Second Chances {ACM}

Chapter 40

Emily's POV

"There's a puppy trapped between the shelf and wall underneath!" Austin exclaimed.

"A puppy?" I asked, confused.

"Just help me get it out." Austin stood up and together we moved the shelf away from the wall. We looked behind it and I saw a little puppy that was probably the length of a ruler.

"Aww!" I exclaimed, slowly bending down.

The puppy was raggedy looking, and was most likely a stray. It stared up at us scared and it shrunk back against the wall.

"Hey little guy." Austin said softly. "We're not going to hurt you." He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "At least it's not a serial killer."

"Oh shut up, it's possible it could've been."

Austin snapped his fingers. "Go upstairs to the fridge and grab the leftover meat from lunch today."

I nodded and hurried upstairs. I came down a minute later with the container of meat and handed it to him.

"Thanks." He opened the lid and dropped a few slabs of meat in front of the puppy. "There you go, buddy."

The puppy gingerly sniffed the meat before wagging its tail and happily starting to eat. "Hey, it worked!"

"I wonder how it got in here." I said.

"Probably through a bottom window that we left open." Austin said. He looked at the puppy. "He looks like a yellow Labrador."

"It must be a stray, there's no collar or anything. It can't be more than two months old, look how small it is. Poor thing was probably freezing and starving, only to get trapped between a shelf." I carefully and slowly leaned down. I held my hand out. "Come here, sweetie."

The puppy crept towards me slowly and sniffed my hand before licking it.

Austin grinned. "It likes you."

I laughed as the puppy went over to Austin and pawed at his lap, licking his bare arms. "It likes you more."

Austin lifted the puppy up and glanced at it. "I'm not a vet or anything, but I think it's a girl."

"Lemme see." He showed me. "Oh yeah, it's a girl."

"So, what do we do with her?" I asked, petting the puppy.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Should we keep her? I mean, it's clear she doesn't have an owner and we can't let her starve to death outside."

"Austin, we've already got a baby on the way." I told him. "We can't have another one. In animal form."

"Not for another four months or so." He pointed out. "I can train her to be good by then!" He picked the puppy up and held it up. "Come on, Emily, look at her wittle face! How can you say no? She's so cute and cuddly and adorable."

Why, why, does he always have to do that!? But the dog was adorable. And a mixture of Austin plus the puppy doing the puppy dog face wasn't helping either.

I hesitated before relenting. "Oh, fine."

"Yes!" Austin exclaimed, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek. "Thank you, Emily!"

"Yeah yeah, I do it because I love you." I sighed.

"I love you more!" He grinned. "Okay, she needs a name."

We were both quiet for a few seconds.

"Pickles!" I yelled, at the same time Austin yelled "Pancakes!"

"Should have seen that coming." I laughed. I looked at the dog. "Actually, Pancakes would suit her better. She's already the color of them."

"Well, actually, she's the color of mud right now, but that's beside the point, so Pancakes it is!" Austin said as he stood up with her in his arms. "Come on, Pancakes! Let's go give you a big soapy bath because you're absolutely filthy. But you're still cute! Yes you are, yes you are." He cooed, scratching her ears.

I smiled and rolled my eyes as Austin walked ahead of me up the stairs happily with Pancakes. At least he got to name a dog Pancakes instead of a baby.

Speaking of which...

"Then the baby's name is Pickles." I called after him.

"No way in hell!"