It took two days, but finally my headache cleared. Isaac had made himself pretty scarce. I'd sent him a few messages to call me, and I knew he would when he was ready. I think he might have been a bit embarrassed about his panic attack.
The morning dawned bright and sunny, so I decided to use the beautiful weather and take Theo for a walk to the park before it got too hot. However first I needed to pop to the corner shop and get some milk for my morning coffee.
The corner shop wasn't called a convenience store for nothing. It was actually very conveniently located at the end of the street, and it stocked everything you could possibly need to avoid going to the supermarket. The only downside was the owner. Mr. Grumpy—I mean Mr. Wilks—lived up to his nickname. Often. And he was the reason the supermarket was doing such good business in our area. But this morning I was far too lazy to drive there, so I put my biggest smile on my face and walked the few minutes down the road. The buzzer sounded as I walked through the door, alerting him to my presence.
"Good morning, Mr. Wilks," I said as I walked past him to the refrigerators on the back wall, noting the usual grey pants and white dress shirt buttoned to the collar and detecting the faint aroma of charity shop.
"Morning," he said, hurriedly moving the books he had spread over the counter. In his hurry, a newspaper clipping floated to the floor. Oblivious to it, he looked at me and bared his false teeth in what I think was his version of a smile. Stepping up to the counter, I placed my milk on it and bent down to retrieve the clipping.
"You missed one," I said, looking at the clipping and reading the headline, Millionaire murdered for stamps?, before handing it back to him. "Are you doing some research?" I asked, trying to be the friendly customer.
"No," he said as he snatched the clipping out of my hand and pushed it into his trouser pocket. "Don't know what you're referring to."
I sighed. He really was a strange one.
"I heard you had a mishap in Betty's old house," he mumbled.
"Oh, um, yes. How did you hear about that?" I asked, surprised. Actually, I don't know why I was surprised. The gossip mill around here worked overtime.
"Don't matter how I heard. I just did. Did you find anything unusual?"
Suspicion crept up my spine. "Why would you ask that?" I replied, thinking Isaac had a bloody big mouth. I watched as Mr. Grumpy swished his teeth around, obviously pondering his response.
"I see things. I hear things," he answered, surprising me.
"Really? Like what?"
"Just always thought she was hiding something—that's all."
"Oh? I thought Betty was a really sweet old lady," I said, and then cringed. I probably should have rephrased the old part considering she was a good decade younger than the man I was speaking to. I watched his eyes narrow.
"I thought you were smarter than you look. Guess I was wrong." I felt the verbal slap as he snarled his response.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, insulted.
"That old boyfriend of yours knew what I meant. Figured that was why he disappeared," he said, holding out his hand for my money. I placed the correct change in his hand and looked at him. Disappeared?
"No, Mr. Wilks. Jack didn't disappear. He dumped me with no explanation," I said, the old, familiar lump forming back in my throat.
"Really?"
"Yes. In fact, I heard he's been calling around again. Don't know why, but I really hope he changes his mind and stays away."
"Well, doesn't matter now—does it? Betty's gone."
I looked at him perplexed. "I really don't think Betty was up to anything, Mr. Wilks. I just think she was a bit lonely."
"Yeah? Okay," he replied, and looked at me like I was the crazy one. "Have a good day now, won't you."
Now I probably should have stood there and demanded an explanation as to why he thought Betty was up to something, and in hindsight that would have been a good thing to do. But hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it?
Instead, I picked up my milk and walked back to my house, knowing that Mr. Wilks' words would stay with me all day.
I opened my front door, and Theo ran to greet me, dragging his leash behind him. I smiled. That's how you get what you want, I thought, picking it up and placing it on the sideboard that sat near my door.
"Sorry, little man. I need my coffee first."
I'd like to say Theo waited patiently, but he didn't. He jumped up at my leg and ran down the hall to the sideboard, his way of telling me to get his leash. After about five minutes of his running back and forth, I gave up and clipped his leash to his collar. He got so excited he had a little accident on the floor inside the door.
It was usually a five minute walk to the dog park, but waiting as Theo lifted his hind leg on every lamppost and bush we passed, it took us closer to fifteen. I was actually a bit concerned he might pass out from dehydration before we got there and vowed to bring a bottle of water with me next time. He seemed perfectly happy though as he strutted along, tail held high, thinking he was a king. I opened the gate to the park, unclipped his leash, and let him run with all the other dogs. I watched with pride as just about everyone commented on what a gorgeous little boy he was. Well, that was until he decided he should roll in the largest, most disgusting lump of excrement I'd ever seen. I didn't know what this particular pile of steaming crap had actually come out of, but I did know it smelled revolting. Clipping his leash back onto his collar, I held my hand over my nose and fought the urge to gag. Walking home, I didn't feel the same sense of pride as I had earlier.
I made it home in record time, walked up the back alleyway to my house, and left him in the yard while I went inside and filled the laundry tub with hot water. Going back outside I turned the hose on, hoping to get the worst off him before he was allowed in. Stupid me though, didn't close the back door properly, and as soon as water shot out of the end of the hose, Theo made a run for it, heading straight for the back door and into the house.
