Page 43 of Love in Training
“A dog?”
“Yeah...” I sink in my chair. Generally, our office is a pretty low-key place to work. People come and go during the day depending on what they’re working on, but there’s still a level of professionalism I know I’mnotachieving right now. I watch my boss and start mentally updating my resumé.
But then the edge of Randall’s mouth quirks. “What kind?”
“Beg your pardon?”
“What breed is he?”
“Oh.” Rufus has climbed back up on top of his carcass throne, but he jumps back down and approaches like he knows he’s the topic of conversation. “Uh, a Belgian Malinois?”
“Cool! Like the police use? Can I see him?”
“Um... sure?” I reach to unblur my screen and glare at Rufus. “Mybosswants to see you.”
And now I’m clearly losing it because I’m speaking to him the way Lydia does. Except the dog comes over and sits in front of the computer like heunderstands. He waits patiently as I angle the camera down, staring at the screen like Randall might reach through and offer him a treat.
God, who even cares at this point? At least he stopped whining.
“Oh, you are a handsome fella, aren’t you?” Randall says in the same voice I’ve heard every single one of Lydia’s clients use to speak to their pets. “What’s his name?”
“Rufus,” I mutter, wondering if I should just let the two of them finish this meeting.
“Hello, Rufus! Are you a good boy?” Randall chuckles.
I angle the screen back up at my face. “Anyway. I’m sorry I’ve been out this week,” I say with complete sincerity. “I just haven’t been able to...” I exhale. “He kind of freaks out if I leave him home alone.”
“Ah. Separation anxiety?” Randall asks. Because I guess this is a thing dog people know about. “We went through that with our whoodle.”
“Your what?” I deadpan.
“You’ve met Alfonse. He’s a wheaten-poodle mix?”
Somewhere in the foggy recesses of my brain, I remember Randall bringing a black medium-sized dog with him to the office a year or so back. I only remember because our receptionist Tracy cooed over him all day, forgot to make thecoffee, and managed to lose track of an important delivery I’d been waiting for.
“Right. Yeah, Alfonse.”
“He goes to doggie daycare now. Actually, I think you mentioned the place in your PetExpo feature—The Pooch Park? It’s fantastic. They’ve really saved us.”
I rub my palms into my eyes, wishing I could just hang up now. “Yeah... I talked to them. Apparently Rufus has some issues he needs to work through before they’ll take him.”
Randall nods, like this makes so much sense. And now I’m convinced everyone else must share some gene I’m missing. “I mean, when we were going through it with Alphonse, I brought him to work with me for a while...”
His voice echoes through the speakers. I couldn’t have heard that correctly.
“Sorry. Did you just suggest I bring the dog with me to the office?”
Randall shrugs. “Is he friendly?”
“Er, he seems to be... ?” Briefly, an image of Rufus tearing across my apartment, aiming for my neighbor’s jugular, flashes through my mind. But in the days since that happened, Darius has stopped to getRufus kissesevery time he’s seen us in the hall. The dog has barely even growled, except at the training place when that fluffy white terror lunged for him. Well, and any time he hears people in the hall.
I glance at the door, my stomach twisting uncomfortably.
“I tell you what,” Randall says, leaning forward at his desk. “Let’s make a deal.”
My skin prickles. I donotlike the sound of this, though I’ve already guessed where it’s going.
“You can bring Rufus into the office tomorrow, and we’ll see how it goes... if you’ll bring me up to speed right now on what you’re doing with that Unmatched lead.”
