1 Chapter 1

The lobby of the shelter was a moving quilt of camo and fur, well-enunciated conversations, and assorted barks. Austin felt a childlike giddiness around all these dogs. What excited him more was the fact that he and his wife, Erika, would go home with one, even if it was a temporary arrangement. Austin had been dropping hints about adding a dog to their life ever since their second wedding anniversary.

“Honey, don’t you think it gets lonely here sometimes?”

“Not really.”

“Sweetie, we really do have a great backyard. Shame there’s only the two of us and we don’t use it that often.”

“I tan out there sometimes, and we host parties on the back patio.”

“Erika, babe, do you ever think about…expanding our household?”

“We don’t have money for renovations.”

Eventually Erika had sat him down in the living room to talk. She sighed. “Okay, honey, I get that you…want something more in our lives, but the fact is that I don’t think I’m ready for kids yet.”

Austin blinked at her in surprise. “Kids? I was talking about a dog.”

“A dog?” Erika thought for a moment. “Well, it’s still a big commitment, but…a dog is definitely more manageable than a baby. I’ll think about it.”

The problem was that Erika had grown up in an apartment complex that didn’t allow pets, whereas Austin had always had at least one pet in the house as a kid, even when it was just his turn to watch the class’s pet hamster. Austin had gotten his fix from visiting friends with dogs, but after several years living together with Erika, he was feeling the absence a pet could fill. Once he stopped being subtle, he felt like a little boy begging his mom for a dog. Fortunately, an opportunity for compromise arose when Austin heard about the Fosters for Fighters program.

“We can help out a member of the Armed Forces and have a trial dog,” Austin said, excitedly pointing to the flier tacked to the grocery store’s community board. “Plus, I could write an article or two about it, at least. What do you think?”

Erika read the poster top to bottom several times, the light frown on her face eventually softening. “Okay,” she said. “We can try it.”

So here they were, about to meet their foster dog. Austin had let Erika pick, since he would be happy with any dog. She applied for several dogs, including a corgi named Joby, a terrier mix named Soccer, and a “schipper-poo” named Bunny.

“I looked up schipperkes, and they’re pretty small. And poodles are really smart, so a cross between the two should be manageable, right?” That was what she wanted: low-maintenance. Austin would be the one taking care of the dog most often, since he worked from home. However, he understood how Erika didn’t want to come home from showing houses all day onto find her own in shambles, covered in drool and muddy paw prints.

One of the event organizers, a smiling stocky woman wearing rectangular glasses and the Fosters for Fighters camo T-shirt, came over to them with a clipboard. “You must be Mr. and Mrs. Inverness,” she said.

“That’s us,” Erika said, smiling back. She looped her arm around Austin’s and rested her head on his shoulder. Austin didn’t know whether to roll his eyes or snicker or both. Though he tried to be modest, Austin knew from experience that he was a damn handsome man. The issue with that was sometimes Erika felt people wouldn’t believe he was her husband, since she considered herself average at best, and did what she could to emphasize their relationship when it came up in conversation.

The woman flipped through her papers. “Okay, well, unfortunately your first two choices are no longer available. Joby’s human is going to have him stay with her cousin, and Soccer went home with a different foster family half an hour ago, but the good news is Bunny is still looking for a temporary home!”

The hope Austin had been losing returned. Once again he felt like a kid tugging his mom’s arm. “C’mon, Erika, you picked her for a reason.”

Erika glanced around the room. There were several pit-bull mixes, a St. Bernard, two greyhounds, and a few smaller dogs that were already in the arms of civilians. “Okay, we’ll look at Bunny.”

“Great!” The woman wrote down an annotation and went to find Bunny.

Austin held back for a few seconds, then quietly squealed in joy to himself. Erika snorted and shook her head. “You are so adorable sometimes.”

“Sometimes? I think the reason you married me is because I’m adorable all the time.”

“True,” Erika said, pinching his cheek. “I didn’t want to miss one cutesy-wutesy moment.” She gave him a kiss and rested her head on his shoulder again.