Saving Grace (8 page)

“That’s not fair.” HW jumped up and pointed. “CoCo snuck out and she got nothing. We have to work, and we can’t play video games.”

Chord felt himself faltering. “Now, I know—”

“Life’s not fair.” Grace put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly. “Learn it, live it, love it. The sooner you make peace with the whole life’s not fair thing, the better your life will be.”

HW turned to Grace. “You did this. Before you came, Dad was cool. I wish you’d leave so we can get back to being a family.” He walked up and pushed at her. “Go away.”

Chord snatched him up by the shirt collar. “Son, you apologize right now.” He felt his control snapping so he relaxed the hand holding HW’s collar, but didn’t let go. “I don’t ever want to see you shove anyone. Grace is staying, and just because you’re upset doesn’t give you the right to shove anyone. Apologize. Now.”

Grace was right. HW was spoiled, and his behavior would not be tolerated. Chord had dismissed too much. He could see that now.

“I’m sorry.” HW gritted out. It sounded a lot like ‘screw you.’

Chord’s grip tightened. “Say it like you mean it.”

HW’s eyes were the size of tires. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”

HW walked back to Cart and they had a little confab. After the whispering was over, HW turned back to Chord. “We’re sorry we flooded the pool house, and we’re happy to work at the animal shelter and whatever else y’all want us to do.”

Chord didn’t know what to say. He’d disciplined the boys, and they seemed relieved to have consequences. His hand found Grace’s, and he twined his fingers through hers. “Now give us a hug. We still love you even though we don’t always love the things you do.”

He didn’t realize he’d said ‘we’ until after it was out of his mouth. Grace glanced at him and then shrugged.

The boys came in for a double hug. HW did not hug Grace, but he didn’t fight when she hugged him.

Chord glanced at Grace. Their eyes locked, and they shared a moment of parental pride. They had each other’s backs. This is what equality in a relationship felt like. He wasn’t alone anymore, Grace was here for him. More than anything, he wanted to be there for her.

The idea of having Cart and HW work at the Austin Humane Heroes was fantastic in theory, but the practice was a bit of a challenge. The “no-kill” shelter was a good hour away.

As Grace exited onto Hwy 1431, she glanced in the rearview mirror at Cart and HW. Both were trying to look bored, but they were nervous. Cart chomped on his fingernails, and HW drummed his fingers on his knee. After some wrong turns, she finally found Crystal Falls Parkway and then the huge animal shelter.

“Looks like we’re finally here.” She parked, cut the engine, opened the door, and stepped out. She pulled the lever and the driver’s seat popped forward so the boys could climb out of the backseat. Since neither one was speaking to her, the conversation up here had been a little one-sided.

Like the boys were marching to the guillotine, they shuffled their feet and walked two paces behind Grace.

“It’s not that bad. You’ll get to play with all the puppies and kittens. As punishments go, this is a good one.” She stopped and waited for them.

Cart slid his hand in hers and HW thought about it, remembered he hated her, and drew his hand back.

“Let’s go find…” she slipped her hand into her back jeans pocket and pulled out the directions she’d written down while talking to the director, “Lizzy who’ll show us around.”

Even though it was the boys working here, she didn’t feel comfortable leaving them with anyone—even people she knew. They were her responsibility, plus, she could handle playing with a few puppies and kittens herself.

They walked under the canopy of oak trees to the front door. She opened the heavy glass door, and a rush of stale air-conditioned air smacked them in the face.

A stout woman with no-nonsense short dark hair and razor sharp blue eyes greeted them. “You must be Cart and HW.”

She bent down to their level. “I can see you’re both intelligent boys, but as I discussed with your mother—”

“I’m not their mother.” Grace held out her hand. “I’m Grace.”

“Sorry.” Lizzy pumped her hand twice and released it. “As I discussed with Grace, I only take hard workers. Not too much fooling around. These dogs and cats depend on us for everything, and we take good care of them.”

Cart nodded and HW straightened to his full height of four feet. “We’re hard workers, and we love animals.”

“Good.” Lizzy nodded. “How about I introduce you to the animals. Some of them need walking. Think you can handle walking a couple of dogs?”

Cart and HW nodded emphatically. They took Lizzy’s outstretched hands while Grace followed them.

