Sunday dawned clear and bright, a perfect spring day in May which is exactly what Brenna told Molly when she called.
“Don’t rub it in,” Molly groaned. “The air is just heavy here today, reminds me of an inversion. Not that I’ll be out in it much anyway, I’ll be in the hospital. How are things going with all my beach bums?”
“If you’re including the animals in that statement, we’re all fine. The cats lay around and make themselves useless. And we've added a new member to the family."
"Oh, yeah?"
"I hit a dog night before last and bruised her pretty badly, then ended up adopting her."
Molly laughed. "Well, I was hoping you'd added Adam, but I guess it's asking a bit much this soon in the game. How do you know whether or not this dog already has a home?"
"The vet said she looked neglected and she didn't have a collar or microchip. She's really skinny, but now that she's been cleaned up, she's actually quite pretty. She looks like a golden retriever. She was just so underweight and filthy I couldn't tell. Not that I need any more animal hair drifting around here, but oh well. She still hasn't decided if she's afraid of me or not. Anyway, I named her Zoe and she's managing to limp around now."
"No progress with Adam, huh?"
"For God's sake, Molly...okay, he was with me after I hit Zoe." Brenna proceeded to relate the story of her accident and as she spoke, she smiled, remembering Adam's patience while wandering around in a rising slough, looking for an animal that might not even have been there.
"And so, he brought us home from the vet's the next day. The Blazer's in the shop. After I got over the shock of hitting the dog, I realized what I'd done to my new car and had to cry about that too. But it won't take long to fix."
"So, the upshot is you brought home the dog, but not the man. Girl, what am I going to do with you?"
Brenna smiled and looked down to find Zoe's watchful eyes on her. The dog's tail thumped on the floor as Brenna replied, "Well, the dog needs me more. And I'm thinking about Adam. Even that is progress, don't you think?"
After she hung up, she and Zoe regarded each other seriously for a minute. She'd never had a dog of her own. For a minute she felt overwhelmed, but then shook it off. For God's sake, she'd held babies' lives in her hands and she was worried about a dog? Get real.
"Do you want to go out?"
Zoe whined and worked herself to her feet.
"Well, you must've had an owner at some point. You know all the standard stuff. Let's go."
Brenna held the door for her and Zoe limped down the steps.
"Sure you're not playing that up just a bit?"
Zoe eased herself down on the warm grass.
"Okay, I guess not. You can watch me plant my rosebush, alright?"
Brenna dug a large hole beside the garage, adding several new blisters to her hands. Then she wrestled the large bush over and after ripping away its paper pot, she rolled it into the ground.
"There! This can be a rose to celebrate you and me both coming to live here." She glanced over at Zoe and saw she had lost her captive audience. The dog lay sound asleep in the sun with Olivia curled up near her.