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Chapter 22
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Being quiet in the kitchen in the morning was something Brady had had to get used to. Most days, he was up before his hosts, and he didn’t want to wake them as he went about making his coffee and grabbing a bagel or toast on his way out the door.
The morning after he’d had dinner with Noelle, he walked into the kitchen to see Rob there already, sipping some coffee with his robe on over his pajamas, staring at his phone, a groggy look on his face.
Studying him for a moment, Brady tried to figure out what was going on. “Good morning,” he said.
Rob looked up, his eyes bleary, and said, “Good morning. How are you this morning, Brady?” He stifled a yawn.
“I’m good,” Brady said, thinking that was truer that morning than most days. He was looking forward to his lunch meeting, getting on with the Christmas event planning, and of course seeing Noelle and Po
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Arriving at the shelter a little earlier than normal, Noelle pulled into her spot and checked her phone one more time before she went in. Still no response to the message she’d sent the night before. Frustrated, she slipped her phone into her pocket and turned off her car, grabbing her bag and heading to the front door, her keys in her hand.That familiar smell of animals who had been in cages all night hit her lungs. She groaned. What she wouldn’t give for kennels that allowed the dogs to go outside overnight if they needed to! As long as it was secure and there was no chance they could get loose, it would be a great way to make sure the animals that came to her already house trained stayed that way and keep all of them from having to mess where they lived, which most dogs hated.“At least the cats have litter boxes,” she muttered, taking her bag to her office and locking it in a drawer before she took her coat,
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The diner was more crowded for lunch than it had been the night before when Brady had been sitting across from Noelle over dinner instead of with Harry Green in a booth a few down from the one he’d shared with the beautiful animal lover. Harry wasn’t quite as easy on the eyes, but after some initial pushback, similar to what he’d gotten from Martha, he’d started to open up. By the time they were almost finished with their soup and sandwiches, Harry was on board.Taking a sip of his sweet tea, Harry nodded his head. “Everything you have outlined sounds good to me, Brady. The fact that you got Doris Snow to head it up speaks volumes. I don’t have any problem at all throwing my support behind the events. I do think it will be difficult to get Jenkins’s approval, but as long as there’s not a tie on the board, it won’t matter.”“Do you think you can help me get at least two mo
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“Oh, yes! This is him. For certain,” Irma said as she held Pooch in her arms, rubbing his fluffy head. “I would recognize this sweet face anywhere.”Noelle swallowed hard, her heart stopping in her chest. Pooch’s wide, dark eyes blinked up at her, his pink tongue wagging as he took in a familiar face. He seemed perfectly happy sitting on Irma’s lap in one of the rooms they used to introduce families to their potential new pets. She’d asked Irma to take a seat and then went to fetch her little friend. Pooch was so happy to see her, his tail wagging furiously, and she lamented the fact that she hadn’t gotten the opportunity to spend much time with him that day. She’d petted him earlier when she’d filled his water and food bowl, but he hadn't had a walk. Unfortunately, there were just more animals than there were humans to love on them.“Isn’t he just the cutest?&rdquo
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Praying he wasn’t too late, Brady pulled into the closest parking spot next to the door of the animal shelter, ripped out his keys, and ran inside. He glanced around, looking for Noelle, looking for Pooch, but then, the parking lot only held Noelle’s SUV and another car he thought belonged to one of the volunteers, so he wasn’t surprised that he didn’t see Pooch’s owner inside.“Can I help you?” a voice called, as she rounded the corner He recognized the woman as the one who’d been there the other day when came to take Pooch for his first walk. Her face softened as she recognized him, too. “Oh, hi there. Brady, isn’t it?”“Yes,” he said, trying to calm his pounding heart. “I was looking for…. Has Pooch’s owner come yet?”“Oh, I’m afraid you just missed her,” she said, giving him a small smile.
