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TOOTLES DID NOT LIKE the leash.
Tootles did not like being taken for walks.
Tootles wanted to take Juliette for runs.
Tootles had recovered quickly from both his hard life on the streets, and from the subsequent surgery that left him just a little bit less of a man.
Juliette was exhausted. All the time. "He doesn't listen, he doesn't learn," she admitted to Sharon a few weeks after she'd adopted him. "He doesn't even know his own name! I thought he did, the little trickster, because he'd come running when I called him to eat, but he just knows the sound of the cup in the dog food bag. Then last night, he broke down the kiddie gate."
"Did he get out?"
"Yes." Juliette sighed heavily, and let her head fall into her hands, elbows propped on her desk. "He got out of the kitchen and into my bed."
"Oh dear."
"Yeah. Oh dear. Put it this way. No one slept last night."
"You let him sleep with you?" Sharon laughed.
"No! I let him sleep in the garage."
"Why can't you just put him out in your little back yard? It's got a good sturdy fence, doesn't it? Wouldn't it keep him in?"
"During the day, he seems okay with that. I assume he is, anyway. At least he isn't whining when I leave and it seems to me like he only starts barking when he realizes I'm home. But at night, if I leave him outside, he whines, and howls, and scratches at the back door. You can hear him up and down the block. I know because I took a walk one night without him. I needed a break from having my arm ripped out of its socket."
"So the garage, it is." Sharon nodded understandingly. "How did that go?"
"Oh Sharon!" she wailed. "It was awful! I felt like a child-abuser. He cried for hours!"
"Dude, you look like sh—"
"Gavin!" Sharon interrupted the Philosophy major who had just walked into the middle of their conversation. She had a fairly accurate idea of what word he was going to use to describe Juliette's condition.
Gavin grinned and dropped a folder of papers on Juliette's desk.
"What is this?" She picked up the folder and began to thumb through it. "Is this your work?" She straightened in her chair, as she took in the neatly formatted and typed pages of his first quarter portfolio.
"Yep. Paid good money for it, too." His smile turned smug and he dropped into a chair, arms crossed over his broad chest.
"What do you mean, good money? Did you pay someone to do this for you?"
"No, I hired someone to help me."
"Gavin," Juliette studied him, questions buzzing through her mind. "Are you blushing?"
"No. It's hot out there." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder toward the window where the November sun shone in from a crisp, cloudless Autumn sky. But blushing, he most certainly was, and for some reason, it made Juliette feel a little more confident that the papers she had were not illegally come by.
"So this is your work?"
"Yep. I did all the philosophizing, and Kelly helped me make it look good. Thanks for hooking me up with her." His neck went from red to purple.
"I see," Juliette tried not to smile, but she saw Sharon duck down behind her monitor across the way. "I've heard she's an excellent tutor."
"Dude." His satisfied tone spoke volumes. "She's awesome." Then he shoved himself up out of the chair and started pacing the floor.
"Are you okay, Gavin?" Juliette had never seen him flustered before.
"Um, yeah." He paused in front of her desk, "I just...so...um, she has a boyfriend, right? Do you know if it's serious?"
"Yes. And yes." Juliette nodded. "She has a boyfriend. It's serious. But, it's not fatal. Nothing's forever, especially when it comes to true love."
"Juliette!" Sharon admonished her from her desk. "Don't be so cynical."
"Sorry, Gavin. I'm just tired and cranky."
"Yeah, I could tell. You look like...."
"Gavin!" Sharon cut him off again.
"Like an angel of mercy, okay, Sharon? Angels of mercy are always tired because they're always helping everyone else."
"Nice save, college boy," Sharon chuckled.
"Look, Gavin," Juliette drummed her fingers on the desk a few times. "As far as Kelly's concerned, she thinks she's serious about the guy. As far as I'm concerned, I think the guy needs to respect her more. That's all I'm going to say about them. But you? Here's what I have to say to you. Respect her, you might win her heart. Disrespect her, you'll have me to deal with."
"And me," Sharon quipped.
"I can do respect." Gavin straightened his shoulders and grinned. "I come from good stock. My dad taught me that a man always treats his woman like his queen."
"His woman?" Juliette rolled her eyes. "The last time someone called me 'his' I was deeply offended, Gavin."
"Really? Then maybe when he called you that he wasn't being respectful. It sounds totally different when your woman is being treated right." Gavin frowned down at her.
Juliette smiled ruefully and nodded. "You're right, Gavin. He wasn't treating me with respect."
"You're also right about the 'his' thing, Gavin. I love it when Chris calls me 'his' because I know he takes responsibility for me. He's got me covered," Sharon added.
"Exactly," Gavin nodded, then turned back to face Juliette. "So. Who's disrespecting you?"
"I broke up with him months ago."
"You sure? Because I could go teach him a thing or two about respect." He began flexing his remarkable chest muscles as evidence that he was up for the task. Juliette had to cover her eyes because he was standing right in front of her desk.
