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Jo cast a nervous glance over her shoulder as Anna guided the truck away from the house. Bobby knew what he was doing, she reminded herself. By the time they got home, Bobby and Ellen would have the place ready for their new family member. Ellen was there now, doing some last-minute cleaning, while Bobby was picking up supplies. It was their contribution to the birthday present Charlie and Anna had schemed up for Jo. When she came home, it would be with a dog.
They’d been to the shelter a couple times so Jo could find the right dog for their family. It had taken some playtime, but eventually, Jo found an adorable mutt that she just fell in love with. The shelter’s best guess was that there was probably some lab in there and likely some kind of hound, based on the ears and the nose, but that was about all they could say. It didn’t matter to any of them that they couldn’t identify a dominant breed. Fifi was a dog made of pure love, and what else mattered?
Okay, it would be nice to be able to predict health problems and trainability and all, but they’d figure that out as they got to know their dog. A nice thing about living out in the country was that they had a big back yard they’d fenced in, so Fifi would have plenty of room to run and play, and with birds and squirrels to chase lots of entertainment. If she needed more than that, Anna could take her out on her morning runs, or Jo could get a frisbee to throw to her. She’d always wanted a frisbee dog.
Jo picked up the collar, looking at the identification tag Charlie had made for it. Fifi’s name, address, phone number, and email address were all on there, and Jo couldn’t help the smile. Charlie was busy in the back seat signing Fifi up for social media accounts, using her very own email address. She’d been the least enthusiastic about the possibility of getting a dog, but once they’d decided to do it, she’d been off and running with plans to make Fifi the most famous dog on Twitter and Instagram. How, exactly, Charlie was going to find the time to do this between her own social media, her actual job, and her charity work, she wouldn’t say. Jo didn’t worry too much about it. As long as Charlie was excited about the dog, who cared why? Even if the social media didn’t pan out, once Fifi was established, Jo couldn’t imagine Charlie not loving her.
Anna was having trouble with the idea of someone loving her unconditionally and relying on her so much, but at least she acknowledged that a dog would be easier than a baby. That one, Jo was planning on waiting until Fifi had built up some confidence in all three of them before they even started talking about. Kids would be nice, one day, but Jo was in no hurry. For one thing, as excited as Charlie was about putting their dog all over the internet, it was probably going to take some talk to get her to understand why that wasn’t a great idea with a baby. Between that and Anna’s hesitation, there was no way the three of them were ready for a child.
Jo could hear the barking as soon as she opened the car door at the shelter. Picking out Fifi’s bark was impossible – for now, anyway – but she was sure Fifi was among them. Once inside, Anna went to the desk to finalize the paperwork while Jo went with the volunteer to go get Fifi.
As soon as the door to the cage opened, Fifi was out in the lane between cages, wagging and wiggling so hard that Jo had no hope of getting the collar on her. She dropped to one knee, reaching out to pet her new dog enough to calm her down and get out of there. “You’re such a good girl! So excited! Are you ready to go home?” Fifi barked once, and Jo grinned. “No, you’re not, because you don’t have a collar on. You gotta calm down a little, okay, girl?”
It took a couple minutes, but eventually, Jo was able to fasten the collar around her neck. The bright blue stood out beautifully against the tan fur. Holding the leash while Fifi half-dragged her out front was also a struggle. Leash training was going to be a big deal, although it was quite likely that she’d calm down after getting to go home. Jo could hope, anyway.
Charlie was waiting with the phone camera to get the very first picture for Snapchat. Luckily, she got it taken before Fifi barreled into her, nearly knocking her over. “Oof! Just a little excited, then? Hi, Fifi!” Fifi barked again, tail going ninety miles an hour. Charlie threw her arms around her, holding on tight through the wiggles. “Love you too.”
Anna came over and took a picture herself, which she promptly sent to Charlie. “Paperwork’s done, I have her shot records and vet history, Fifi’s all ours. Wanna get her home?”