The Dogs of Christmas Read online

  “This is, well…” Amanda laughed, as if they all knew what she was going to say, and there was an extent to which Josh thought they probably did. “I’m sort of moving out. I did move out. Of the place in Fort Collins,” she explained.

  Josh looked at her. Amanda bit her lip, and then her eyes danced merrily at him, the way they used to when she would suggest on a Saturday afternoon that maybe they should go back to bed for a “nap.” “Let an old friend sleep on your couch?” she asked him softly.

  Josh could feel Kerri watching him. “Probably not a good idea,” he responded.

  Amanda looked wounded. “Josh, it’s Christmas Eve, and I … I really don’t have any other place to go.”

  “Oh,” Josh replied. “Of course. What was I thinking?”

  TWENTY-ONE

  Josh reached in his pocket for his wallet. “I’ve got two hundred,” he stated, counting it out. “That should set you up for a night or two somewhere.” He held the money out to Amanda, who was doing her wounded-look thing. There’d been a time when Josh would do anything to make that look go away.

  “It’s Christmas Eve,” Amanda protested faintly.

  “You know where I would go if I were you is the Brown Palace,” Kerri suggested helpfully, naming one of the area’s oldest hotels—and one located conveniently all the way down the hill in downtown Denver. “At Christmas the lobby is beautiful.”

  “I don’t need money, Josh,” Amanda said, almost but not quite keeping the anger from her voice. She pointedly didn’t look at Kerri. “I wanted to see you.”

  “It was nice to see you, too, Amanda,” Josh agreed.

  She gave him a tight smile at his response, her eyes cold. Josh remained there and took it, knowing that she expected him to fold. The wind kicked up, rocking the trees with audible creaking sounds, and the three of them stood silently.

  “I’d better get going,” Amanda finally decided, her eyes on Josh.

  “Merry Christmas,” Kerri said happily.

  Amanda turned and focused on opening her car door, pressing her lips together in a thin line. Josh scooped up Rufus and stood next to Kerri as the car started and drove off. He waved, but Amanda didn’t.

  When the sound of Amanda’s car had completely faded away, Kerri turned to Josh, shaking her head. “I’ll say this, with you it’s never dull,” she admired.

  “You told me one time that nothing I’d ever done suggested any kind of thing between us,” Josh explained. “I wanted to correct that.”

  She tossed her head at him. “So I’m your girlfriend now? Because it’s sort of the first I’ve heard of it.”

  “Sorry if I was presumptuous,” Josh apologized, not sounding sorry.

  “That’s okay. I liked it.” They smiled at each other. “Sort of blew Amanda away, though,” she observed.

  “Oh, let’s not talk about Amanda.”

  Kerri laughed.

  “Come on,” he suggested. “Let’s go inside. I have a Christmas present for you and I can’t wait until tomorrow.”

  “Me, too, but wait.” Kerri went to the back of her car and lifted the hatch. She opened the sagging dog crate, reaching inside for a puppy.

  It was Cody.

  When she put the little dog on the ground, Rufus romped up and bowled right into him, the two of them rolling together in a hilarious tumbling jumble.

  “Cody!” Josh called, slapping his knees. “Here, Cody!”

  Cody and Rufus were far too involved with greeting each other to pay any attention to Josh. Kerri pulled a small package out of her car and stuffed it in her coat pocket and the four of them—two people and two dogs—went into the house. Cody followed where Rufus led him, only stumbling at the first and last steps on the wooden stairs to the front deck.

  “Did you get my text?” Josh asked.

  Frowning, Kerri pulled her phone out. “No, I didn’t. When did you send it?”

  “Last night. Probably it’s in my phone and you’ll get it next time I drive down the hill and back into cell range.”

  “I didn’t get your call, either.”

  “Huh. Was I supposed to call?” He gave her a sideways glance.

  “So what did your text say?”

  “What happened?” Josh asked instead. “With Cody, I mean.”

