1105 Yakima Street - Debbie Macomber [40]
Beth walked into the office carrying a picnic basket. Filled with books? Grace wondered but didn’t ask. She smiled at this woman who’d become a friend. Beth’s love for dogs resonated strongly with her. Not only was she an effective trainer who’d been instrumental in setting up the Reading with Rover program, she rescued stray and abandoned dogs. She found homes for some of them and kept others for the library program. She trained them to sit with children as they read aloud. Being with a dog relaxed children who struggled with reading and were at risk academically. While a volunteer was close at hand, the real focus was on the children and “their” dogs. And on learning to read.
Grace had instigated the program after hearing how it had started in a Seattle bookstore. Because of her own volunteer work at the animal shelter, it had immediately appealed to her. She’d checked with local grade schools and, not surprisingly, the idea had met with enthusiasm.
That was when Grace heard about Beth, who’d moved to Cedar Cove three years earlier. As soon as Grace approached her, Beth had responded with an unqualified yes. Despite the work on her Christmas tree farm, Beth faithfully brought the dogs into the library several times a week. Without her the program wouldn’t be possible.
“What’s up?” Grace asked, pushing aside her spreadsheets. After hours of staring at numbers, considering proposed budget cuts and trying to do more with less, she welcomed the break. It’d been a draining week and she looked forward to a relaxing weekend with her husband. They planned to go horseback riding along the beach on Saturday, maybe take in a movie Sunday afternoon.
“I need a favor,” Beth said, sitting down in the chair opposite Grace’s desk. She carefully set her picnic basket on the floor beside her.
“Anything.” Grace would never be able to repay Beth. Although the library program hadn’t been in operation long, Grace could already see a dramatic difference in the children. At first they’d arrived tense, uneasy about yet another reading exercise, but as soon as they saw the dogs, everything changed. Twice now she’d seen children from the program taking out books. Nothing could’ve been greater proof of Reading with Rover’s success.
“Do you remember the stray dog I found four or five weeks ago?”
Grace recalled that Beth had rescued a golden retriever she’d come across on the side of the road. The poor dog had no identification and she’d apparently been on her own for some time because she was in bad shape.
“Of course.”
“She was pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” Grace repeated slowly.
“The puppies were born a few days after I brought her home. She had a litter of five. Unfortunately, she didn’t make it. She was a lovely, sweet-tempered dog and it breaks my heart to have lost her.”
“Five puppies?” The fact that the lost dog had been a golden retriever instantly brought back memories of Grace’s beloved Buttercup. Buttercup had been almost twelve when she’d died quietly in her sleep that summer. Grace still couldn’t think about her dog without feeling a pang of grief. The golden retriever had loved her life on the ranch and had never seemed happier than when she and Grace took long walks through the property and along the shore. It didn’t seem right that Buttercup was gone. Even now when she got home from work, she expected the dog to greet her.
“So if you would, I’d be forever grateful,” Beth was saying.
Grace blinked. Caught up in her memories, she’d entirely missed most of Beth’s comments.
“If I would do what?” Grace asked.
“Look after one of the puppies for me,” Beth said, giving her an odd glance.
“Me? But…how?”
“He needs to be fed every couple of hours. I have a special bottle I’ll give you. In addition to the feeding, he’ll need lots of attention. This poor baby has lost his mother and he’s been separated from his brother and sisters. He’s lonely and afraid.”
“Beth, I couldn’t possibly take on the care of a puppy.” It was out of the question. “I have to be at work here in the library. I haven’t got the time, and Cliff