The Dogs of Christmas (6 page)

“What?” Josh gasped. “What do you mean, kill them myself? What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, you do know we’d have to euthanize them immediately, don’t you? We don’t have the resources to hand-feed five babies around the clock.
You
do, but apparently it’s too much of a hassle for you.”

“I do,” Josh repeated stupidly.

“It takes a lactating female willing to adopt them, which you just told me you had.”

“But won’t she eventually figure out the dogs aren’t hers?” Josh asked.

“So?”

“So, I mean … I saw this thing one time about wolves, and when they figured out the cubs didn’t have their DNA, the adults killed them.”

“And that’s why you want to bring the puppies to us.”

“Sure, yeah, that and I thought that I had to. I mean, legally. I know it can’t be legal to have six dogs living in your house unless you’re a breeder. I thought, abandoned dogs, you’re supposed to call the shelter. I would have called the vet but his line’s still down.”

“You’re worried about the puppies,
that’s
why you want to bring them in. Not because you’re the biggest creep in America.” Kerri sounded relieved.

“Won’t she abandon them when she senses they’re not her puppies?” Josh fretted.

“You know, I guess she could, but I’ve never heard of it happening. We had a lactating dog here one time who nursed two kittens for us.”

“No way.”

“Seriously. I mean, maybe the alpha male wolf would kill cubs that weren’t his, I don’t know about that, but your dog isn’t going to hurt those puppies.”

“She’s sort of acting, though, like she’s rejecting them.” Josh described how just moments ago Lucy had refused to return to her pillow.

“You think maybe she’s just tired of taking care of them? Wouldn’t you need a break?”

“I thought they liked it. You always hear about mothers getting this endorphin release when they nurse their babies.”

“Five of them?” Kerri challenged, laughing.

Josh had time to think of a reply as a storm of static interrupted their conversation. Unfortunately, all he could come up with was “Oh.”

“And you’re allowed to have a litter of puppies. You’re right, the county limits you to three dogs, but you have something like six months to adopt them out.”

“Huh.”

“You don’t sound happy,” Kerri observed, her voice turning chilly again.

“It’s just … I’ve never had a dog before in my life and I don’t know how to take care of one and now I have a half dozen of them. The vet says that the reason the puppies were stillborn was because they ate crappy dog food. I’ve got good dog food, but what else am I doing wrong, you know? I don’t have Internet back up yet, so I can’t even research it. Like, it looks sometimes like Lucy’s lying right on top of the babies,” Josh explained, putting his finger on what had been causing him the most anxiety. “Am I supposed to maybe line them up for her or something?”

Kerri laughed. “No, they’re fine. I’m glad that you’re worried you’re not doing the right things, though. That means you’ll take good care of them. Call us any time; we can help you with all your questions, or tell you when we think you should contact the vet. And if you’re willing to foster the puppies, we’ll take care of adopting them to their forever homes for you.”

Josh told her that would be great and Kerri took down his address and said someone would be out to see him in a few days. “Are the roads clear up where you are? I’m hearing there are still rockslides and downed trees all over. Crazy weather.”

“I haven’t been out on the roads yet,” Josh told her. “I was going to head into town soon.”

“Might be best to wait until tomorrow, you could get stuck sitting on the road while the county clears a rockslide,” Kerri advised.

After they hung up Josh discovered she was right: standing on the rocks at his connectivity corner and surfing with his cell phone, he found that the road crews were all out clearing rocks and cars and that people were asked not to venture out unless it was strictly necessary. Josh spent the day watching the puppies. Now that he knew Lucy wasn’t going to reject the newborns, he found it easy to just sit and stare at the tiny dogs as they squeaked and nuzzled each other and their mommy.

When awake they were in a constant scrum, blindly pushing against each other for no apparent reason, or feeding with gusto while Lucy gazed raptly down at them. Asleep, they sprawled motionless, always lying pressed against their siblings for reassurance.

His Internet connection was back up the next morning. Reading backward from the moment his electricity went out, he found e-mails from Gordon Blascoe demanding to know where he was, followed by chatter from his team members who figured out what was going on and deduced that Josh wouldn’t be back online for a few days. Several people expressed hopes that Josh would be okay; Blascoe was not among them.