"Gavin! Stop! You're making me feel very uncomfortable right now!" She peered through the cracks between her fingers. "Sharon, make him stop."
"What? Does this make you nervous?" Gavin held up his arm and flexed some more. "Frightened and confused? It'll make that guy you're talking about nervous, too, I'll bet. You just let me know if I need to handle things, okay?"
Juliette rolled her eyes. "Can you see the headlines? Student Defends Secretary's Honor in Front Lawn Flex-off. Oh, the publicity we could generate for this school!"
Gavin smirked and sat down again. "Okay, fine. I won't go hunt this guy down. But I have a question then. Why do you ladies let men treat you disrespectfully? What happened to chivalry and all that knights in shining armor stuff? Isn't that what girls dream about? Someone who will ride into town and fight for them?"
Juliette stopped smiling and stared at him, caught off guard by his direct questions. Finally, Sharon spoke up.
"Wow, Gavin. How did you get so insightful, so...."
"Philosophical?" The young man asked, grinning broadly. "Well, I didn't learn it in school, that's for sure. This place is full of ladies who don't respect themselves, and don't expect their men to respect them either." He shrugged. "You want to hear something funny? When I was a kid, my dad was taking some night classes at college, and for the longest time, I thought he was studying to be a knight. You know, a knight in shining armor. When I asked my mom about it, she said he was doing just that; studying to be her knight, her champion, so that he could take better care of the queen of his castle. Cool, huh?"
Sharon's eyes had grown soft as she listened to him. "Very cool," she murmured.
"I know a lot of people think I'm just a big buffoon out there having too much fun, but I'm actually on a quest, you know?" He stretched his arms up over his head, then laced his fingers behind his neck, his white t-shirt stretched tightly over his chest. He seemed very relaxed at the moment; quite different than he had a few moments ago when he'd spoken of Kelly. "Only here's the thing: I'm looking for dragons to defeat, and battles to win, and a damsel in distress to rescue, but this place seems in short supply of all three. Dude, I want to be a champion but there seems to be little demand for them these days."
Sharon stood up and came around her desk and planted her petite form right in front of Gavin, suddenly very serious. Even though he was sitting, they were almost eye-to-eye. "Listen to me, young man. Don't you ever give up that quest, do you hear? There is a girl out there waiting for you to rescue her. She may not realize it yet, but inside of her there's that little girl your mom told you about, who's longing to be fought for, to be chosen." She reached out and poked one of his elbows, the least offensive spot on the guy's body she could think of, Juliette was certain. "I like you, Gavin," Sharon stated. "I just didn't know why until today."
Gavin grinned, then glanced past Sharon to the girl who'd appeared in the doorway. He straightened in his seat, running a hand over his hair. "Hey, Kelly."
"Hi, Gavin." She smiled shyly at him. "Did you turn your stuff in?"
He beamed proudly. "Yeah. And Juliette didn't believe it was my work."
"Oh, it's his, all right," Kelly turned to Juliette. "He's been working really hard at it for the last several days now."
"I couldn't have done it without your help, though."
"You did most of it on your own. I just showed you how to organize it."
"Yeah, but you have to admit, I'm pretty unorganized."
"Okay. You are unorganized."
"Um, hello?" Juliette interrupted. "Did you need something, Kelly?"
"Oh. No. That's okay. I didn't mean to interrupt. I have to get to the library anyway. They're holding a book for me, and I told them I was on my way."
Gavin jumped up. "I'll walk with you." And the two of them headed out into the hall without so much as a goodbye.
"I just caught a whiff of romance in the air." Sharon strode back to her own desk and eyed Juliette across the room. "Is that what you had in mind when you paired them up?"
"Actually, no. I thought she was all but married to her guy, and I would never have pegged Gavin as her type. After listening to him today, though, I think he might even be my type," Juliette chortled. "So, honestly, were you at all surprised by what came out of his mouth?"
"Uh, yeah. Completely blown away. Wow."
Juliette stuck out her bottom lip. "I want a Gavin, Sharon. Not Gavin, Gavin—I feel dirty even saying that—but a man who thinks that way. I want a champion so badly it hurts, Sharon. I want a man to rescue me, to choose me, a man who will claim me and make me his queen. I know I sound completely backward in this modern age we live in, but Gavin's right. What happened to chivalry?"
"No word from Victor, hm?" It wasn't a question, not really. It had been weeks, and she'd heard nothing from him.
"Nope. I kissed the guy, and he ran for his life." She'd gone over the events of that night too many times to count, trying to figure out what she'd done wrong. "He said I made him crazy, so maybe that really is the problem. Maybe I just scared him off." She rubbed her dry eyes, scratchy from fatigue and frustration. "I guess I just thought he'd fight a little harder for me, for us."
"Maybe it's not completely his fault," Sharon suggested quietly. "I mean, sometimes we women don't believe we're worth fighting for. And if we don't believe it, then why should they? Gavin made another good point when he said that no one wants a champion anymore."