  “Oh. That was the message I got last night. The family that adopted him was way out of their depth. They didn’t realize what a huge difference it would make for a sightless dog to be blind from birth. The dog they had before was more than half a year old when she went blind, so she already knew the layout of the house, where the furniture was, and was already housebroken. Poor Cody has spent the last two weeks bumping into things and crying all the time. He couldn’t find the puppy pads they put out for him, and he kept getting lost. I guess the whole family was one big nervous breakdown. They didn’t even call, just showed up yesterday and handed him to Madelyn like they were returning a pair of shoes or something. I don’t get people.”

  “So what happens now?”

  Kerri blew out a puff of air. “So now we put him back on the website, I guess. He’s so cute; we had a lot of inquiries about him. We just have to sort through them all and find the people who are able to take care of a blind dog.”

  “I guess no, that’s not going to happen.”

  A smile played on Kerri’s lips. “What do you mean?”

  Josh nodded to where Rufus and Cody were playing on the floor. “This is as happy as Rufus has been since Cody left. I wouldn’t think it was possible for a puppy to be depressed, but now that they’re back together I see what was missing. Rufus needs Cody, and Cody needs Rufus.”

  “I thought it might be something like that.”

  “Far as I’m concerned, the people who were supposed to come yesterday lost their option when they didn’t even bother to call. I don’t care if they were kidnapped by aliens—they missed their opportunity.”

  “Right. You sure you’re up to it, though? Two puppies, one of them blind?”

  “Will I have help?”

  “You mean from Rufus?”

  “I mean human help.”

  Kerri grinned at him. “Do you want human help?”

  “Yeah. I do. A lot of help.”

  “Right.”

  “Like, constantly.”

  “Understood.”

  Now they were both grinning. “So, hey, I want you to open your gift!” Josh exclaimed.

  Underneath the tree was a big wrapped package, easily eight times the size of a bread box. “That’s for me?”

  “Yes.”

  “What is it, a new refrigerator?”

  Josh laughed. “Just open it.”

  Kerri took off her coat, tossing it on the couch, and bent down to the gift. At the sound of ripping paper, the puppies stopped wrestling and bounded over to see what was going on, Rufus tight against Cody’s left side.

  “Hey!” Kerri shouted in delight. It was a new dog crate. “This is exactly what I need!”

  “Oh, I know,” Josh assured her.

  The dogs were ripping up the paper, shaking it like they were killing snakes.

  “Now this,” Kerri said. She crossed to him on the couch, reached into her coat pocket, and pulled out a wrapped package, about the size of a hardback book.

  Josh unwrapped it and opened the box. Inside were two leashes and two dog collars, each with a name tag on it. One said “Rufus,” the other, “Cody.”

  “We make them right at the shelter,” Kerri explained, “so this is more of a thought-that-counts gift than anything.”

  “So you knew I was keeping Rufus? I thought you didn’t get my text.”

  “I knew because I didn’t get your call. I figured there was only one reason you wouldn’t want to talk to me, one thing you didn’t want to tell me.”

  “It’s like you can read my mind.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Well, stop that.”

  Kerri laughed.

  “Seriously, have you always been psychi
c?”

  “I’m seriously not psychic. I had no idea what was going on when this blond woman showed up, driving like ten yards in front of me all the way from downtown Evergreen to your house. And then when it turned out to be Amanda … I thought it was going to happen again.”

  “What? What was going to happen again?”

  “That just when everything was looking like it was perfect, something would come along to wreck it.”

  “Yeah. For a second, I thought the same thing.”

  They smiled, holding each other’s eyes.

  “So let’s not let anything wreck anything ever again,” Josh suggested.

  They stood in front of the Christmas tree and kissed while the dogs continued their deadly assault on the wrapping paper. There was something about the way she fit into his arms that felt more right than anything in the world.

  “You know what I want to do?” Kerri said.

  Josh involuntarily glanced down the hallway toward his bedroom and Kerri laughed, pushing at his shoulders. “Not that,” she mock scolded.

  “I asked you to stop reading my mind,” Josh protested.

  “I was thinking we could take the puppies and go downtown and just soak in the holiday, you know? The people will all be out, and carolers, and the lights—it’s the best part about living in a small town, don’t you think?”

