Chapter 7
Melanie inserted her key in the front door and hurried to unlock it. Odie was reclining against the door. Melanie slowly pushed the door inward, letting the dog know it was safe to move.
She let the boxer jump up and lick her face. Clovis rubbed against her leg. The best part of owning pets, Melanie thought. Returning home. They were always glad to see you no matter what kind of mood you were in. And she was in a very, very rotten mood. She’d stewed on the drive back to the airport, stewed on the short flight to Placerville, and continued stewing on the drive home.
“Give me a second, Odie, and we’ll make a quick trip outside.” She kicked off her black leather boots and replaced them with the Uggs she always kept by the front door. She hung her purse on the knob next to Odie’s leash. “Clovis, you wait right here.” She rubbed the cat’s head before snapping Odie’s leash to his collar.
Being late afternoon, it was almost dark. Melanie didn’t like this part of late fall, but it is what it is, she thought as she led Odie to the greenway. A walk in the frigid air would do her good. Clear her mind a bit.
Shivering, Melanie led Odie to the off-leash area. She unhooked him. “Three minutes, bud, and that’s it. Too cold for animals and humans,” she muttered to herself.
While she waited for the dog to make his rounds, she revisited the scene at the adoption agency. Mrs. Krause—Miss Krause, she’d informed her as Melanie was leaving—told her not to expect a phone call from the agency unless her background check came back clean. She’d treated her like a criminal, but Melanie knew it wasn’t personal. The old woman was a spinster, probably treated all prospective parents the same way. Still, she didn’t see how she could’ve missed such vital information on the Web site. She was going to reread every bit of fine print. Twice.
“Okay, Odie, your three minutes are up.” Like the obedient animal he was, he came out of the off-leash area, stopping in front of her when she held the leash out.
It had to be at least twenty below, she thought, as she jogged back to the condo. No one in their right mind should be out in this weather. At the moment, however, she wasn’t in her right mind. She felt like a total and complete idiot. Of course she had forgotten to mention to Miss Krause that there wouldn’t be a need for her to run that background check since she didn’t have a husband. But something had stopped her from revealing that important bit of info to the old woman. Why? She didn’t know, but went with her gut instinct and simply said good-bye before racing out to her rental car. Once inside, she’d almost had a panic attack! How could I have missed such vital information?
Inside, Odie shook off the wet snow before resuming his position beneath the kitchen table. Clovis jumped on the countertop in search of his evening meal. Melanie removed a can of cat food from the pantry, flipped off the aluminum lid, and dumped the stinky contents in Clovis’s bowl before placing the bowl on the kitty mat by the back door. Odie dragged himself out from under the table, apparently remembering it was dinnertime. Melanie scooped a large portion of kibble into his bowl. “Okay, you two. Now let’s see what the human is going to have for dinner.”
She opened the refrigerator, but didn’t see anything that appealed to her. Not that she was hungry. She grabbed an apple out of the bowl in the center island. She wanted to cool down, to wait a bit before she went back to the agency’s Web site, but she couldn’t.
Inside her office, Melanie munched on her apple while she waited for her computer to boot up. Did it always take this long? A few seconds later, she heard the familiar hum. She clicked onto the Internet and found the agency’s Web site. She read all the fine print, then read through it a second time. And a third time, just to make sure she wasn’t losing it. Nowhere did it say one had to be married to petition for an adoption. She clicked on all the pages a fourth time, went through all the links one by one, and still didn’t see anything stating that only married couples could adopt.
That Miss Krause was a true old bat, she thought as she clicked through the pages. Spiteful. Maybe she had an unhappy life and wanted to make those around her as miserable as she was. Knowing all hope wasn’t lost, if push came to shove, she would have the law on her side since there was absolutely nothing saying a potential parent had to be married. Miss Krause was mistaken, there was no other explanation.
Stay hopeful, that’s what she would do. If this agency didn’t work out, she’d simply find one that would. Single parents adopted children all the time. Maybe Miss Krause was new to the job. “Nah, I doubt it,” she said out loud. The poor old woman was probably childless, with no family to speak of. Melanie did a mental three-sixty.
That could be me, thirty years down the road.