Page 46 of 10 Rings I Hate About You
“It wasn’t entirely a compliment,” she admitted.
“I am fully aware of that, Delaney. I had decided to ignore your dig.”
She flushed—a pale pink that spread across her cheeks and down her neck. I watched it happen with too much fascination. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
I gave her a sharp nod. I wasn’t that clueless to not know she was being snarky. I also recognized that she felt powerless and was just reacting, especially after my public questioning of her competence. I also had begun to notice sarcasm was her defense mechanism.
People weren’t all that different from animals, really. When cornered, they lashed out. It didn’t mean they were cruel. Just scared.
She stood abruptly, chair scraping against the linoleum. “Let’s go look at who we might work with. These spreadsheets don’t mean anything to me if I can’t apply that knowledge to the animals.”
We spent the next forty minutes debating over which animals would work.
A bunny was too skittish.
“He’s perfect,” Delaney cooed, holding the small gray rabbit against her chest. “Look at his sweet wittle nose.”
“Look at his heartrate,” I countered, pointing to the rapid rise and fall of his ribcage. “He’s three seconds away from cardiac arrest. One unexpected sound and he’ll launch himself across the room.”
“That’s a bit dramatic.”
“Is it?” I pulled out my phone and played a video of a similar breed of rabbit literally backflipping out of someone’s arms during a yoga class. “The rabbit’s fine. The participant’s nose was broken.”
She stared at the screen, then at the rabbit, and then back at me. “You researched rabbit-related yoga injuries?”
“I researched all animal-related yoga injuries.” I’d spent four hours compiling a database.
She set the rabbit down gently. “Fine. No cardiac-arrest bunnies.”
A golden retriever was too enthusiastic.
“This is Sunny,” I said as the dog immediately jumped on Delaney, nearly knocking her over.
I moved instinctively, my hand finding Delaney’s elbow to steady her—and stayed there longer than strictly necessary—until she was balanced.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. Just—wow, he’s strong.” She laughed, scratching behind Sunny’s ears as his entire body wiggled with joy. His tail whipped back and forth like a weapon.
“He’s entirely food motivated,” I added.
“Sometimes a little too motivated,” a volunteer walking by interjected with a laugh.
“Define ‘too motivated’?” Delaney asked. “I didn't think that could be a problem.”
“He ate an entire birthday cake last week. Off the counter. He slipped away for two seconds,” the volunteer added.
I looked at Delaney.
She sighed. “I know. He might be a little too much for yoga, but I’d still like to spotlight him in some way. In the right home, he would be the best addition. Look at all the love he has to give.” She gave Sunny one last pat before the volunteer put him back in his kennel.
“Maybe part of our class will be to take a walk through the shelter before or afterward. I know Theo was talking about waiving adoption fees on those days.”
Her eyes lit up. “Yes, I love that idea!”
Next, we made our way to the area where the cats were kept.
The first one attempted to murder my shoelaces.