  It was the best part. There were carolers, and the stores were all beautifully lit, looking to Josh like a giant reproduction of the village on his mantel. The dogs were not at all sure they approved of the leashes at first, twisting and yanking at the unfamiliar sensation of being led, but after a time seemed to accept them. The two of them were close together, sniffing furiously at all the new scents.

  At Evergreen Lake they stopped to watch the flow of skaters circling on the ice. Josh blinked when he saw Chuck, the brother of little Juliet, stream past on his skates. He turned his head and examined the benches lining the lake and saw the little girl first, and then the little puppy in her lap. He led Rufus and Cody over to see Lola.

  “Lola!” Josh called. Juliet set the puppy down and the three siblings went crazy, jumping all over one another. Juliet giggled, her mittened hand to her mouth.

  “I guess I never considered this could happen,” Josh told Kerri while the puppies played.

  “It will keep happening,” Kerri replied. Josh searched her face. “You never even asked, but all of the people who adopted your puppies live right here in Evergreen. You can have playdates. That was part of the interview process.”

  “Wow,” Josh said, contemplating.

  Lola eventually decided she’d rather be held by Juliet, who scooped the little dog back up and held her like an infant. Josh waved good-bye to Matt, who was standing where he could keep an eye on both of his children, and Matt waved back.

  Kerri and Josh walked on, and, when the snowflakes began drifting down, the people on the lake cheered and applauded.

  “White Christmas,” Josh murmured. He pulled Kerri in for a kiss and then just held her so that he could look into those blue eyes.

  “You know what, Kerri? You’re my Rufus,” he told her.

  She peered at him. “I’m your dog with a brown spot over my eye,” she translated.

  “I’m like Cody. I don’t always see things, even things right in front of me. But you nudge me in the right direction. Like returning Lucy to Serena. Like letting go of the puppies. Like putting Amanda’s pictures in a plastic box. You help me find my way in the world.”

  Her lips twitched into a small smile. “Is that the speech you give to all the girls?”

  “Yeah, it’s my standard.” He nodded.

  She grinned more broadly. “Pretty good.”

  He suggested they stop by the grocery store, where the deli just happened to have an order waiting for him—a fully cooked turkey dinner. “Traditional Christmas Eve food,” he explained.

  “Right,” she approved. “But I thought you were an expert at turkey.”

  It was still snowing: huge flakes that flared in the parking lot lights. “Let’s go home,” Kerri suggested, the most welcome words Josh had ever heard.

  The dogs seemed to really appreciate the smells in the car but were soon asleep in their new crate as they drove up the hill.

  Josh put the turkey in the oven to keep it warm. He opened a bottle of wine and settled on the couch and Kerri came over and sat with him, leaning up against him. He put his arm around her. He’d never felt more comfortable. The dogs woke up and soon were back to wrestling on the floor in front of the fireplace.

  He had to do something different, he’d told Rufus, to get her to stay.

  “You know, Kerri,” he said. She looked at him. “I keep trying to capture one last Christmas in this house that was like it used to be, and I’ve never managed it. But now, with you, it’s like I want new Christmases. New memories. Nothing would make me happier than to wake up tomorrow morning and have you here with me. Could you maybe not go home tonight?”

  “Hmm…,” she mused, which could be yes or could be no. “Sort of, what did you say? Presumptuous. Assuming I am ready to just stay here tonight, on the basis of what, you calling me your girlfriend? Like, that’s all it takes?”

  The fire crackled, drawing their attention for a bit. Josh shifted uncomfortably. What was he doing wrong?

  “Right,” she responded finally, “I guess you’ll have to get my suitcase out of my car, then. I packed so much stuff this morning I could barely lift it.”

  He nodded carefully, afraid his grin was betraying the yes! echoing in his brain.

  “So where would I sleep?” she asked after a moment.

  “Oh. Sure. I mean, you could have the master.”

  “And what about you? Would you be in your old bedroom?”

  “Of course.”

