Page 85 of Taking the Pitch
“Not at all Gladys.”
We sit down on the couch nearest to us and she continues on. “Well anyway, my mother overheard me talking to Irene one day about it and she told us both that love knows no time, it can be fast, or it can be slow, but the length of time won’t matter if it’s the right person.”
I glance over at Judd, who’s taking pictures of Ruby. She’s on her back, paws up in the air, with her tongue hanging out. Seeing Ruby, who has always been afraid of men, be this relaxed with Judd and hearing Gladys give me advice from her mother, sends my walls around my heart crumbling down.
I look back at Gladys, who’s watching me with a knowing smile. “I hope it helps my, sweet girl.” She gives the hand in my lap a final pat and gets up from the couch, going over to Irene to help her set out the snack table.
Judd looks at me again and gets up and walks over to me with Ruby, sitting in the seat Gladys just vacated. “Everything okay, Shortcake?”
Giving myself a mental shake, I smile at him. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Gladys was just asking if I was feeling better. My migraines can hang on for days sometimes.”
Not a complete lie, they do, but he doesn’t need to know that’s not what we were talking about. I need a minute to wrap my head around it first.
“Are you nervous about Jules interviewing you? You look a little flushed.”
“No, I’m fine. I love talking about my program. I just hope between your foundation and the article, it’ll help give the program the audience it needs to help us expand.”
Judd grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. “I have no doubt in my mind that it will, Mills.”
He leans forward to give me a kiss when the door to the library opens suddenly, causing us to both look over our shoulders.
“Judd Davis! It’s been too long!” a beautiful woman with long, straight glossy brunette hair says from the entrance, making all the dogs’ heads pop up from their beds. Her long legs eat up the distance between the door and where we’re seated on the couch. Judd gets to his feet, pulling me up with him just as the woman, who I’m assuming is Julie the reporter, reaches us.
“Julie, so good to see you again,” Judd says, holding out his hand for a shake while still holding onto mine in his other.
“Judd, a handshake? Really? Give me a hug, I haven’t seen you in what? A year?” she gushes in a voice I’ve quickly decided compares to nails on a chalkboard. Without waiting for Judd’s response, she pulls him forward in an embrace. Giving him no choice but to let go of my hand to return the gesture. She’s tall for a woman, probably 5’10” or 5’11”, so she can easily see over Judd’s shoulders while she’s hugging him.
When she spots me, she gives me a wide smile and steps out of Judd’s arms and comes over to me, offering me her hand. “You must be Amelia. I’m Julie, the lucky journalist chosen to write this piece for the Oregon Times.” She gives my outstretched hand a shake before backing up a step and clasping Judd’s arm with both of hers. “When I heard Judd was forming a foundation to provide kids access to literacy programs, Ibeggedmy boss to let me cover it.” She grins up at him. “I’ve interviewed him a few times before and we just seemed to hit it off,” she says, giving him a wink.
Judd clears his throat and steps out of her embrace, moving to my side and wrapping his arm around my shoulder. My body can’t seem to relax since this human hurricane rolled in, so I stand stiffly under his embrace.
Bruno lets out a soft whine, sensing my discomfort, and I can feel Judd’s gaze bore into my head. “Mills,” he starts, but I cut him off.
“Really nice to meet you, Julie. I’m glad my program will be getting exposure, hopefully enough to help us expand,” I tell her, fighting off the sudden wave of anxiety that is building. “Should we start the interview? That way, we can hopefully get through most of the questions before the kids get here and you can focus on the parents and kids.”
She looks between me and Judd, her wide smile never leaving her face. “Of course. Take a seat wherever you’re comfortable and we can begin. Do you mind if I use the recording app on my phone? I like to focus on the conversation and listen to it while I’m writing up my articles.”
I shake my head, feeling the muscles in my neck tighten from the tension. “No, go ahead.”
Get a fucking grip, Millie. Judd’s allowed to have a past. YOU have a past. Put your big girl panties on and get a grip.
Julie sets her recorder up on her phone and gets a paper out with a short list of questions printed on it.
“Okay, I’m going to ask the first question and let the conversation flow naturally and work the other questions into the conversation. Sound good?”
“Sure, whatever you think is best,” I tell her, hoping this goes by quickly because I can already feel my tension headache starting.
“Great. First question. What gave you the idea of pairing dogs from the shelter with children who struggle to read? It’s not exactly a common concept.”
“Well, as you can see, I have a service dog,” I start, gesturing to Bruno, whose head is on my lap. “He’s trained to signal me by bumping me with his nose if he senses an increase in my anxiety. By doing that, he can usually distract me, enough to take my mind out of the spiral it’s in. A lot of the kids in my program don’t always have problems with reading. They have a problem with self-esteem. Just providing a child a safe space to stutter through words or get some pronunciations wrong and not having to worry about being made fun of by their peers helps boost their self-esteem. Dogs are great listeners, and they give unconditional love. It’s been proven being around dogs can help increase our natural dopamine and oxytocin levels, or the ‘feel good’ chemicals in our brain.”
“Fascinating,” Julie replies, jotting down some notes on her paper. “But why shelter dogs? Don’t they usually come from unknown backgrounds? What makes a dog deemed safe to be in the program?”
“That’s where most of the expense of my program comes from. These dogs are thoroughly vetted and tested for their behaviors towards people, specifically children.” I point to Ruby, who’s asleep at Judd’s feet. “Ruby is great with kids, actually prefers them over adults, but is the most shy with men. It took Jeremy, the lead handler from the shelter, months to get Ruby to come up to him without her cowering.” I look up at Judd, who’s looking down sadly at Ruby. “She actually wasn’t a candidate for a while because we didn’t think she would respond well to kids. If she feared adults, mainly men, that much, we figured she wouldn’t tolerate children. But a kid walked by her kennel one day and instead of staying near the back like she usually does, she bolted forward and stuck her nose between the chain link. Jeremy saw it and told me about it and I immediately asked for her to at least be put through the testing to see if she had a chance.”
The more I talk about my program, the more I feel my body relax. Maybe this isn’t so bad after all.
“That’s absolutely amazing. So she’s better now?” Julie gestures to Judd. “I mean, she’s sleeping on Judd’s feet.”
