointment tomorrow. I thought it best to get her checked out," he told her.
"Thanks. I put us both as responsible parties on the fostering paperwork. I hope that's okay."
"It is. And with being at home so much lately, I should be able to get her out for walks at times. Last time we had a dog walker come because I was so busy." Charles was already thinking ahead to times he could walk her in between writing sessions.
The next week Charles was due to come back into the office. As a part time editor, he didn't stop by as much, usually only if he had meetings. But he had an important project to start on today and it was necessary. He had called a dog walker to start that day, and had arranged Martie's food and water accordingly. He wrote a list of instructions for the dog walker.
"Now, you be good for your new friend," he said. Charles felt funny talking to Martie like a person, but she had been comforting when he had writer's block. They had gotten through a few rough days together when he was stuck. He would take her out of the house for a walk, and when an idea struck, she was right there on the sofa next to him.
Martie had other plans that morning. She refused to be left at home. As soon as Charles got his shoes on and grabbed his keys, she was right at the door, anxious for her walk. She ran out to the front step like she was waiting for him.
After a few attempts, Martie wouldn't go back inside. She just sat by the door, looking at him inquisitively. Charles sighed and canceled the dog walking service. "You want to go to work? Okay. But I'm not sure what the boss will say. She can be pretty tough."
He arrived at work and shuffled to his small office, hoping no one said anything about the dog. Although he was in charge of the place for years, he didn't like being a rule breaker. The meeting was in a few hours, so he started on his editing work first. His phone chirped.
A text from Liza appeared. "I hear you brought a friend to work. *laughing emoji*"
Charles called her to explain. "Martie didn't want me to go, so I brought her."
"You really are a softie," Liza said. "But we can't have everyone bringing in their pets. Remember when we had Diana's bird in the office? That was a laugh."
He chuckled, thinking back to the inappropriate noises the bird had made in front of Nicole's class, when they visited for a field trip. That had been a disaster. "Right. How could I forget about that?"
"I'm just teasing you. I'm okay with you bringing Martie. Thanks for giving her a chance."
"I think she can be a good dog today. We had a talk on the way over. Thanks for understanding."
Liza laughed as they hung up. Charles played a good game at being stern, but deep down she knew he couldn't say no once his heart was involved.