Page 510 of Once Upon a Fable

I would be whatever Kas needed but I could never be the silent, wonderful healer that a pet could be. “Thank you, Fang,” I whispered. “Thank you for bringing him back to me.”

The dog licked my nose, bringing another whiff of stench.

I’d never had a dog or a cat. I’d had a goldfish once that Joshua bought me for my fifteenth birthday, but I couldn’t stomach having it swim around in a bowl all alone. It looked dizzy and lonely, and I’d donated it to a local school that had a goldfish pond that looped around their playing field.

I didn’t have any dog food or a bed or any of the other stuff that came with bringing something fluffy into the house. Not to mention, he needed vet care and a bath.

It’d been one of the longest nights of my life.

Kas was half-dressed and I was gowned in something that belonged on a magazine cover, yet none of that mattered.

Standing, I pulled my cell phone from the small pocket sewn discreetly into the bodice of my dress, and brought up a rideshare app that accepted pets.

“What are you doing?” Kas asked, peering at the screen as I logged in our location.

“We’re going to the nearest vet.” I smiled at my future husband and our first official child—even if it did have four legs. “We’re going to get Fang treated, bathed, buy all the bedding, food, and treats he could ever want and then we’re going home. Together.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

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I CARRIED IN THE armful of stuff that Gem had purchased on behalf of Fang, depositing it all in the middle of the living room. Fang instantly went to sniff everything, biting at the fluffy silver bed that’d cost Gem seventy-eight dollars.

My head hurt.

My balance wasn’t the best.

And the whiteouts I suffered when I was overtired had come and gone throughout the day.

But fuck me,what a day.

It’d been my favorite.

The best day of my godforsaken life—spending it with Gem and a dog I didn’t even know I needed. We’d been collected from the hotel parking lot by a woman who reeked of cigarettes and didn’t care about Fang’s stench in her run-down car, dropping us off at the closest vet.

We’d waited our turn, then endured multiple questions that we couldn’t answer about Fang’s age, health condition, and where his old owner was, until we were finally ushered into a room where he was bathed with medicated shampoo, given injections for stuff I didn’t understand, and his wounded neck clipped, cleaned, and bandaged.

The entire time, the poor dog cowered into me. We’d been a right pair as we cringed away from people getting too close, enduring it all because it was for his own good.

Once he was a much cleaner, healthier dog, we’d headed to the till to pay. The vet who’d treated Fang gave me a T-shirt that came as a bonus for some local cat food—seeing as I was still shirtless—and Gemlaughed at the graphic of a tuna head on my chest. I couldn’t care less what I wore; her laughter was totally worth it.

Swiping her plastic card, she tried to hide the bill from me, but I noticed the tally. I’d tried to add the fifteen-hundred dollar cost to the many thousands I already owed her, but the numbers were getting too big to keep track, granting an even deeper headache.

Even if I had the funds, I would’ve felt indebted to her for the rest of my life—not only for letting me keep Fang but also for welcoming him into our family as if he’d always meant to find us.

Once we left the vet, Gem decided it was my turn to be poked and prodded, summoning yet another car to drive us to a doctor’s clinic that accepted walk-ins. Fang wasn’t allowed in, and no way in hell was I going to risk him being stolen and hurt again while waiting outside for us, so I did something I didn’t think I was capable of.

I kissed Gem goodbye.

I left her on the sidewalk with the dog.

And I headed into the clinic on my own.

Through a miracle or perhaps sheer determination to finally benormal, I kept my triggers and panic in control all while a kind-eyed female doctor cleaned my bite, gave me a packet of antibiotics, and stabbed me with a needle that ensured I wouldn’t die if Fang had something contagious.

I wouldn’t lie, I’d almost bolted out of the clinic once she was done, desperate to be away from strangers and back with Gem. But I hadn’t killed anyone. I’d let someone I didn’t know be in my personal space andtouchme.

Progress.