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Stunned, Noelle watched Brady leave, not exactly sure what had happened. Had she said something to offend him? Was it Pooch? Brady’s reaction made no sense to her. She expected him to be happy to see Pooch. While he seemed to be at first, he left so abruptly, she just couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Could it be that he liked the dog and wanted to spend time with Pooch--but not with her? Had she done something wrong?Noelle couldn’t think of anything that she had done that may have triggered that reaction from him since they’d had dinner the night before. Naturally, she would’ve spent all afternoon dwelling on it if she would’ve been left to her own devices, but she had work to do, and these animals didn’t care if Brady had abruptly decided he didn’t like her or not. They wanted to be fed, watered, cleaned, walked, and loved.“Do you want me to take Pooch back to his cage before I g
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“Well, Mr. Rogers, what is it exactly that you are looking for?” Jennifer Morris asked, releasing his hand and offering him a seat in her office.“Please, call me Brady,” he insisted, sitting down across from her as she took a seat behind her desk. “For now, I just need a place I can get into to rent right away. Beyond that, I am looking for a nice home that will be big enough for a family someday. Three or four bedrooms, two or three baths.”Jennifer took some notes on a notepad. “And is there a reason you want to rent first?”“I just want to be able to get out of my friends’ house soon. They’re getting ready to have a baby, and I feel like I’m in the way.”She nodded and jotted that down. “Do you know what sort of architecture you prefer? Do you like a more modern look or something more historical?”
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 29
The delete button on her keyboard was getting quite the workout. Every time Noelle went to make a post announcing Pooch’s availability, it just didn’t sound right, and she ended up deleting it and starting all over again. She didn’t know why; he was ready to find his forever home. All she needed to do was put up his picture, a few sentences about his temperament, and there was a good chance he’d be gone in a matter of hours.That was the problem, though. Noelle didn’t want Pooch to be gone. Not with just anyone, anyway. She wanted to know for certain that Pooch would be in the perfect home, with the perfect family.That wasn’t true either, though. She wanted Pooch to be with her. Or Brady. Or both of them. That wasn’t going to happen because she wasn’t with Brady. Not to mention, as quickly as he’d taken off out of there the evening before it was clear that something was wrong. Since
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Brady pulled his truck to a stop outside of the house. The for sale sign in the yard looked new, the dirt around the bottom freshly disturbed. He took a moment to admire the home from the street. It was even more beautiful in person that it had been in the photographs. The pictures clearly didn’t do the place justice.Jennifer’s car was already parked in the driveway. She got out and waved at him, and he waved back before pulling his keys from the ignition and getting out of the vehicle. He wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck and walked up the sidewalk toward the expansive front porch.“Hi, Brady!” she called, meeting him on the steps. “How are you?”“Good. And you?”“I’m great, thank you. I think you’re really going to love this.” She headed to the front door and punched in a code in a box hanging there in order to access a
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One year later….“That one’s not for you, Pooch!” Noelle said, sitting on the floor beneath the Christmas tree. “That one clearly says Goldie on it. You don’t want to steal your sister’s present do you?”Pooch panted and hopped up and down undeterred by the fact that he’d have to settle for another present. Noelle removed the wrapping and held up a new squeaky toy for Goldie who barked with glee and then took it out of Noelle’s hands to investigate more.Brady reached beneath the tree and pulled out another gift. “This one’s for you, buddy,” he said to Pooch, unwrapping a new bone. The gift had Pooch giddy with excitement. He took it and dragged it across the floor, already gnawing on the end.“What about me?” Noelle asked. “Where’s my one Christmas Eve present?&rdqu
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Noelle hadn’t seen Brady anywhere. She’d spent most of the parade looking for him, walking down the sides of the street, trying to spot him amid the bundled up viewers, leaping up to try to see over the heads of men much taller than her. If Brady was there, she hadn’t seen him.The thought that she should call him entered her mind, but she didn’t do it. What would she say? Sorry I accused you of doing something you’d never do--again? No, until she figured out how to apologize, she wasn’t going to just call him and hope the right words popped out of her mouth.With a sigh, she took one more look around. The downtown area had basically cleared out. She did see one lone figure she recognized, though. Drawing in a deep breath, Noelle approached Mayor Jenkins who had that smug smile on his face. “Good evening, Miss Snow.”“Is it?” she asked, trying to keep her ange
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 41
The last week had been rough for Brady. While he’d been distracted painting a few rooms in his new house and picking out new furniture, he missed Noelle, and she absolutely refused to return his phone calls or texts. Going by to see her seemed desperate, and he wasn’t ready to be that guy yet, so he decided to come to the parade and see if he could run into her there.He’d spoken to her mom earlier in the week, but Doris didn’t know what had sparked the outburst about the budget at the fair. Noelle hadn’t told Doris either. Now, as the sounds of a marching band sounded in the distance, Brady walked along between the citizens of Holiday Hills that he was getting to know, smiling and waving, but not feeling any of it.Even closing on his new house earlier that day had not been that thrilling, and knowing that the board members agreed with his new proposal to move the animal shelter also seemed like something
