Arthur looked back and forth between us. “You know what? I’m gonna head out. I’ll trust you to finish up. Shane, if you want to stay, the apartment’s always yours. But if you do decide you want to move out, don’t hold back because you think I need you here. I sure don’t want to lose your help, but you can drive back and forth and have normal working hours.”
“Don’t you want normal hours yourself, after all the time you’ve spent working on the shelter and juggling a gazillion fosters?”
Arthur shook his head. “Not sure what I’d do with free time. I’ll be bouncing off the walls and bored stiff, probably. So you’re welcome to live up there forever.” He gestured at the upstairs. “But if you’re ready,whenyou’re ready, you won’t be leaving me in the lurch at all.”
“Thanks,” I told him. “I guess Theo and I should talk.”
“Right. Let me know.” Arthur turned to go.
As he passed Theo, my boyfriend grabbed Arthur in a tight hug. I winced, but the way Arthur hugged him back, almost slouching in his hold, made me wonder if I was wrong about what the big guy needed.
“Thanks for everything,” Theo murmured.
“You did this.” Arthur pulled free and waved a hand around. “You and everyone else, but you most of all. I still don’t understand why.”
Theo hesitated, then said, “When I was a child, this place was a prison of marble and glass and cold, hard words. Now, it’s become a home for a dozen dogs and cats, and the man I love. That’s priceless.”
“Oh.” Arthur paused, then gave Theo’s arm a silent squeeze. He vanished down the hallway, and a minute later, we heard the side door close.
Theo turned to me, but I wasn’t quite ready to open my heart yet. I said, “If you’re sticking around, you can do some work.”
“Sure. What do you need?”
If I got a kick out of telling a guy with a million dollars to mop the floor, well, sue me. Although I wasn’t sure how much of a million he’d have left once he bought his next project. “Hey,” I said as I put a fresh trash bag in the can. “Did you decide which house to remodel?”
“Yes. I’m going for the Riverside one. It needs more work, but it has excellent bones.”
“Did Foxy tell you that?”
He chuckled. “I’m sure she would’ve. You know, I’m glad I don’t have to live in my projects anymore. I might’ve gone with the other place. Those Riverside bathrooms arebad. One time, I renovated an old hacienda-style, and I used the bathroom at the local Y for a month. Never again.”
Theo’d bought the place he’d been renting. He’d asked my opinion, which I didn’t want to give because it wasn’t my money, but he pushed until I said the shower was a slice of heaven and Mimsy approved of the yard. Next day, he put in an offer. His condo in San Diego was on the market, which, come to think of it, might replenish his funds nicely. Funds I’d never yet asked about.
“Are you a millionaire, Theo?”
“Well, technically, I guess. Yeah. The remodeling company has about three mil in assets, some of which I’m about to sink into that house, and my retirement account is close to one more.”
“And you own the company.”
“Yeah.” His tone went cautious. “Is that a problem?”
“Nope,” I said airily. “Come on, let’s walk the dogs.”
Tigger and Smokey bounced up and down in the nearest glass-doored runs as I turned on the dog-room lights, with Tigger barking his head off.
“I’m amazed you haven’t lost your voice,” I told the yellow Lab-mix, working him into his harness. I’d told Theo to walk Smokey, because my sweet man was used to Foxy’s good manners. No way was Theo ready to deal with Tigger.
Once we’d safely harnessed and leashed both dogs, I led the way to the back door. “Wrap the leash around your wrist,” I reminded Theo. “Arthur will kill me if we have an escape on our first night.”
The air outside still held a perfect warmth with amber and pink clouds streaking the sky. The dogs bounced and lunged as we crossed the paved apron and reached the stubble of the lot beyond. Theo grunted and hung on as Smokey lunged for something in the underbrush. Tigger leaped and flipped and basically demoed where he got his name.
“He’s not going to hurt himself, is he?” Theo asked as Tigger’s most ambitious bounce momentarily landed him on his butt.
“Nah. He’s fine. It’d be good if I could let him run some of his energy off, but I can’t trust him off leash.”
Theo gazed around. “We need a fence. There’s lots of space. We could even enclose a couple of different play areas. Six-foot chain-link. My grandparents’ money may be used up, but it can’t be that expensive.”
“Make it seven-foot,” I told him. “Yeah. It’s on the wish list. Especially if we can bring the enclosure right up to the back door. Then we could let more volunteers take the dogs out safely. We’d want a smaller space for the dogs that are hard to catch and a big one for the dogs we can let run.”