Josh sighed when he saw the direction the project had taken. He hadn’t been able to upload his report, which meant that Blascoe didn’t have the benefit of Josh’s analysis of the problems that had surfaced during user testing of the new interface. They were now all focused on the wrong solution because they didn’t fully understand the issues. People wanted simple; Blascoe was one of those geeks who thought the way to make something better was to keep piling on functionality until it was so complicated no one wanted to use it.

What to do now? If he sent his report, it would save his clients a lot of time and effort, but it would also make it clear that Blascoe’s tendency to rush to decision—“Blascoe’s Blunders”—had steered them wrong. Probably it was not a good idea to point out that the project manager had done something stupid. Though to be fair, nothing in the report directly
said
that: you’d have to be a careful reader to distill that message, and Blascoe wasn’t known for paying a lot of attention.

In the end, he sent it, along with a meticulously worded e-mail apologizing for being off grid and stating that his analysis wasn’t intended to say that Blascoe had been wrong, even though that’s exactly what his analysis was intended to say.

Barely had he pushed “send” when he heard the crunch of a vehicle coming up his driveway. He looked out to see a mud-spattered Subaru wagon swing around next to his truck and stop.

A woman a few years younger than Josh stepped out, shaking her long brown hair. She wore jeans and a plaid shirt in a way that attracted Josh’s attention in a most favorable fashion. She stomped her feet as she came onto his front deck.

Josh heard her knock from the bathroom, where he was frantically brushing his teeth. “Coming!” he shouted. He yanked on a clean shirt. Lucy was watching him alertly as he opened the door.

“You Josh?” the woman asked, offering a generous smile that reached into her deep blue eyes.

“Yeah. Yes, yes I am. Josh Michaels,” Josh responded.

She held out a hand and he took it—her fingers were warm as they shook. “I’m Kerri, from the shelter? I know I said a couple of days, but I just couldn’t wait to see them.”

He invited her in and she immediately crossed over to where Lucy lay on the floor. “Puppies!” she sang happily. Lucy wagged her tail and Kerri stroked her head. “Such a good dog, good dog. Is it okay if I touch your puppies, mommy dog?”

“That’s Lucy,” Josh introduced. He blinked in surprise as she picked up a black and brown and white puppy. “Wow!” he exclaimed.

“Oh, you are so cute, look how darling you are,” she crooned. She glanced at Josh. “Wow?”

“I didn’t know I was allowed to pick them up. I thought maybe, I don’t know, if I got my scent on them, Lucy might…” Josh shrugged.

“Kick them out of the nest? Refuse to give them worms?” Kerri teased. She grinned at him and Josh could feel himself grinning back so widely it stretched his cheek muscles.

“Right, well, I told you, I never had a dog before,” he apologized.

“Good mommy, Lucy,” Kerri praised, setting the puppy back down. “See how this one is smaller than the others?” Kerri asked, pointing to an all black and brown dog. “You need to make sure she suckles two separate teats every day. Like this.” Kerri held the tiny puppy to a vacant teat, and the newborn obligingly began to feed. “Look how the tiny little tongue is sliding forward, that means she’s got a good grip and is feeding real well.”

“She?”

“Yes. Let’s check the others.” Kerri pulled each puppy away and held them up. Lucy watched her carefully, but didn’t seem to object. “Three boys and two girls,” Kerri announced.

Josh realized he was watching her bend over with considerable approval, and raised his eyes quickly when she turned to him—but not quickly enough to completely get away with it. Something flickered in her expression. Speculation? Josh felt his face grow warm.

“I think you’ve got boxer/Lab/something going on here. The coloring is right for boxer, all white and brown and black, but the fur’s a little long and the faces are like Labrador faces. We’ll be able to tell more when they’re older.” She gave the one she was holding a kiss on the nose. “Won’t we? We’ll know more when you are a great big puppy,” she crooned in baby talk. “Okay, back you go to Mommy.”

Kerri told him that having the dogs lying out on a pillow and a blanket by the fireplace was not ideal. “You’re going to need a box, something the mom can step out of. Are you handy?”

“Handy? Meaning, here?”

“No.” Kerri laughed. “I don’t mean are you handy like, are you around, I mean handy as in able to build things. Most guys who live in the mountains are either good at building things or shooting stuff.” Her eyes glanced over at the single shotgun on his gun rack.