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The week both seemed to fly by and drag as Noelle tried to stay focused on her work. It was difficult, standing in the back room of the shelter, seeing Pooch’s empty cage and not having any idea what had happened to him. She just prayed that, wherever he was, he was having a nice Christmas. It wasn’t what she’d hoped for when she’d first met the little dog. If she was honest, over the weeks that he’d been at the shelter, she hadn’t just started to hope that Pooch would end up with Brady; she’d hoped they both would. That she and Pooch would both become a part of Brady’s family.But now, on Christmas Eve, as she finished topping off the dogs’ food and water, knowing it would be a little later than normal when she came in the next day, she had to bury those wishes deep. Not only had Pooch been adopted by a different family, it had been almost a week since she’d spoken to Brady, and she wasn’
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Something was off with Noelle. It seemed as if Mrs. Davis had told her about the donations because she had been smiling when she spoke to the woman, but by the time she made it over to the tent, she wasn’t just sad; she was scowling.“No luck?” Brady asked her.“Nope. I can’t believe he’s just… gone.”He’d moved to put his arm around her, but she stepped away.“I feel just terrible,” Rhonda said, not for the first time.“I know. It’s okay,” Noelle said. “I think we can go ahead and start loading up these empty kennels,” she said. “We can leave the animals that haven’t been adopted out for a bit longer, but other vendors are starting to load up.”“I can help with that,” Brady volunteered.“No, it’s okay,” N
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 38
Noelle was doing her best to keep from yelling. Clearly, Kelsey had made a mistake, and being angry at her wasn’t going to bring Pooch back or make her feel any better. “Do you remember what they looked like?” Brady asked, his tone much more controlled than Noelle’s would've been if she would’ve tried to speak at the moment.The teen shrugged, as if she actually didn’t even care that she’d made a huge blunder. “No. They were kinda old. Maybe your age.”Brady’s eyes widened, and Rhonda scolded her granddaughter. “Brady’s not old, Kelsey!” she said. “Would you say the couple was in their late twenties or early thirties?”She shrugged again. “I don’t know. The lady had long dark hair and a big tummy. The guy had short brown hair and a black coat. That’s all I remember. Can we go now?”“
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 37
Getting all of the animals unloaded and in spots where they were both comfortable and warm had been a challenge, but Noelle managed with the help of Rhonda and a few of the other volunteers. Along with Pooch and Blacky, she’d brought six other dogs and four cats, animals she thought had a good chance of finding new homes. They were all bright-eyed and happy to be out of the shelter. A couple of them, including Blacky, barked at every person who came by, even on the road away from where they were set up in a parking spot next to the sidewalk on the main strip. The road was closed to cars now that the event was beginning, and the merchants had all had a couple of hours to bring in their wares--or their friends as was the case with Noelle. She was satisfied that they had a good spot for traffic, near the hot cocoa stand and the kettle corn. It smelled great, that was for sure. Now, all she needed was to find some animals a good home.“Well, they
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 36
The entire downtown area looked like something off of a Christmas card. Brady couldn’t help but smile as he walked toward the large pine tree in the park that they’d decorated earlier in the day. That had been fun, hanging ornaments with Noelle, as well as with children from all over town, their parents and grandparents. It had been a long time since Brady had had so much fun.Now, a light snow was falling, but he felt all warm and cozy inside, with the scarf his mother had made for him wrapped tightly around his neck.He was about fifteen minutes early, but there were already a ton of people gathered around the tree. They’d set up a small stage over to one side, along with a microphone. All of the lights on the tree were battery powered, but he had found an electrician, George Rivera, who had been kind enough to rig them all up so that it would appear as if one flip of a large switch was turning the tree on when in fa
All I Want for Christmas is Pooch Chapter 35
Saturday was a beautiful day. Noelle awoke to see the snow had stopped overnight, and while it was cold enough outside to keep the ground from becoming wet and sloshy, it wasn’t frigid either.She was up bright and early, headed to the shelter to take care of the animals before she went to the downtown area to help with the Christmas decorating. The kittens were thriving, Goldie was almost one hundred percent healed, and Pooch was his adorable self. She almost spent too much time playing with him, which would’ve made her late, but she was able to pull herself away from the cute pup in time to make it downtown by 10:00, the time her mother had asked everyone to arrive.In the backseat, Noelle had several boxes of Christmas decorations to donate to the cause. She’d stopped by the local hardware store the night before to buy a few boxes of lights and plastic ornaments, on top of the ones they’d generously donated, b
