Page 37 of Bi-Partisan

“No, that was Mina, his press secretary. Riley is his office assistant. I met her when I went to his office,” I explain.

“Oh, well, you should also invite Mina,” she says. “From what you’ve said, she sounds awesome, and we could use more female energy in this friend group.”

I open my mouth to argue that I’m perfectly content with the size of our existing friend group, but the bell above the front door rings, putting an end to our conversation. I turn toward the door and smile when I see Kelly, from District Pets Rescue, the rescue I’ve been volunteering with for the last two years.

“Hey Kelly, I didn’t know you were coming in.” I look down and notice the shaggy brown dog on a leash next to her. “And who is this?”

“This is Pumpernickel,” she answers. “He’s a little skittish, but I think he’ll be a real sweetheart once he’s in a proper home. I called about half an hour ago and talked to someone named Sophie who said to come on in.”

“Oh, shoot, that’s me. Sorry Adrian,” she says with a grimace. “I took the call just as I was taking over for Carol so she could take lunch. I knew you had a gap in your schedule and meant to tell you, but then my attention got pulled elsewhere.”

She’s being purposefully vague since a patient is here, but I can guess with almost certainty that Casey is the reason for the distraction.

I give her a reassuring smile, knowing she’s probably going to beat herself up about the miscommunication. “Don’t worry about it, Soph. I have—” I glance down at my watch — “about a half an hour until my next appointment so I can fit Pumpernickel in. Did you do any intake over the phone when Kelly called?”

“Yes, I remembered to do that. I even printed it out. Hold on,” she says.

While she searches the desk for the file, I crouch down and slowly hold out a hand for Pumpernickel to approach in his own time. Kelly seemed accurate in her assessment of his skittishness because once I crouch down, he hides slightly behind her leg. But after a few seconds of sizing me up, he takes a few tentative steps toward me and sniffs my hand.

“Hey, there. That’s a good boy,” I murmur to the dog when he presses his wet nose against my knuckles. Slowly, I open my hand and scratch beneath his chin, earning a soft whine. “So where did he come from?” I ask Kelly.

“A shelter in Virginia. There was some serious overcrowding, and I think some of the other dogs were bullying him. I didn’t notice any injuries when I picked him up, but he looks a little underweight to me, so either the staff wasn’t feeding him properly or the other dogs were bullying him off the food,” she explains.

“Oh, poor baby,” Sophie says, slowly rounding the counter.

Pumpernickel’s eyes immediately dart to her, but he doesn’t hide, which is a good sign. I stand, and she approaches slowly, handing the file to me. Then she drops to a similar crouch and smiles at the dog.

A lot quicker than he warmed up to me, Pumpernickel pads over to her and rests his head on her knee.

“He seems to prefer women over men,” Kelly says.

“Hi sweet boy. Aren’t you handsome? Yes, you are,” she coos. Then she looks up at me. “Do you want me to take him back and weigh him?”

“Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”

She nods, then stands and holds her hand out to Kelly for the leash. “Come on, Pumpernickel. Let’s go on an adventure. Case, I’ll text you later. Thanks for the coffee!”

“No problem,” he says, giving her a smile that turns slightly wistful as she turns her back and heads toward one of the exam rooms.

“So, how is the operations center opening going?” I ask.

Kelly’s shoulders slump. “It’s looking like it won’t happen anytime soon. The city rejected our grant proposal.”

“But I thought it was basically a done deal.”

“So did we. The worst part is that the grants office isn’t returning our calls, so we don’t even know why the proposal was rejected.” She sighs. “And without the grant, we’d have to raise the money ourselves, which will take years.”

I frown. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Do you have an in with the DC mayor’s office?” she asks sarcastically.

“No, unfortunately I don’t,” I say with a frown.

“He is dating a congressman, though,” Casey offers with a grin.

I shoot him a narrowed look.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were seeing someone,” Kelly exclaims. “And a congressman—wait, you wouldn’t happen to be talking about that congressman from North Carolina, would you? Oh, shoot, what’s his name? I was just reading the interview he did with District Buzz.”

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