Dutch did Sit, watching the sour-smelling man with rapt attention.
Gavin looked around. “I’m Gavin,” he finally said. I went over and sniffed at a half-eaten sandwich on a plate on a chair, wondering if the edicts in this odd place would allow me to nibble on it a little. “I talked to your sister.”
“Yeah, she said you might be coming over,” the man replied with a grunt.
“It was my husband and I who were the ones who, uh, dug you out.”
“I don’t remember any of that.” The man waved his white-wrapped hand.
“Oh. Well. It’s good to see you; we weren’t sure you would even make it out alive.”
“Yeah, sure, I practically didn’t, I got eleven frickin’ fractures. Then my damn sister just walks out the door last night, says she ‘needs a break.’ What kind of family is that? Like I can take care of myself right now!”
Dutch was still sitting at high attention, watching the man in the bed. I was watching the sandwich with equal focus.
“Sorry to hear of your difficulties,” Gavin said after a moment.
“She only thinks of herself.”
“Ah.”
The two men were quiet for a time. I finally gave up on the sandwich and lay down on the floor with a sigh.
“At any rate, I brought your dogs back.”
“Yeah. Hey, Dutch.” The man dropped his hand, the one wrapped in cloth, and put it on Dutch’s head. Dutch leaned into the touch, his eyes half closed, and I missed Lucas more in that moment than I had in a long time. I eased back to my feet, wanting to get out of there, go back up into the mountains, on the trail. Go Home. “Wait,” the man said suddenly. “You said dogs. Dogs?”
“Yes, I said I brought your dogs back,” Gavin agreed, speaking evenly. I could hear a rising impatience in his tone.
“That one’s not mine.”
Gavin stared at me and I looked back at him. Car ride? Then he turned to stare at the man. “Not yours?” he repeated, shocked.
“Yeah, never seen it before,” the man said dismissively.
“But … Bella was with Dutch when we got to you. They were both digging for you in the snow. That’s how we found you.”
“Huh. Well, musta been a coincidence.” The man made a shrugging motion and then winced.
“A what? A coincidence?… So Bella is not yours?”
I wagged a little, hearing my name so much. I glanced hopefully at the sandwich.
“Nope.”
There was a long silence. “I don’t understand,” Gavin finally said. “I thought I was going to drop off your dogs, both of them. It never occurred to us they weren’t both yours.”
“Drop off? The hell do you mean, drop off?” the man demanded.
Gavin blinked. “Well … we … are you saying you don’t want your dog back?”
“I look like I can take care of a hundred-pound dog right now? I can’t even feed myself. Takes me an hour to get to the bathroom for a piss.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying there’s no way I can have Dutch right now. Sorry.”
“Sorry? You’re sorry? Dutch is your dog.”
“What part of half my body is in a frickin’ cast don’t you understand? I was in a frickin’ avalanche.”
“Because you were snowshoeing in a restricted area! There are signs all over!” Gavin was shouting and I went to him, nosing his hand.
“Fine. Blame the victim. Nobody gives a rat’s ass about me. I’m going to have to go live with my brother and his prissy wife next month. You got no idea what that’s like. They live in frickin’ Oklahoma. Go to church every frickin’ Sunday, I’m like, ‘Hell no, I’m not going, can’t you see I’m hungover?’ Next thing I know my own brother says I gotta leave. He’s so frickin’ whipped.”
“You are telling me,” Gavin stated in a low, angry voice, “that you’re refusing any responsibility?”
“Hey, you’re the guy trying to dump two gigantic dogs on me.”
“My husband and I are going to China for six months. We can’t take care of Dutch. He’s your dog. I’ll figure out what to do with Bella, obviously, but Dutch belongs here, with you.”
The man sighed. Dutch scratched himself behind the ear and then suddenly alerted to the sandwich. He glanced at me and then at the man in the bed and then at Gavin. I could tell by his face that he thought he was being a bad dog to want to eat it, but otherwise I had no idea what he was thinking or what was happening. I only knew that Gavin and the man were getting more furious with each other, their voices tightening and the sweat flashing to their skin.
“I thought you couldn’t take a dog because of China, so a little hypocritical there, don’t you think? Seems to me whatever you’re doing with Bella you could do with Dutch. You and your husband.” The man sneered.
Gavin went very still. “I said before that I didn’t understand you, but I was wrong. I understand you very, very well. Kurch. Come on, Bella. Dutch, come.”
Dutch stared at Gavin, the sandwich forgotten. Then he looked at the man in the bed.
“Go on, Dutch. Get the hell out of here, you’re making me feel guilty and it’s not my fault. Go!” the man snapped.
I followed Gavin down the hall and out the door, Dutch far behind us. He kept turning to glance back down the hall, wanting to remain in this odd, dark place. The angry man in the bed was Dutch’s person. But the man was mad and didn’t love Dutch anymore.
Dutch was bewildered. When we got in the car, Gavin put his arms around him. I smelled the tears on Gavin’s cheeks, but was unable to provide comfort from the backseat.
“I am so sorry, Dutch. That was horrible. But I promise you that I love you, Taylor and I will be your daddies, we will take care of you.” Gavin wiped his face with a cloth from his pocket. His hand came back over the top of the seat and I licked it. “You too, Bella. I love you and we will be family together.”
Dutch did not stick his nose out the window, not once all the way home.
*
That night Dutch and I lay on the couch with Gavin while he held a phone to his face. Dutch had been nosing Gavin’s hand frequently since we returned from the odd place with the sandwich, and Gavin stroked him and spoke to him soothingly each time.
“It was simply awful. The guy was a complete asshole,” Gavin said. He sounded angry again. “He didn’t care at all about Dutch. Treated his own dog like crap. He acted really put out that we dug him out of the snow. Which, I got to tell you, I’m rethinking. All of humanity would have benefited if we’d waited until spring.” Gavin scratched Dutch’s ears. “No, that’s the really strange thing. No idea what Bella was doing there. If God sent her it was a real waste of a miracle.”
At the mention of my name, I looked lazily over at him.