“That’s in case of bears. It’s got a salt load,” Josh explained hurriedly. He didn’t think a woman who worked at a rescue shelter would be keen on someone who hunted animals. Josh had never shot at anything living.

“So, no shooting. How about building stuff?”

“Yeah.” Josh straightened, pushing his chest out a little. “I can do that.”

Kerri sketched out what the ideal box would look like, with a place to play and a chamber to sleep in. “These little rascals won’t do much for about three weeks, but then all of a sudden they’ll be on the move. Mom’s hair falling out yet?”

“Her hair?”

“It will. Sometimes it’s in clumps and sometimes so you won’t even notice it. Don’t be alarmed. I brought some vitamins to put in Lucy’s food, and an instruction booklet. What do you do for a living?”

“Oh.” Josh looked at his computer. “I do contract graphic user interface design and implementation.”

“Okay, no idea. Computers?”

“Right.”

“So then this will be a completely different experience for you, won’t it?”

Josh nodded. “Yeah.”

“You don’t sound excited.”

“I’m just worried I’ll mess up.”

“No, you’ll be great. Besides, I’ll help.” She gave Josh another sunny smile. He pictured Kerri coming out to his house a few times a week. They’d laugh, take Lucy for walks, play with the puppies. He saw the two of them sitting in front of the fireplace, drinking wine. She’d smile that smile at him, toss her hair like the first time he saw her, he’d reach for her.…

“So,” Kerri said, walking right through his fantasy to the fireplace, where she grabbed a picture of Amanda off the mantel and showed it to him. “Who’s this?”

SEVEN

Josh took far, far too long to answer her question, his brain frozen in something akin to panic. Finally he cleared his throat.

“Amanda,” he said faintly.

“Amanda,” Kerri repeated. She looked at the picture, then back at Josh.

“Wife?”

“Oh, no. I’ve never been married.”

“Girlfriend, then.”

Josh nodded mutely.

Kerri set the picture down and examined the others. Josh was uncomfortably aware of just how many of them were of Amanda. “This blond girl with the man and children must be your sister? And her family?”

“Yeah. Janice.”

“Josh and Janice.”

“Janice is youngest.”

“Nice-looking family.”

“Thanks. The boys aren’t hers,” Josh remarked, wincing inwardly at the way he’d put it. He’d wanted to explain how his little sister could have three boys over the age of ten, but he was off to a bad start. “I mean, it’s her husband’s second marriage. She’s a good mother, though,” he ended awkwardly.

“That’s good,” Kerrie noted, smiling at him.

Josh glanced back at Amanda’s picture, thinking maybe he needed to provide an explanation.

“So, what’re you feeding Lucy?” Kerri asked.

“Um, Nature’s Variety. Got a dog on the bag?”

She laughed. “They
all
have a dog on the bag.”

“I mean,” Josh started to explain, then stopped himself.
I mean a healthy-looking dog,
he’d been about to say. As distinguished from what, the bags that featured sick dogs?

“In about three weeks, you’ll start with a little solid food for the babies. Stick with that brand, it’s great. Add a little water to the canned food to make it even softer. Most people say no cow’s milk, so I’d stay away from it. Let them sort of suck the food off your fingers a little, then set out small amounts. Try to make sure they each get some. Any questions, you can call me.”

“Sure, let me get your number.” Josh crossed to his laptop and popped open his address book. When he looked at her, she had her arms crossed and was gazing at him appraisingly. “What?” he asked.

“You already have the number for the shelter. You called, remember?”

“Oh. Right.” Josh kept the disappointment from bleeding into in his voice. He glanced down and his inbox told him he had a message from Gordon Blascoe, subject line, “Your contract.”

With a sinking feeling, he clicked it open. It was a typical Blascoe Blurt. “Please prepare a final invoice for the week ending Oct 7. We are terminating your contract.”

“What’s wrong?” Kerri asked.

Blinking, he looked up at her. “Oh. Nothing. Well, not nothing. I just got fired.”

“Fired?” she repeated, shocked.

“Yeah.”

“In an e-mail? Not even with a phone call?” she demanded.

“No, that’s pretty much how they do it.”