Page 77 of Bad Boys Don’t Date Clumsy Girls

“Belle?”

“That sweet black and white Australian Shepherd mix? Your face lit up in a way I’d never seen a face light up before. From that moment, it became my mission to make you as happy as Belle did.”

“Wow. Dylan.” But I don’t know what to say. I’m surprised he has felt that way from the beginning. We didn’t even get along at first.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he continues. “Even though that’s the moment I fell for you, I didn’t realize it—or maybe recognize that I’d fallen until much later.”

I let out a breath. “Thank goodness, because I was thinking what jerks we were to each other at first.”

We fill the rest of the ride with light conversation about things we like and places we’ve visited—well, places he’s gone, since I’ve gone nowhere. Finally, I can direct him off the freeway and through a few rural neighborhoods.

“This is unexpected.” He’s looking around at the sprawling homes all surrounded by acreage.

I just waggle my eyebrows at him and tell him to turn into the next driveway.

He squints at the big wooden sign with carved letters spelling out, New Tricks, that graces the entrance of the long gravel drive. Our tires crunch as we slowly progress toward the house.

“Drive past the house. We are going out to the barn.” I wave at Mandy, who trots down the back stairs of the house and jogs toward the barn to greet us.

“What is this place?” Dylan asks. “It’s gorgeous.”

“I know, right? My dream.” I purposefully don’t answer. He’ll see soon enough.

As we get out of the car, Mandy approaches. “Hey Ava. So great to see you. Is this Dylan?”

I nod and they shake hands.

“Thanks for letting me bring him out. He’s been volunteering at the shelter for a while now and I think he’ll appreciate what you’re doing here.”

“What are you doing here?” Dylan asks.

We can hear dogs barking. Lots of dogs. Dylan is looking around trying to find the source, but you can’t see the dogs from where we stand.

Mandy motions for us to follow her. She pulls a door open and enters the barn, which has been retrofitted into kennels and an office. Since it’s daytime, most of the kennels are empty, but a couple dogs are curled up within even though the doors stand open.

Mandy waves an arm to indicate the kennels. “Welcome to New Tricks, a home for old dogs. Unfortunately, as dogs age, they require extra care and medical treatments, and people often abandon them or turn them into the shelter. New Tricks is a place for old dogs to live out their final days.”

Dylan scans the interior of the barn, a small smile forming on his face.

We follow Mandy across the barn to exit out the other side and step out into a small open enclosure. She waits for us to get into the area and close the door to the barn before she opens the gate leading onto a large cement patio. The patio is surrounded by a large expanse of grass where dozens of dogs roam, chase each other, or lounge in the sun.

An old bloodhound saunters up to Dylan and sniffs his shoes and legs. Dylan bends to pet the dog. “This is great. How many dogs are here?”

“We’re currently full with twenty-six dogs.” Mandy pets a standard poodle and bends to pick up a ball for a rather spry old mutt. She tosses it and the mutt bounds off while the poodle prances in the opposite direction.

“Same capacity as the shelter,” Dylan says. “What inspired you to do this?”

“I’m a veterinarian. Over the years, we’ve found several old dogs abandoned on our doorstep. I also do some volunteer medical services for the shelter, so of course, I knew they also receive more old dogs than they can adopt out.

“My partner and I had all this space, so we decided to do what we can.”

Dylan, who took over tossing the ball for the spry old dog, asks me, “Do you volunteer here too?”

“No! I don’t drive and the bus doesn’t come out here.” An adorable cocker spaniel has taken up residence on my foot. She’s leaning against my leg as I scratch behind her ear. “Unfortunately, I can only visit now and again.”

“We should volunteer together this summer.” Dylan is giving aggressive rubdowns to two different dogs at once.

“We would love that,” Mandy says. “Because we are out in the country, we don’t get as many volunteers as we could use.”

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