Man's Best Friend: Chapter 1

Chapter 1



Every beginning brings excitement.  That is how Julia Martinez feels today because her dream of becoming the owner of Man’s Second Best Friend is coming true.  All of Mustang, Oklahoma has flocked to Mustang Road for the grand opening, including all the news reporters of the surrounding towns, of the newest dog daycare.

Ever since she was a little girl, Julia wanted to help those around her and their dogs.  Every time her family went on vacation, she hated to leave Snowball, her Maltese, behind.  One summer they came home and Snowball did not wake up.  Ever since, she has dog-sat for all her classmates’ and neighbors’ dogs when they had to be gone, but she never owned another dog.  She started to get paid for her services after her father built a shed in the backyard, so she could help more people and their animals.  He had recently passed away and left Julia with an inheritance big enough to build a daycare and start this business near her hometown.

Man’s Second Best Friend rests on a hill on the out skirts of Mustang.  It looks like an old red barn on the outside, but the inside is a modern cozy home atmosphere.  It has a big acre fenced in backyard.  Enough room to house 10 dogs at one time, an office area, a front lobby with receptionist desk with a swinging door, all attached to Julia’s home.

Julia busily tries to answer all of their questions, but she can’t help but stare at one cameraman for Fox News.  He was strong, holding that heavy camera, yet he was not athletic, a little husky, so he was not worshiping the gym, like her last boyfriend.  His mysterious smile really appealed to her the most.  She wants the press conference to be over, so that she can go over to him and… What is she kidding herself for?  Any relationship that she initiated never went well.  Wait for him to come to you, she thinks.  Yeah, right, like that would happen.

After the ribbon cutting and tour of the facility, amazingly, he does come over.

“Excuse me, Ms. Edwards, I was just wondering if..”

“I would be delighted!”  She says a little too excited for not knowing what he was asking.  “I’m sorry you weren’t finished with your question.”

“If you would mind if I came by the daycare with my dog and we could do a follow up on the story?” asks the hunky cameraman, smiling.

“Oh, sure! That would be great…”  She says, feeling a little embarrassed at her excitement.  “Uh, what was your name again?”

“It’s ok.  My name is Michael Richardson from Fox News, I’m the videographer.”  He holds up his camera like he is doing an arm curl.

Yes, now she has a name to fantasy to.  She smiled excitedly.  “Nice to meet you.  I would really like for a follow up.  Please hurry up, because I’m filling up already.”  She tries to seem all business while in her head she is drooling like a kid looking through the window of a candy store.

“How about I bring him in for the weekend?  I have a bachelor’s weekend in Vegas, and I’m not sure what I’m doing with Rufus.”  He takes out a business card out of his camera bag, and writes his cell number on the back.

Is he flirting with me, or is he seriously just doing his job?  She thinks taking the card.  “I would love to have him.  What type of dog is he?” 

“I’m not sure.  Maybe you would be able to tell me when I bring him.  You see, he adopted me.  He was hanging around the house, and no one replied to the posters that I put up for a month.”

“Sad, but sweet.”

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They set things up for the next day.  Michael was looking forward to seeing Julia again.  It was not just because he got a follow up story, or the fact that she was a cute, tan, skinny chick with straight brown hair, and brown eyes with a nice butt and petite tits to match, but also that she had a great heart.  He has never met someone like her before.

The last relationship that Michael was in did not end well.  He met Sally at a bar after chatting her online for a week.  They had one too many drinks, and Michael found himself in Sally’s bed naked.  From then on for a year they were inseparable.

One day one of Michael’s female co-workers called, and Sally answered his office cell phone and got angry and threw him out of the apartment.  They made up the next day, and she started to wear a wedding ring and called herself his wife.  After trying to make her stop for a week, he broke up with her and moved across town.  One day he came home from work, and she was there cooking dinner.  He got the cops involved and signed a VPO.  For the next couple of weeks, he received letters from a secret admirer that had her perfume on his truck when he was out.  He got fed up with the letters that he changed jobs and moved across the country without forwarding his address.

It has been a year now and no sign of Sally.  Time to start living again and forget the nightmare he left behind.  Maybe Julia is how to do it.