Page 24 of Mia Amata

The man walking the identical puppy, looked at the sleeping one in my arms, smiling. “The little guy is an escape artist I swear. Slipped right out of his collar and took off down the path. Thank you for catching him. He can be hard to rein in.” I glanced at the other man, it was obvious they were brothers, to find him looking intently at me with the most gorgeous blue eyes I have ever seen. I tore my eyes away from him and looked back to the other man.

“It was no trouble, he actually came right up to me, begging me to pick him up. Then he promptly fell asleep.”

The guy seemed a bit surprised, “Really? He rarely lets anyone hold him or goes to anyone. Even my fiancé has trouble picking him up. Now his twin sister, Lady, is different. She likes everyone to give her attention and will bug you for it.”

I laughed. “They are adorable.”

“Adorable but a handful!” He pulled a collar out of his pocket, putting it on Lucky. He then hooked a leash to it, saying “Well, thanks again for bringing him back.” I put Lucky on the ground, and he turned toward me, paws up on my legs again, whining. “My name is Josh.” He said, holding his hand out. “This is my little brother, Jacob.” He nodded toward the other guy.

“Mattie,” I said, hesitating briefly before shaking his hand. Jacob smiled at me as he shook my hand.

“I haven’t seen you around here before, are you visiting family?” Josh asked.

“I just moved into the house just south of here.”

“That’s great. My fiancé, Randy, and I are your neighbors to the north. If there is anything you need just let us know.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“We’d better get these two back home. Nice meeting you.”

“You too,” I said, starting to turn away, but hesitating. Josh was already headed back toward his house, having a difficult time getting Lucky to go with him. Lucky kept looking at me and whining. I smiled, such a cute little puppy.

“It was very nice to meet you, Mattie,” Jacob said before turning to follow his brother. “I hope to see you again soon.”

I felt lost in those blue eyes of his, but was able to say, “Nice to meet you too, Jacob.” I turned and walked home.

***

When I got back home, I made a shopping list of things I needed, walking around the house and getting ideas. It was a fairly extensive list, and although I knew I had the money to buy all the things on it today, I felt that I should divide it up into two or three shopping trips, in order not to draw a lot of attention to someone new to town buying a ton of things. The less attention I got the better. I decided I would pick up the groceries, then I needed a purse and wallet, some odds and ends like that for right now. Clothing for myself could wait until the next trip.

I found trash bags, some cleaning supplies, so there really wasn’t much I needed. There were small containers of laundry detergent and softener, so I would pick up some of that. I put some of the cash along with one of the credit cards in my pocket. I also put my driver’s license in my pocket. Later today when I got home, I would start reading through the paperwork in the manilla envelope that had been left in the car for me more in-depth to see what all was in there.

I folded my list, walked out to the garage, and hit the button on the wall of the garage to open the garage door. As the door opened, in ran Lucky. He came running up to me, demanding I pick him up. “Lucky! What are you doing here you naughty puppy? Did you escape again?”

I walked out of the garage door, looking around to see if I could see Josh, Jacob, or Randy, Josh’s fiancé around. There was no one. I opened the car door and climbed in with him. “Come on,” I told Lucky. “Let’s take you home.”

He looked up at me from the passenger seat of the car, curling up he went to sleep. “I must be boring; you seem to fall asleep around me.” I chuckled as I pulled out of the garage and headed out to see if I could find Lucky’s home. I drove out to the main road and then turned north. I didn’t have to go far when I spotted a driveway that I assumed was theirs. I turned, following it up to the house. Josh and Jacob were standing outside with a woman, whom I assumed was Randy. They watched me pull up and get out of the car.

“I think I have something of yours,” I told them smiling. They looked at each other, then back at me, a confused look in their eyes. I walked around to the passenger door, opened it and reached in picking up Lucky.

“Lucky! How did you get out?” Randy exclaimed. She came down, trying to take him from me, but Lucky seemed to try to get away from her, burrowing down into my arms to hide. “He really likes you apparently!” Randy laughed. She took him, saying, “You must be Mattie. Josh told me you found Lucky earlier when he got away. I’m Randy.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said. “Yes, this time when I opened the garage door, there he was sitting there waiting for me.” I laughed.

Josh replied, “I swear he was in the fenced-in backyard. He must have dug a hole or something. I’m sorry you had to bring him here.”

“It was no problem; I was headed into town to pick up a few groceries.” Jacob was standing there, looking at me intently. I looked back at him, his staring unnerved me, so I headed back to the driver’s side of my car.

“Well, thank you for bringing him by. Let me give you our phone numbers in case the little rascal gets away again, you can just call us, and we will come to get him.” Randy went into the house with Lucky, who looked over her shoulder at me, whining.

Jacob noticed Lucky’s reaction, saying, “I think you have an admirer.” The look he gave me made me feel like he was not referring to Lucky.

I laughed nervously, “He is a cute little guy.”

Randy came back out and handed me a slip of paper. “Cute but ornery!” she said. “Text us later, so we have your number. I included Jacob’s number there, in case you can’t reach us. If you need anything just holler!”

“Thank you,” I replied. “I’d better get going.” I climbed back into my car and started to turn around to head into town. I caught a glimpse of Lucky looking out the window at me. He looked so sad. I made a mental note to buy both Lucky and Lady a couple of dog toys while I was in town. I noticed Jacob was watching me drive away too, then he turned to follow Josh and Randy inside.

---