They walked into a huge open-air room with cement floors and large dog runs on either side of a long corridor. The scents of sweaty dog, poop, pee, and pine sol mixed with the fresh cut grass wafting in from outside made it smell like Uncle Vernon’s farm…in a way. The first chain-link kennel they stopped at held the largest dog Grace had ever seen.

Lizzy dropped the boys’ hands and stepped aside so Grace could see the enormous creature. “This is Clementine. He’s a St. Bernard.”

She unlatched the gate and opened the door. “He’s a sweet dog, gentle as can be.”

“Clementine’s a boy?” Grace peered into the dark kennel. A brown and white dog the size of a horse looked her up and down.

“Yes, Clementine’s male.” Lizzy glanced at Grace.

HW looked up at Lizzy. “Why don’t you call him Clem?”

Clementine barked loudly. The sound ricocheted off the concrete floor and amplified a hundred times. Apparently his bark was as big as he was.

“That’s why. It upsets him.” Lizzy said.

“How come he’s wearing that orange thing around his neck?” HW pointed to a puffy orange vest looking thing.

“That’s his life-jacket. Clementine’s afraid of water.” Lizzy made it sound like it was no big deal.

Grace glanced around looking for a large body of water. “I don’t understand. Y’all aren’t by the lake, do you have a pool or something?”

“No, Clementine’s afraid of all water.” Lizzy pointed to the small water dish in the corner.

“Oh.” Grace nodded. Clementine had some issues.

“Come on Clementine, it’s time for your walk.” Lizzy grabbed the red leash hanging from a hook by the door.

Slowly, Clementine unfolded himself from a large pretzel like ball. Like he had nothing else to do, he lumbered toward the door, gave Cart a sniff, glanced up like he was nodding his head, and sniffed HW. He gave another head nod. It was Grace’s turn. Clementine stuck his head in her crotch, sniffed, stepped back and gave her a ‘sup nod. She guessed that was good.

Clementine calmly sat while Lizzy attached the lease to his collar.

“Why don’t you give it a try?” She handed the leash to Cart who glanced up at Grace for approval.

“It’s okay. He looks um…” Grace chewed on her bottom lip. Clementine wasn’t menacing exactly, it was more that he was large. She’d known St. Bernards were a big breed, but Clementine had to weigh close to one-fifty.

“Clementine’s harmless.” Lizzy patted him on the head.

“He’s a big baby.” Grace followed Lizzy’s lead and patted Clementine on the back. “Good dog.”

She scratched him behind the ears, and his whole body smiled. When she pulled her hand away, he leaned against her leg and shot her large, soulful brown puppy dog eyes. She resumed scratching.

“Come on Clementine.” The voice was light, but gravely from disuse. She looked down to find that it came from Cart.

His mischievous grin made her want to bust out laughing. She ruffled his hair. “You’re a stinker.”

“Yeah, my dad says so too.” Cart’s cheeks flamed red. He was too adorable for words.

He walked forward, and Clementine followed him, his lifejacket swishing with every step.

“Do you ever take the lifejacket off?” Grace glanced at Lizzy as they walked to a door that must lead outside.

“Not anymore. The last time we took it off, he cried and carried on like we’d amputated one of his legs. It was pathetic.” Lizzy shook her head. “Clementine came to us by way of hurricane Katrina. Rescuers found him three days after the storm chained to a tree and treading water. He’s allowed to be scared of water, and if wearing a lifejacket makes him feel better, we’re happy to do it.”

Grace’s heart melted and she picked up her pace to catch up to the dog. She scratched him behind the ears again. “That lifejacket looks good on you.”

Lizzy patted him on the back. “Poor thing, he’ll never be adopted.”

“Why?” Grace continued to scratch as they walked. Besides being overly large and the water phobia, he looked very healthy.

“He’s afraid of many things. Most people want small dogs so the larger take longer to adopt. Add in his phobias and well, he’s a lifer here.” Lizzy sounded resigned.

“What else is he scared of?” Grace absolutely was not going to adopt this dog. The last thing she needed was more responsibility. She could barely keep a roof over her head, much less this dog’s.

Clementine looked up at her with huge please-love-me eyes, and her resolve wavered.