Juliette looked sharply at her friend, a question in her eyes. "Is that what you think? Do I put that message out?"
"I don't know, Juju. I haven't seen you with Victor. But I do know how you were with Mike, and you catered to him as though he was the only one who counted in your relationship." Sharon shook her head. "It wasn't like that at the beginning. I remember him fighting for you, even going toe-to-toe with Phoebe several times."
Juliette remembered a few of those encounters, too. Where did that Mike go?
"But then Mike stopped fighting. He made you pick up the weapons instead. And when a man stops fighting for something, or someone, the value of it diminishes in his eyes. Men like Chris, and like Gavin—Wow. Did I just call Gavin a man?—are prepared to fight for the long haul. Their weapons are an extension of themselves, and they never let down their guards."
"Well, Victor isn't like Mike, that's for sure. He's definitely the champion sort. He's just not fighting for me, that's all." Juliette sighed. "At least he didn't take ten years to make up his mind."
"Juliette."
"So why won't these guys fight for me?" She was desperate to know what was wrong with her that she wasn't worth fighting for.
"Think about what he said, Juju. Maybe he actually is scared because you push him to fight for you. Maybe he hasn't had to do that before. Maybe you need to remind him of why you're worth fighting for."
"I don't want to have to remind someone to fight for me." Juliette shook her head. She straightened the items on her desk and ran a tissue over the screen of her monitor.
"That's not really fair, is it? Every man needs to be reminded of why he's fighting, and what, and who he's fighting for, even the best of them. That's our part of the relationship; to encourage, to empower, to offer sanctuary. Real relationships aren't one-sided."
"I have Tootles now, you know." Juliette quipped.
"You do have Tootles."
"Although I would have preferred a champion without fur and a wagging tail that knocks things off the coffee table. Or one who whines all night when I lock him in the garage. Not that I'd lock my champion in the garage. That wouldn't be right."
"No, that wouldn't." Sharon eyed her across the room. "So have you been back to Saturday church at all since Peterson Pie Night?"
"No," Juliette picked up Gavin's folder and leafed through it again. "Victor knows where I live."
"Juliette Gustafson, you are the most stubborn person I've met in my life." Sharon laced her fingers together and leaned her elbows on her desk. "Maybe he's afraid that you're having second thoughts. Maybe he's been sitting in church, watching for you, waiting for some sign that you'll say yes again. In fact, I'll bet you a million Twinkies—"
Juliette couldn't stop the tears that welled up and spilled over. She didn't think she could be any more heart-broken than she'd been over Mike, but Victor's silence was crushing her, and she couldn't bear the thought of going to church to look for him, only to have it confirmed he was intentionally avoiding her.
"I'm sorry. I'm a jerk." Sharon shoved away from her desk and came around to perch on the edge of Juliette's. "But maybe this guy is your champion, Juju. Maybe you're just not giving him the chance to slay any dragons for you." Sharon patted her hand where it rested on the desk. "Go to church this Saturday, Juju. Go before it's too late for both of you."
~ ~ ~
JULIETTE STAYED UP as late as she could, doing everything she could think of to wear Tootles out. But the problem with her plan was that she was wearing out much quicker than the dog. Before long, she was sprawled on the couch, staring glumly at the dog chasing his tail in the kitchen. "What? Did you sleep all day while I was gone? No. Bad Tootles! Bad!"
He scampered across the room to her and licked her shoulder. She sighed, grabbed a hold of the collar around his neck, and headed out to the garage with him. She dropped down onto the blanket that was now his, and pulled the dog down beside her. He let her scratch his belly while she talked quietly to him.
"Okay, Tootles, here's the deal. I need some sleep tonight. No whining, or barking, or trying to break down the door, okay? It's only for two more nights and then I'll fix the gate and you can sleep in the kitchen again, I promise." She'd ordered a replacement part online at lunch, and paid more for 2-day air shipping than she had for the hardware itself.
It was to no avail. The moment she pulled the door closed behind her, Tootles began to whimper. Hardening her heart, she covered her ears, and hurried to get ready for bed.
She could hear him through both the garage door and the bedroom door. "You lived on the streets!" she wailed. "My garage is a mansion compared to what you're used to!"
An hour later, Tootles was still at it. Periods of promising silence would erupt into long, gut-wrenching howls that ended with forlorn yapping, and she could stand it no longer. She pushed herself up and made her way in the dark to the garage. Tootles came bounding inside, rubbing up against her, licking her hands and knees in his relief at seeing her. She headed to the couch and plopped down, throwing her legs up on an armrest, a pillow behind her head.
There was a knock on the door, and the dog began to bark ferociously, lunging at it.
"Tootles! Stop it! Down! Quiet!" The string of commands was completely ignored, and he seemed frantic to get at whoever was on the porch. Juliette pulled aside the curtain at the window and peered out.
Victor Jarrett.
