“Thank you, Mary,” Warren says.
She hands Warren the keys and starts walking away back to the reception area. “Come get me if you need me; otherwise, have fun!”
Warren turns towards me. “Which one first?”
“How about we just start at the first one and work our way down?”
Warren nods as he walks down to the first kennel and unlocks it. There are three dogs inside—two Labradors and one that looks like it might be part Dalmatian. They instantly swarm me, their wet noses running against my bare legs and making me laugh.
“Nice to meet you too.”
Their tails go crazy as they surround me, their tongues lapping at me in excitement.
I run my hands over their sleek fur with the biggest smile on my face. “They’re the best dates ever.”
Warren leans against the wall as he watches me. “I don’t know whether to be glad or offended,” he says. “Not sure how I feel about dogs outranking me.”
I sit on the floor with them and start rolling one of the tennis balls across the space for them to catch and bring back to me.
“You should be glad,” I tell him. “Because I’m so impressed with you right now, that you are most definitely going to get lucky tonight.”
He chuckles, but we both know I’m not kidding. Puppy points are worth more than normal points. It’s science.
“Aren’t you going to come in and pet them?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I’m allergic.”
My mouth pops open in surprise. “But you still brought me here?”
He shrugs like it’s no big deal, but I know it is. “You wanted to pet dogs.”
Yep. He’s definitely getting lucky. When he catches my expression, he knows it, too.
This man. He continues to surprise me in the best of ways.
I continue playing with the dogs before moving down the line. By the time I’m in the last kennel, I’m covered in dog slobber and hair, and my cheeks are sore from smiling so much.
Mary comes back, letting us know that our petting hour is up, and I snuggle the little guy who’s been cuddling in my lap for the past fifteen minutes against my chest.
He’s an older dog, with short brindled hair. His chart informed me that he’s a beagle-pit bull-wiener dog mix, and he’s pretty much the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. With his short stocky legs, long body, and loving face, he steals a piece of my heart.
I find myself tearing up as a put him down. “I wish I could take you home, little guy,” I tell him. “But you’re so cute that you’ll be adopted soon, I just know it.”
He whines at me as I walk out and shut the kennel door, pressing his little brown nose through the chain-link.
“Ready to go?” Warren asks.
It’s a struggle to look away from my new four-legged friend, but I nod and follow Mary and Warren out.
Before we leave, I see him hand Mary a check. Her mouth drops open in shock from what’s probably an obscene amount of money that he just donated to the nonprofit shelter. “Oh my word…” Mary’s hand flies to her chest. “Mr. Knight, this is… This… How can we thank you?” Mary sputters.
“No thanks necessary,” Warren says.
Mary thanks him anyway about eleven more times before we’re able to make it out the door. When we’re back in the car, driving back to his house, Warren catches the secretive smile on my face.
“What’s that smile for?”
I shake my head. “It’s just… It’s nice to see you like this.”