“Well, let me think. Besides the water, he’s afraid of paperclips, turtles, clouds shaped like paperclips or turtles, milk, lip-gloss, the color purple, bicycles, wooden spoons, rhinestones, newspapers, drums, SpongeBob Square Pants, rain, fog, deer, cherry-scented candles, toilet paper, and Hershey’s Kisses. Oh, and he’s not crazy about sliced cheese. String cheese is okay, but he doesn’t understand those individually wrapped cheese slices.” Lizzy was all business.

Grace waited for the punch line, but after a few seconds she gave up. Apparently, the Austin Humane Heroes did an in depth psychiatric evaluation. Clementine was a big boy with big fears.

Lizzy opened a metal door that lead outside to a huge fenced in area.

Clementine froze, and then cowered behind Cart.

“I forgot.” Lizzy pointed to a three-inch by three-inch spot of dirt where the grass had died. “He’s afraid of dirt. Grass he loves, but dirt terrifies him.”

“Come on boy, it’s okay, I won’t let that mean dirt hurt you.” Cart said as he gently pulled Clementine in the opposite direction of the dirt square.

“Clementine’s a sweet dog, but he has issues.” Lizzy hung her head. “I wish we knew how to help him.”

“What about the fostering program?” Grace was absolutely not going to take this dog home.

“He needs to be an only dog, and the foster parents usually take multiples because we have so many who need the home socialization.” Lizzy shook her head. “He’s here to stay.”

Cart and HW were running with Clementine. The dog had sparked something inside Cart, giving him the confidence to speak, which made this dog special…very special. Everyone deserved a good home, and Grace would do her best to find him one.

At seven-thirty that night, Chord pulled into his garage. All afternoon, Grace had been texting him cute pictures with his boys walking and playing with dogs. He stepped out of the car, closed the garage, and opened the door to the house.

He sniffed the air expecting the enticing scent of food cooking, but all he smelled was the Pine Sol used by the cleaning company on their weekly cleaning visit.

He followed the muffled sound of laughter to the backyard. Standing behind his huge grill in the outdoor kitchen he rarely used, was Grace. The urge to run and kiss her was so strong, but he checked it and laid his metal briefcase on a chair.

“Woof.” A creature that was part St. Bernard and part Clydesdale bounded up to him, stuck his nose in Chord’s crouch, sniffed, backed up and nodded.

He turned to Grace for an explanation.

“We’re fostering Clementine.” Grace nodded to the dog. “He needs a good home, and we’re going to find him one.”

He shot her a yeah-right look. Grace had “sucker” written all over her. Looks like he’d just gotten a new dog. He shrugged. It wasn’t a bad idea. He loved dogs and had always wanted one, but he’d pictured a dog more golden retriever and less Sasquatch, but he was flexible.

“What’s with the lifejacket?” He scratched behind the dog’s ears, and Clementine melted against him.

“He’s afraid of water.” Grace pulled off a paper towel covering a plate full of raw steak. One by one, she slapped them on the hot grill. They sizzled and filled the air with the aroma of grilling meat. Both he and Clementine shivered in delight.

“Wait, Clementine? But he’s a boy.” He eyed the dog. “Why don’t we call him Clem?”

Clementine barked his disapproval.

“He prefers Clementine.” Grace cut off a small bite of cooking meat and tossed it to Clementine who caught it in the air.

“Don’t feed him from the table.” Chord feigned horror. “You’ll spoil him.”

“I’m not at the table…he’s not at the table.” Grace set her tongs next to the grill, wiped her hands on the dishtowel that was always draped over her left shoulder, and walked to them. She knelt down in front of Clementine and vigorously scratched his back. “You’re not spoiled, are you boy? No, you’re not. And if you are, you have a right to be.”

With his impossibly large tongue, Clementine mopped her face with dog spit.

“Daddy, we got a dog!” From the side yard, Cart came barreling at him with a smile that lit up his face. “His name’s Clementine.”

He was talking…without being prompted.

Chord caught Grace’s eye. He sent her a silent nod of thanks.

She winked.

And that was that…Chord was the proud owner of a horse named Clementine.

HW, carrying a shovel, ran up to him. “Did you meet Clementine?”

The unadulterated glee on both of his boys’ faces made his heart smile.

“Yes, Clementine and I’ve met.” He itched to pick up his son, but eight-year-old boys didn’t like to be held. “What’s with the shovel?”

He puffed his chest out importantly. “Grace made me in charge of poop patrol. Every time Clementine goes poop, I get to clean it up. Man, it is gross…and huge. He has giant poops.”