“I’m not getting out of bed, I’m going to stay here forever and be a crazy cat lady for the rest of my life,” Hannah insisted as Coco tried to pull the covers off her. She had no intention of getting out of bed and facing the world, not after the embarrassment of the previous night. No way.
“Crazy cat ladies can’t give me grandchildren one day. You are getting up,” Coco said through gritted teeth, holding onto the bedcovers. They had a tug of war, not only with the sheets but with their will too.
Within the hour, Coco was dropping Hannah off at the shelter, barely stopping to let her out. She skidded off into the distance with a screech, there was no going back now.
Cory directed her to the office where her task of the day was going to be paperwork filing. It wasn’t the most exciting of jobs but it did mean Hannah could avoid seeing Harry – if he was working that morning. It was far easier to avoid him altogether than have to speak with him. Not after she had run out of the party with a see-through shirt.
Even in the office, the sound of the dogs barking, the cats meowing, and a goat bleating could be heard through the walls. Hannah briefly wondered how noisy it must have been on Noah’s ark. Probably a lot worse than in the shelter – and there would be no way to get away from it.
Flicking through the paperwork and trying to put it into alphabetical order, one of the records caught her eye. It was Basil’s report from when he first arrived at the shelter. She pulled it out and read through.
Basil was reportedly found wandering the streets in Mapleton, across town from the shelter. The girl who dropped her off said she didn’t see anyone who owned him and didn’t want to leave him there so she immediately drove to the shelter.
The report was brief and to the point. The veterinarian on duty had given him an exam, Basil had passed with flying colors. He was thin, but it wasn’t anything to worry about unless he continued to lose weight. He was assigned a number and a cage, and he had been there ever since.
Hannah found a notepad and wrote down the woman’s name and address. She wasn’t sure what she would do with it, but she had to find out more about Basil. Perhaps the woman was the only clue she was ever going to get. She pocketed the sheet of paper.
“Hey, here you are.” Harry’s voice filled the room, scaring her half to death. She jumped, sending the paperwork scattering to the floor.
She ignored the papers for a moment and turned to face him instead, what was another embarrassment?
He was holding Basil, absentmindedly petting his head. “Cory has you doing paperwork?”
“Yeah, someone’s got to do it.” She tried to think cool thoughts, desperately trying to keep the blushing from her cheeks. She wished she had the sole superpower of controlling it.
“Look, I was trying to find you because I wanted to see how you were,” Harry started. “I’m sorry last night didn’t go exactly as planned.”
And there it was, the memory that was sure to inflame her cheeks. It was the last thing Hannah wanted to talk about. She changed the subject instead, completely ignoring him.
“I want to find Basil’s owners,” she blurted out from desperation. “I have the details of the woman who found him. I want to speak with her.”
“Great, we’ll go after our shift.”
It wasn’t what she had intended. She said it to get away from him, not spend more time making a fool of herself in his company.
“You don’t have to come with me,” she replied, trying not to look him in the eyes. They were her kryptonite.
“I want to.” He smiled, she made the mistake of noticing. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad, maybe they could just forget about the night before? Miracles happened all the time, right?
“Alrighty then.”
Harry left her to the paperwork while she breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t leave the office for the rest of her shift, refusing to put herself at risk of further embarrassment.
A part of her hoped Harry would completely forget about visiting the woman. But at one o’clock exactly, his face appeared at the doorway, still locked in a grin.
“Are you ready?” He asked, leaving no room for her to back out.
Hannah nodded and they signed out of the shelter. Their modes of transport were bicycles, parked at the side of the building. They put on their helmets and started in the direction of the woman’s house.
Once Hannah relaxed a little, she found herself actually having fun with Harry. They weaved through the roads, letting the wind run through her hair. It was a cooling breeze on the otherwise hot summer day.
Harry didn’t race ahead, even though she knew he was capable of going much faster than her. Instead, he made sure to stay by her side, setting a steady pace the entire way. Whenever she looked over at him, he was doing the same to her. It made her giggle every time.
They finally reached the address – 221 Roseland Way – and knocked on the front door. Hannah prayed someone would be home and willing to talk to two kids about a dog she found three months ago.
Just when they thought nobody would answer, a woman opened the door. She eyed the pair suspiciously, hoping they weren’t selling anything.
“Hello, are you Wendy Wong?” Hannah asked, trying to be as polite as possible.
“Yes, and you are?” She stood with her arms crossed, obviously not trying to be polite to the strangers.
“My name is Hannah and this is Harry, we work at the Mapleton Animal Rescue Centre. You dropped off a dog three months ago?”
Wendy nodded. “I did.”
Harry picked up the conversation. “We were hoping you might be able to tell us some more details about where you found him?”
“We’re trying to find his owners,” Hannah added.
She hesitated before continuing. “I found him in Rochedale Street, he was just wandering about by himself. He was awfully thin and it didn’t look like anyone looked after him. So I dropped him at the shelter and they took it from there. I don’t have much else to say, really.”
“Rochedale Street?” Hannah asked, trying to place the street. It was across town like the report had said but it wasn’t a nice neighborhood. Basil didn’t seem like the kind of dog you’d keep for guard duty.
“Yeah, that’s the street,” Wendy replied. “I’ve got stuff to do, are there any more questions?”
Harry exchanged a glance with Hannah, they obviously weren’t going to get any magical information out of the woman. “That’s all, thank you for your time.”
Without saying goodbye, Wendy closed the door on them. They retreated back to their bikes, a little forlorn about not getting anywhere.
“I think we need ice cream,” Harry declared. “You up for it?”
Not believing she was about to agree, Hannah said: “Sure.”
She followed him to the nearest corner store where he emerged with two ice cream cones full of chocolate goodness. She accepted one and they sat on the sidewalk to eat them.
The silence was painful. Hannah knew what she wanted to say but wasn’t sure if she was brave enough to do it. Or that she could get through it without sounding like an idiot. She decided to stay on a safe topic instead – for now.
“I think we should walk around Rochedale Street and see if anyone knows Basil.”
“I think that’s our best shot at finding his owner,” Harry agreed. “We will need to take some photos of him to show people.”
“Maybe we could make posters too so we can put them up around the place.”
His grin returned. “Yeah, it will be fun.”
The blanket of silence threatened them again. This time, Hannah was ready. “I’m sorry about running out on you last night. I had a really good time up until then.”
“I did too. I thought I might have said or done something wrong which is why you didn’t come back.” His grin was gone, instead he was staring intently at his ice cream.
She hadn’t thought he would react like that. Blaming himself? That was ridiculous, did he not realize she was out of his league? He
could have had any girl at the party, she never in a million years thought he would give her another thought once she left. In her head, he had just found another girl to dance with and partied hard for the rest of the night.
“You didn’t do anything, you were perfect in fact.”
His head shot up, their eyes locked. “So why’d you leave?”
“I was embarrassed. And my shirt was see-through.” The reasons now seemed so stupid. She started laughing. “I guess I panicked.”
He placed his hand on her arm, the warmth of it burned on her skin in a wonderfully tingly way. “Next time you panic, let me know and I’ll talk you out of it. Deal?”
“Deal.”
She covered his hand with hers, wondering if this was how good things began.
CHAPTER 7