Chapter 37: Chapter 37
The week both seemed to fly by and drag as Noelle tried to stay focused on her work. It was difficult, standing in the back room of the shelter, seeing Pooch’s empty cage and not having any idea what had happened to him. She just prayed that, wherever he was, he was having a nice Christmas. It wasn’t what she’d hoped for when she’d first met the little dog. If she was honest, over the weeks that he’d been at the shelter, she hadn’t just started to hope that Pooch would end up with Brady; she’d hoped they both would. That she and Pooch would both become a part of Brady’s family.
But now, on Christmas Eve, as she finished topping off the dogs’ food and water, knowing it would be a little later than normal when she came in the next day, she had to bury those wishes deep. Not only had Pooch been adopted by a different family, it had been almost a week since she’d spoken to Brady, and she wasn’t planning on talking to him anytime soon. Maybe, after the first of the year, after her budget had been finalized, she’d call him back, but not now, not when the betrayal was so fresh.
He’d called--a lot of times. He’d left her several voicemails earlier in the week. She hadn’t listened to any of them, except for a few seconds of the first one when he’d said he had something important to talk to her about, would she please call him, and her answer was a resounding no. As the week wore on, he’d called less. It had been a couple of days since she’d heard from him. He’d stopped texting recently, too. Early on, she’d gotten several of those. After the initial, “Will you please call me?” text, she’d stopped reading them. It was just too painful to have contact with him at the moment. She would talk to him, eventually. But not now.
Satisfied that the animals were all fed and watered, she patted Goldie on the head and said, “Maybe by next Christmas Eve, you’ll have a family, sweet girl.” The little dog licked her hand, and Noelle found a smile, even though she didn’t completely feel it inside. Goldie was a good dog. She had been sad since Pooch left. It seemed like those two had really bonded while they’d been caged near each other. Noelle wasn’t the only girl missing the little black and white dog.
Noelle locked up, bundling up against the cold, and contemplated just going home. The parade would be starting in a few minutes, and she never missed the parade, but at the moment, she didn’t really feel like going. And then… there was always the chance she’d run into Brady. She was a little surprised he hadn’t come by work to speak to her or knocked on her door some evening, but he hadn’t. Would he try to find her in the crowded downtown area? She hoped not. She’d hate to cause a big scene in front of everyone, but she definitely didn’t want to talk to him tonight, not on Christmas Eve.
After the parade, her family always went back home to sing Christmas carols and open one present each. In the morning, she’d head back over to her parents’ house for present opening, her mom’s cinnamon rolls, and then the Christmas ham. It would be difficult this year, when her mind was elsewhere, but she’d make it through those family events. The parade was another story. She sat in her car trying to decide what to do.
Noelle’s phone rang. For a moment, she was afraid it was Brady, calling to see if she was going to the parade, but when she saw that it was her mother, she answered, “Hi, Mom.”
“Noelle, honey, where are you? The parade will be starting in a few minutes.”
“I know, Mom. I’m just… not sure I want to go.” She’d spoken to her mom briefly about having a problem with Brady, but she hadn’t gone into detail, and Doris has been busy helping with the parade this week. She’d done such a good job with everything else, the parade organizers insisted she help them as well.
“Noelle! You can’t miss the parade. What in the world has been wrong with you this week? I know you’re upset about Pooch, and whatever happened between you and Brady, but you can’t let that ruin Christmas.”
“Mom… it’s not that simple.” She had tears in her eyes now, which was even more reason not to go to the parade. She didn’t need to show up with her eyes all puffy and swollen.
“What happened, Noelle?” Doris asked.
“His budget….” Saying it out loud made her seem childish. It was difficult to explain. “Brady’s budget proposal for the next quarter doesn’t include any new allotments for the shelter. I thought he understood how important it is that we get more, and he just didn’t seem to care.” It sounded like the only reason she was interested in the city planner was because she wanted special treatment, but it wasn’t that. She thought he cared about the animals, and that budget proposal had made it clear he did not.
“Oh, Noelle! Didn’t I raise you any better?” her mom scolded. Noelle was about to interrupt to tell her that she didn’t get it, but Doris continued. “He is proposing that the shelter be moved. To the old meat packing building. The money is under that line item, not the shelter.”
Noelle’s mouth dropped open. “What?” she asked. Mayor Jenkins had mentioned the meat packing building, but only as a comparison to how Brady was ignoring the animal shelter. Surely, Jenkins knew that Brady wanted to move the shelter. He’d made it sound like Brady was ignoring her requests just to be mean! “You’re kidding!”
“No, I’m serious as a heart attack, honey. Boy, you sure jumped to incorrect conclusions this time. I thought you’d learned your lesson the last time, when you assumed Brady was dropping Pooch off just to get rid of an unwanted pet. You’d better get down here and see if you can find him.”
“All right, Mom,” Noelle said, shifting into reverse. “I’ll see you soon. Thanks, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you, too, dear.”
Noelle dropped the call and hurried out into the road, which was deserted since everyone would be on their way to the parade--or already there--and pointed her car to the downtown area. She couldn’t believe she’d been so unwilling to listen. It had almost cost her everything--or maybe it had. Would Brady ever forgive her?