Maybe it made her heartbeat shake its way up to her throat. Maybe it made her skin go cold. But Cleo was right.
She needed this house. Nothing and no one would push her out.
She went back in, but instead of going to work, she finally allowed herself to open the file Trey had sent her on dog rescues.
Twenty minutes later, she had an appointment and was on her way out the door again.
“This doesn’t mean I’m bringing a dog home,” she told herself as she drove to town. “It just means I’m starting the process of bringing a dog home. At some point.”
In town, she made the turn away from the bay and followed the directions into a neighborhood of Cape Cods and Tudors with roomy lawns. As instructed, she pulled into the driveway of the third house on the right of Mulberry Lane.
The house had a covered front porch with a pair of benches and a welcome mat that read:
WIPE YOUR PAWS.
A calico cat sat in the front window; barking sounded before Sonya lifted her hand to knock.
The woman who answered wore a tie-dyed sweatshirt over black leggings. She had a dish towel over one shoulder, and her sunny blond hair was scooped back in a tail.
She shoved a pair of blue-framed glasses back up her nose as a trio of dogs danced around her feet.
“Sonya?”
“Yes.”
“Lucy Cabot.” She stuck out her hand. “Nobody bites.”
“Good to know.”
“Come on in. Settle down,” she ordered, and the dogs more or less obeyed. The biggest, with fluffy white fur, thumped his fan of a tail as he sat. Another, sleek and brown with a pointed face, whined softly and sniffed at her boots.
And the third, the one whose photo had pulled her here, danced in place as he stared up at her with big brown eyes.
“Solo,” she said, pointing at the biggest. “Lando. My boys are Star Wars fans. We’re calling this little sweetie Yoda. We’ve only had him for a few days.”
“Can I…”
“Of course. Lando! Sit, stay. Yoda is about ten months old,” Lucy said when Sonya crouched down to pet him. “And he really is a sweetie. He’s housebroken, current on his shots. He—as you can see—gets along just fine with other dogs, with cats—we have two—and people. He’s great with kids—I have three.”
Sonya heard it all, but vaguely, as she felt herself falling as the dog nuzzled her hand, then lifted both his front paws onto her knee.
“A prize-winning Boston terrier got seduced by a dachshund mix,” Lucy explained. “So he’s got the brindle terrier face and coloring and the stubby legs and slightly elongated body from his dad. He’s no show dog, so they didn’t want him.”
“Aw,” said Sonya, and felt her heart melting.
“But they kept him until he was weaned, I’ll give them that. And when he was about four months old, gave him to a couple who ended up getting a divorce a few months after that. Neither wanted him, poor little guy.
“He likes you,” Lucy observed. “But then, he likes everybody. Have you ever had a dog?”
“Yes.” Sonya gave up, sat on the floor, and let the dog crawl into her lap and kiss her face. “When I was growing up. When I lived in Boston, worked in an office, I wasn’t home enough to have a dog. It didn’t seem fair. Look at you. Look at those ears.”
“You’re up at Lost Bride now.”
“That’s right, and I work from home.”
“Planning on staying then?”
Cuddling the dog, Sonya looked up. “Yes.”
“I’m asking because he deserves a stable home. He’s been passed off twice already. I’d keep him myself because, well, he really is a sweetheart. But I made a deal with my husband we wouldn’t have more animals than humans, and we’ve got two dogs, two cats, and a guinea pig.”
Sonya ran a hand over the smooth, tiger-striped brown fur. “I’m making a home here. I can make a home for him. I was only going to look today.” Sonya cupped the dog’s face in her hands. “But here he is. Yoda’s a good name.”
“Is it?”
“What did they call him—the divorced couple?”
“Stubby.”
“Oh, well. It’s cute, I guess, but it’s not dignified, is it? Yoda’s dignified and wise. He looks wise. And Yoda was small but powerful.”
“My boys’ll be happy to know he’s going with someone who knows her Star Wars.”
“I can adopt him?”
“Looks to me like he’s already adopted you. Have you got supplies?”