The people two suburbs over could have heard my scream. Dropping the hose, I ran after him hoping to grab him before he covered my house in crap.
Lesson number one: never chase a dog you actually want to catch. They think it's a fantastic game and run around even more. The fact that this particular dog was less than a foot tall meant he could fit into an awful lot of small spaces, and let me tell you, he took advantage of every one of them.
I was in tears when I actually caught him. By that time most of his "prize" was spread around my house and all over my bed, where I had finally managed to grab him.
Dumping him into the tub, I grabbed his shampoo and squeezed about half the bottle onto his back. Suddenly he didn't look quite as pleased with himself.
"Too bad, little man. You should have thought about this before you rolled in that crap," I scolded. I did feel a bit bad when he looked back at me, ears pulled back, his eyes huge.
"Oh, you're good," I said to him. "But I'm the one who has to clean my house." I was not impressed, no matter how cute he looked.
Lathering the shampoo up to a foam, I rubbed it into his coat, still gagging at the smell. Getting my fingers into his fur, I stopped when I felt a little lump on his shoulder. I rubbed it to see what it felt like and noticed it was about the size of a grain of rice. I felt the back of my throat close as all sorts of horrible thoughts crowded my mind. I looked at Theo to see if it hurt, but he was showing no signs of pain, only humiliation at being covered in bubbles from head to toe.
Okay, calm down Chloe. Don't overreact. It was probably nothing to worry about.
No matter how much I told myself that though, I did overreact. I rinsed Theo off in record time, and as he ran a victory lap around the house, I ran for my phone to call the vet. Thankfully, they had an opening and could see him almost right away. I grabbed Theo and made a very fast exit to the door.
* * *
By the time I reached the vet, I had the utmost sympathy for Isaac since I was almost hyperventilating thinking of only the very worst-case scenario. I knew the lump wasn't causing Theo any pain, and he did still seem to have a lot of energy, so I could only imagine the cancer had not spread too far. That meant it would be treatable, didn't it? Surely I could organize some sort of payment plan to pay for his chemotherapy. I'd volunteer cleaning the cages if I had to. I just wanted them to help him.
Even though Theo had only lived with me for a very short period of time, I had completely fallen in love with the little guy. The idea that the bright look in his eyes would fade broke my heart. As did the thought he would no longer stand on my chest and look into my eyes demanding a treat or tap me with his paw so I would throw his stuffed cow across the room in a chasing game. Nor would he ever snuggle up to me in bed or give me beautiful Theo kisses.
By the time his name was called, I was rummaging through my bag looking for a tissue. I tucked Theo into the curve of my neck and walked toward the treatment room. A feeling of dread made my steps heavy, yet at the same time a sense of urgency ran through my veins. The sooner I got into that room, the sooner his treatment could start.
"Hello. I'm Mike," said a man so kind-looking I wanted to hug him.
"Hi, I'm Chloe," I replied, my voice cracking from emotion. Mike closed the door behind me and motioned for me to place Theo on the bench in the centre of the small room. I did as directed, and then used the back of my hand to wipe the tear that had escaped my lashes.
"What can I do to help, today?" Mike asked, passing me a tissue.
"I'm sorry. I seem to have gotten quite attached to this little fella." I smiled, took the tissue, and wiped my nose as Mike leaned down to bench height and looked Theo in the eye.
"Yes, I can see why. He's a cute little thing." Mike was obviously ignoring the seriously bad hairdo Theo was sporting, thanks to my mad dash there without even drying him off. Placing his stethoscope to Theo's chest, Mike was silent for a moment while he listened. "He's got a strong heartbeat." He smiled and wrapped the stethoscope around his neck. "What brings him here today?"
"I, umm, I found a lump. Here, on his shoulder." I reached over to show Mike where I had found it. I watched with a sick feeling in my stomach as Mike ran his fingers over Theo's skin searching for the lump. I felt like throwing up when he stopped, obviously finding it. He picked Theo up, feeling around his body, I could only assume, for more lumps. I hadn't thought to do that. I felt a cold sweat break out on my back. After what felt like an eternity, he placed Theo back on the table and reached behind him for a gadget. I had absolutely no idea what it was.
"This is a scanner," said Mike, holding it up to show me what it did. "We use it to scan for microchips. That's what you can feel on his shoulder. I'm guessing you didn't have him chipped?"
"What?" I asked as my knees slightly buckled, relief washing over me. "Why would I have a chip in him?"
"People have their dogs microchipped so that if they get lost, their owner can be found." Mike ran the scanner over Theo's shoulder and after a second it beeped. Looking at the readout I could see a number displayed on the screen. "We run this number through a database, and it should tell us who the owner is."
"Oh. Well, that's me, but it was probably Betty who had that put in him." I took a moment to look at Mike. "So that lump is…just a chip? Theo doesn't have cancer?" I bravely asked.
