‹ Prequel: Hurricane Jenny

Hurricanes in Pittsburgh?

005:

Chapter Five
“How’s my pretty girl!” I smiled brightly as I bent down to pick Candy up. She was whining and trying to lick my face as I held her close.

“Hi Jen,” I heard and turned around to see Annie, the owner of the doggie daycare.

“Hi Annie, how was she?” I asked and Annie laughed nervously and then rubbed on the back of her neck.

“She doesn’t really like the other dogs, I had to keep her crated most of the time, and then she kept on barking the whole time,” Annie said and I looked at her confused, “She spent just about all of her time by herself.”

“Oh, well that’s not good.”

“Usually Lhasa Apso’s like to stick with people, unless they’re brought around other dogs when they’re younger, they won’t get along with them when they’re older,” she explained and I sighed.

“She was abused when she was younger, I rescued her when I was still in North Carolina,” I said and Annie nodded her head, “Does this mean that I can’t bring her here anymore?”

“I’m sorry, but I have make sure that all the dogs are safe around her,” she said and I nodded my head, understanding what she was saying, “I’m really sorry.”

“No, it’s all right, I completely understand, it’s my fault for not thinking that far ahead, I kind of panicked when I got to Pittsburgh,” I said and she leaned against her desk.

“I have a friend who trains dogs, he specializes in smaller dogs actually,” Annie said and then turned towards her desk, “If you can get her trained, they she can come back.”

“Really? Thank you so much,” I said and then took the card from her, “I’ll call him as soon as I get home.”

“Just tell Andy that I sent you, and he should get you right in there,” she said and I nodded my head, “I understand that your schedule is a little hectic, but he’s pretty good about working around it.”

“Thank you so much,” I said and Annie nodded her head.

“Have a nice day, Jen.”

“Thank you, you too,” I smiled and then turned around.

“Bye Candy,” Annie called as I walked out of the building and over towards my car.

‘…Shit, what am I going to do?...’ I thought as I pulled out of the parking lot and pulled away, ‘…Might as well stop at the Consol, maybe Mario’s there…’ I drove about a block before I decided to call him before I showed up, I grabbed my phone and dialed his work number, no answer, ‘…Maybe he’s home…’ I called his home number and his wife, Nathalie, answered the phone, “Hi Nathalie, its Jenny, is Mario around?”

“Oh hi, Jenny, yeah, he’s right here,” she said and I smiled and stopped at a red light.

“Hello?”

“Mario, hi! It’s Jenny!”

“Hi Jenny, what can I do for you?” he asked and I sighed.

“Can I come over? I need a favor,” I said and Mario agreed automatically, “Thanks, see you soon.”

About twenty minutes later, I pulled into Mario’s estate and right up to the front door. He must have heard or seen me pulling up, because he was walking out the front door with a smile on his face, “Ah, Jenny, what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“I need a favor,” I said sweetly and tried to be as innocent as I could.

“And that would be?” he asked and I sighed and leaned back in the car to pull out Candy, “A dog?”

“This is Candy,” I smiled as Mario came over and scratched her head, “She’s not a fan of other dogs.”

“Nathalie is allergic to dogs,” he said sadly, “I love them.”

“Oh, that wasn’t the favor,” I laughed nervously, “I had her at a doggie daycare when we were in Montreal, I picked her up this morning and the lady said that she wasn’t allowed to come back until she was trained around other dogs. My favor,” I sighed, “I was wondering if I could bring her on the road with us. When I was in North Carolina, it was fine because my parents were there.”

“Uh,” Mario scratched the back of his head, “You’d have to talk to the guys about that, they could have allergies.”

“So if the guys are all right with it?” I asked and Mario nodded his head.

“She can come, since she’s small, but we have to stay at pet friendly hotels and we’ll be charged extra-“

“I’ll pay the extra, she’s good with people, it’s just other dogs that she doesn’t like,” I said and Mario nodded his head.

“All right, just make sure that all of the guys are all right with it,” Mario said and I smiled and nodded my head.

“Thank you so much,” I smiled.

“Don’t thank me yet, the guys haven’t agreed to it,” he laughed and I shook my head.

“I didn’t think that you would even agree to it.”

“It’s fine,” he said, “You’d better go and get some rest, game tomorrow.”

“Yes, I’m in the net,” I smiled brightly and Mario patted my shoulder as I placed Candy back into the car.

“Yes you are, do your best,” Mario said and I nodded my head and climbed into my car and headed home.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my home was occupied by my parents. I smiled brightly as I hugged them, “What are you guys doing here?”

“We wanted to be here for your first full fame,” dad said and I laughed and placed Candy on the ground, and then smiled when she trotted right over towards my dad, “Your brother’s will be here tomorrow morning.”

“Really?!” I asked excitedly.

“Not Jared, he has a game,” mom said and I sighed and nodded my head, “But he said that he’ll be thinking about you. Jordan, Eric and Marc have a game today, but they’ll all be here tomorrow.”

“I’m so excited!” I squealed.

“How was Candy with the daycare?” mom asked and I snorted, “What?”

“She was kicked out,” I laughed a little and then sighed and shook my head.

“What are you going to do?” mom asked as I sat down on the couch.

“I just talked to Mario, I have to ask the guys, but if they all agreed, then I can take Candy on the road with us, I just have to pay the extra expenses,” I said and dad sat in the chair and placed Candy on his lap.

“Well, you’re all grown up, so you have to figure these things out on your own,” mom said and I nodded my head, “I love what you’ve done with the place,” she smiled and I laughed.

“I had help from the guys, they put the furniture together,” I said and my dad laughed.

“That must have been fun.”

“Oh, it was,” I laughed and then heard my phone go off and looked to see that I had a text from Beau saying that he was on his way over.

“You need to go?” mom asked and I shook my head.

“Just Beau, he’s coming over,” I said and my mom smiled.

“I’m so happy that you found someone,” mom said and I smiled.

“He’s great,” I laughed and then got up and walked to the kitchen, “Would you like something to drink?”

“No, I’m fine,” she said and my dad didn’t say anything so that was a no. I grabbed a water and then walked back into the room, “Now Beau is just a temp, right?”

“Yeah, he goes back and forth from Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh,” I said and then sat down, “Even though everyone is healthy, he’s still up here,” I smiled, “He’s good, not Crosby good, but good.”

“Well he has to be if he’s still here,” dad said and I smiled.

There was a knock at the door and I yelled that it was open, Beau walked into the room and my mother’s face lit up, “Oh Jenny, he’s cute.”

I laughed as Beau face turned red, I walked over towards him and kissed his cheek, “Hiya.”

“Didn’t know you had company,” he said and I shook my head and laced my fingers with his.

“It’s fine,” I said and then pulled him over, “Beau, you remember my parents?”

“Your mom, nice to see you again,” Beau smiled and shook my mom’s hand and then looked at my dad. He chuckled when he saw that Candy was sprawled across dad’s lap and walked over towards him, “I think Candy will be mad if we move her, so I’ll just come to you.”

My dad chuckled and held out his hand, “Nice to finally meet you son, heard a lot about you.”

“Hopefully good things,” Beau said and my dad nodded his head.

I sat down in the chair and moved over enough so that Beau could sit on the armrest and have a conversation with my parents and me. I could tell that he was nervous, so I leaned against him and tried to show him that he was doing fine.

We talked for a little bit longer and then decided that we were going to go out for dinner, Beau joined us and I couldn’t help but laugh when my mom was hanging all over Beau.

‘…Well I’m happy that I don’t have to worry about my parents not liking him…’