  She smiled at him and his heart started pounding. “Well, maybe not,” she speculated.

  “Okay.”

  They sat in a comfortable silence, her head on his shoulder, him holding her tight.

  “You’re the one, Kerri,” he murmured, the words coming out unplanned. “The one I’ve been waiting for. The one I need.”

  She sighed in his embrace, moving even closer.

  He couldn’t explain it to himself, but somehow this woman in his arms had managed not to just save Christmas for Josh, but to save everything else, as well. She was his rescue. The life that had never made any sense to him at all now seemed to make all the sense in the world.

  After a few minutes of just holding each other on the couch, Josh began to sing. Instantly the two little dogs at their feet stopped playing, whipping their heads around toward her.

  Away in a dog box,

  a quilt for their bed,

  The little dog puppies

  lay down their sweet heads.

  The puppies both sat, paying rapt attention.

  “Why aren’t they falling asleep?” Kerri asked him.

  “I don’t know. Never failed before.” Josh looked at her. “I love you, you know.”

  “I love you, too, Josh.”

  They smiled into each other’s eyes. After a bit, Josh turned back to the puppies, who had resumed playing.

  Lucy your mommy

  Is gone for today

  But she will come visit

  So you guys can play

  So sleep, little puppies

  Together as one

  And when you all wake up

  We’ll have puppy fun.

  “You just make up those new lines?” Kerri asked.

  “Yeah,” Josh replied proudly.

  “Sounds like it,” she observed.

  They laughed. The dogs still weren’t sleeping, so Josh and Kerri moved on to “Silent Night,” their voices joined together. And that’s how they spent the evening: singing to the Dogs of Christmas.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, EXPLANATIONS, AND APOLOGIES

  This novel wouldn’t even exist if not for Linda Quinton at Tor/Forge, who heard me describe a s
eries of short stories I was thinking of writing about a man who winds up having to adopt out a bunch of puppies and exclaimed, “I want that as a book!” Thank you, Linda, for your vision and your trust.

  My editor, Kristin Sevick, helped me find the right direction for The Dogs of Christmas—thanks for your ideas and suggestions. They were right on, Kristin.

  Having Scott Miller on my side is like having an uncle who is Batman. You are the best agent ever, Scott.

  My friend for so many years, Dr. Deb Mangelsdorf, went to veterinary college so that she could give me expert advice when I started writing dog books. She guided me through all the particulars concerning dog pregnancy, labor, and other things I’ve never done. Thanks for everything, Deb.

  The world of animal rescue was entirely unknown to me until my daughter, Georgia Lee, introduced me to the notion that we can save animals who, through no fault of their own, are lost, abused, abandoned, or unloved. Thanks to Life Is Better Rescue, for the amazing work you’re doing intervening in the lives of these poor unfortunate pets.

  Chelsea, you never said a bad word about anyone. Not you either, Eloise.

  I wouldn’t have any sort of career at all if people didn’t buy my books, and a lot of people who have done so have gone on to join the conversation on the A Dog’s Purpose fan page on Facebook or to nominate their dogs for Dog of the Week on the adogspurpose.com website. I can’t say it enough: Thank you for your support, and for loving the animals I write about.

  And the team that helps keep it all going: Charlie, Chase, Trisha, Elliott. Thanks, guys.

  Thanks to Leslie Rockiter, for cutting the book trailer, and to Dina Zaphiris, for training the actors in the book trailer.

  Thanks to the geniuses at FlyHC.com for designing my websites and keeping them current. Come check them out at brucecameron.com and adogspurpose.com!

  Thanks to all my friends at the Cypress Inn, for not letting people check in if they haven’t read at least one of my books.

  I speak for a lot of people and a lot of grateful animals when I say that there are so many wonderful people who use their position in the public eye to advance the cause of animal rescue and adoption. The originals were women like Tippi Hedren, Doris Day, Betty White, and Mary Tyler Moore—they showed the way. The new generation are people beautiful inside and out: Teri Austin, Elaine Hendrix, Ellen Laventhal, Katherine Heigl, and Elayne Boosler.