Page 13 of Finding Noah
“Okay.” The trajectory of this conversation was becoming clear.
“And she was complaining she couldn’t find a trainer in town.”
“And of course you offered her a business card.”
“Yep.” A grin split his face. “Labrador puppy.”
“That sounds great. Will she be coming—”
“And she’s in a group chat with the owners of the other ten puppies from the litter.”
I did some quick—and very simple—math in my head. “Eleven puppies?”
“Yep.” He grinned. “And the owners are from as far as Sacramento, Miller’s Point, and Hartsville—but they’re all looking for a good trainer. Somehow, in five minutes, she got eight of them to agree to come out to our place on Sunday afternoons at noon for group lessons starting next weekend.”
Again, I did the math in my head. Nine puppies times a minimum of eight weeks and— “Oh,wow.”
“Yeah!” He grabbed me and pulled me into a hug.
I went willingly.
“That will cover all of my startup expenses with some money left for household expenses. This is huge.”
He wasn’t kidding.
“And I explained how I did puppy, beginner, advanced, tricks, and therapy-dog classes. Glynnis said she wanted all five. She visits a nursing home in Hartsville, and the therapy dog who used to visit retired.” He let me go suddenly—as if suddenly realizing he still held me.
I felt bereft, but kept that feeling to myself. “And…?”
“She adopted the puppy with the hopes of eventually training it to be a therapy dog. Now, Bear’s got some attitude—”
“Bear?”
“Right? Anyway, he’s already headstrong, and he’s only thirteen weeks. I’ve got my work cut out for me.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” Noah preferred when people rescued dogs instead of buying puppies from breeders, but he wasn’t about to turn down the kind of paid work being presented to him.
“When are they coming? We’ll need to make sure we’ve got the training pen set up.”
“A week from Sunday. So, we’ve got a bit of time.” He closed his eyes and blew out a breath of what I knew was frustration. “I didn’t even ask how you did.” He met my gaze.
I gestured toward where he’d parked “Because your news is far more important. I got the job, and I start Tuesday morning.”
“Tuesday?”
“I work Tuesday through Saturday.”
“Oh good.”
I stopped. “Huh?”
“You’ll be around to help with the puppies.”
That hadn’t occurred to me. He was always so competent, I assumed he could just do everything himself. “Right, of course.”
“And there might be one more thing.”
Apparently we’d moved off my job, which was just fine. Stocking shelves and occasionally covering the till wasn’t all that impressive anyway—even if the job was going to be my first that I didn’t get by nepotism. “Yep?”
