Page 36 of Between the Shady Groves
She’d set some food out earlier, and it was gone.
The dog must have been getting more used to her, because it stood by the peach grove, its tail slowly going back and forth.
“Are you hungry, honey?” she asked, walking down to the bottom step, setting scraps of food down, and then coming back up and sitting at the top step.
The dog was shaggy and gaunt with its hip bones sticking out and shoulder blades clearly visible along with each of its ribs.
But it had a bit of a distended belly, and that’s what made her think it was pregnant.
Hopefully the puppies weren’t all born dead. That would be sad. She’d had enough sadness for a while. Surely God wouldn’t send her a stray dog, that was pregnant, no less, and then have all the puppies die in her care.
Not that this was really in her care. Maybe she could go get dog food later today. She should have done that when she first saw the dog, rather than grabbing scraps and using those. The dog could use balanced nutrition.
“I’m sorry. Maybe that’s why I don’t have a baby of my own. I’m not very good at taking care of things. I have a tendency to jump to the wrong conclusions and go running off when I shouldn’t.”
She didn’t really have a tendency to do that. This was the first time in their marriage that she had, but she’d been harboring these resentments for a while now.
As she spoke, the dog continued to stand there wagging its tail.
“Come on, honey. I won’t hurt you. And you don’t have rabies. You’re just really hungry.”
Maybe the dog had gotten lost or had accidentally jumped in someone’s car that was just driving through.
Maybe someone had realized it was pregnant and dropped it off.
Whatever its story was, it seemed like it had been a long while since it had had someone regularly feeding it.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll try to get you more food later. Although, too much at one time will probably make you sick. And that won’t help you at all either, will it?”
The dog started coming closer, slowly.
Its eyes were sweet, its head down, its tail still swaying slightly back and forth.
But its whole body was focused on the food on the step. The poor thing was starving.
She wasn’t quite sure what kind of dog it was. Probably a mix of a bunch of different breeds, but she thought she saw a little bit of golden retriever in it. That’s probably where the long shaggy hair came from. But the white collar around its neck and the white paws… She wasn’t sure. She didn’t really know of any dogs that looked like that. Those were more like horse markings. At least the white feet.
“Come on, sweetheart. If you eat that, I’ll see if I can find something else for you in a bit.”
She tried to remember how many eggs she had in the refrigerator. She had been going to offer to cook some for Cannon this morning, so she hadn’t even opened the refrigerator to get anything for herself. She thought she had two or three left. Cannon would need at least two and more if she didn’t have anything to go along with it. But there was a little bit of bacon in the refrigerator as well. So she could give a whole egg, and maybe two, to the dog.
Still, it would be better to get some dog food.
By that time, the dog had walked almost the whole way over and was now in a crouch, slinking forward, its eyes on the food. Lauren sat as still as she could.
“Lauren!” a voice said at the same time the door opened. The dog spun around and fled away. Lauren turned,her husband standing behind her, anger on his face but also worry and concern. “What are you doing? That dog looks like a mangy old thing that has a million diseases.”
“She’s pregnant and hungry. She almost came to me. That was the closest she’d ever gotten.” She stood, knowing that the dog wasn’t going to be coming back anytime soon. She was angry with her husband for scaring it away.
But her anger was tempered by the fact that she knew he was trying to protect her, and with her newfound knowledge, she was assuming that that meant that he was showing that he loved her. Even if he was irritating her rather than making her feel loved.
He took a breath, blowing it out and shoving a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I just saw that dog out there, it looked rough, and you were so close to it, and I… I wanted to scare it away. I was worried about you.”
“Thanks. I appreciate the fact that you were worried.” She didn’t appreciate the fact that he had scared the dog away, but there would be another time for the dog to come, and she’d leave the food there.
“I just came in to tell you that we have another hour, and then we’re going to be finished. George is going to have to go, but I wanted to know if you wanted to go to a restaurant and eat brunch?”
When was the last time they’d gone out to eat together? Maybe when her mom was sick and they’d had to run an errand and he had gotten home late and she was still up… It was still more than a year ago.