I could see the corners of Mike's mouth turn up ever so slightly. "No. He seems very healthy. Give me a moment, and I'll get the girls at the front counter to run this number and see what it tells us. If you like, we can change the details of ownership for you."
Relief made me want to cry all over again, but instead I picked Theo up and held him tightly against me. He looked up at me and gave my hand a very special Theo kiss. I saw the huge smile on Mike's face as he left the room, and after the initial relief wore off, I felt extremely stupid. I could only imagine what Mike was telling reception girls about me. I'd probably given them the best laugh they'd had in weeks. When he finally came back into the room, I felt my face glowing from embarrassment, but held my head high anyway, just grateful Theo was okay.
"Well, that was interesting," said Mike, walking back over to me.
"Is everything alright?"
"Well, yes. It's just the microchip doesn't register on our system. It has too many numbers. Ours only contain fifteen numbers, whereas this one contains seventeen. I asked the girls, and they've never seen one with seventeen numbers, so we're not really sure what it's for. I wrote the numbers down for you though," he said, handing me a piece of paper. "If you still have contact with Theo's previous owner, you may be able to ask them about it." I took the paper Mike handed me. "Would you like us to chip him with a recognized chip today? That way if he ever gets lost it will be much easier for you to be contacted."
"Yes, please."
With shaking hands I tucked the paper into my handbag, still a bit too embarrassed to look Mike in the eye.
* * *
On the journey home, Isaac sent me a text asking if he could come over. I felt I owed him a bit of an apology for scoffing at his panic attack the other day, so I sent him a message asking for enough time to clean my house, and stopped at the bakery and bought the best-looking chocolate cupcakes they had.
I had just finished thoroughly cleaning the house when I heard a quiet knock on the door. The fact it was a quiet little knock and not Isaac's usually loud, obnoxious knock, meant he was either feeling sad or embarrassed. My guess was embarrassed. Opening the door, I quickly realized I was wrong.
"Isaac, what's the matter?" I asked. Isaac could be a drama queen at times, but this time he looked genuinely upset.
"Oh, Chloe," he said, walking in the door and bursting into tears. I quickly closed the door, just in time to be engulfed. He had his arms around me and put his head on my shoulder, leaning a lot of his weight forward. Not for the first time today, I felt my knees buckle.
I placed my hands on his back and gently patted him. "Come on, let's sit down." Reluctantly, he let go and moved to the lounge to throw himself onto the couch. At least that was a bit of the usual Isaac I knew. I passed him the box of tissues and waited while he pulled himself together.
"Adam and I had a fight."
I took a deep breath and sighed. My day was going downhill really fast.
"What about this time?" I asked, my heart breaking for him just a little bit.
"I applied to be a flight attendant."
"Oh. You never mentioned that to me."
"I don't tell you everything, Chloe." I sighed again.
"So what does that have to do with your fight?"
"I have a job interview tomorrow, and he thinks I shouldn't go for it, but I thought because he was a pilot I could be a flight attendant, and we could fly across the country together." A fresh wave of tears came over him. "He's embarrassed about me, Chloe!"
"Oh, Isaac. I'm sure you're wrong. Why would he be embarrassed? What have you done?"
"I haven't done anything! He just doesn't want me to be around him when he's working."
"Did he give you specific reasons for not wanting you to go to the interview?" I was sure there was more to this than Isaac was telling me.
"He said we would probably be on different rosters, and then we would never see each other, but I know that's not the real reason."
Theo sauntered into the room, obviously wondering what all the fuss was about. Seeing Isaac, he ran to him and jumped on his knee. Isaac pulled him close for a cuddle. "What happened to his hair?" he asked between sniffs. Theo was still sporting a pretty wild hairdo thanks to the fact he had not been brushed after his bath, and he had dried it on the front seat of my car. I was probably going to have to visit the dog groomer to get it to sit flat again.
"I forgot to brush it after his trip to the vet this morning."
"What? Why did he go to the vet? What's wrong with him?" Isaac hugged Theo to his chest a little bit tighter.
"Well, nothing as it turns out. I felt a lump and may have overreacted a bit. Apparently, it's just a microchip."
"You overreacted? Like, how? How did you overreact?" prodded Isaac. I spent the next few minutes telling him about my morning. By the time I'd finished, he was glaring at me.
"Humph. Had a panic attack, did we?" he asked, his lips drawn into a very thin line.
"Yes. I'm sorry." I walked over to the couch and put my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I mocked you the other day for having one." He extended his arm and pulled me in for a hug. His way of forgiving me.
"Oh, I have cupcakes." I smiled, jumping up. I offered my hand to Isaac as Theo jumped down and trotted back up the stairs.
"I don't feel like eating," he replied, refusing my hand.
"They're Bartley's best chocolate cupcakes with real chocolate frosting. Handmade by Mrs. Bartley herself." I knew Isaac wouldn't be able to resist that. They were his favorite. "Come on, I've already got the coffee on. We'll go into the kitchen, and you can tell me about your interview tomorrow."
"Okay. You talked me into it. After that, you can help me move my stuff into your spare room."