Danielle Steel - The Apartment

“Thanks, Mom,” Sasha said, and hung up. She had waited until Alex had left the apartment to call her, so he wouldn’t be shocked by the exchange, and Sasha was glad she had.

She called her father after that, and her father said he was thrilled for her, congratulated her immediately, and said he couldn’t wait to meet Alex. He said all the right things, and then put his wife on the phone to congratulate her too, which was a lot better than the conversation with her mother.

“Where are you getting married?” he asked her.

“We don’t know yet, Dad. Maybe New York. I’ve lived here for a long time, all my friends are here now, and destination weddings are hard.”

“Well, wherever you decide to do it, remember I want to pay for the wedding. Whatever it costs. And you need to hire a wedding planner. They’re expensive but you don’t have time to do it yourself.” It was exactly what Morgan had said. And she was touched by her father’s constant generosity to her. He was still helping her financially at thirty-two, and never complained. He knew how hard she worked, and one day, after her residencies, she’d be self-supporting, though not for a while. “Do you have a date yet?”

“Sometime in June. We have to figure it out.” He hesitated for a minute when she said it, and then said it would be fine, whatever worked for her. “Thank you again, Dad.” She was touched that he had been so quick to offer to pay for the wedding, unlike her mother, who would be a guest and nothing more.

“You two have to come to Atlanta now, so we can meet the groom.”

“We will as soon as we can. Our schedules are pretty tough.”

“We’ll give you an engagement party when you come down.”

She thanked him again and hung up, relieved that it had gone so well with her father, and according to expectations with her mother. At least now they knew and couldn’t complain that she hadn’t told them. And now they had to choose a location, a date, and find a wedding planner. It felt a little overwhelming as Sasha went to meet Alex for lunch. They were off for the entire day and night. And she smiled as she saw her engagement ring sparkle on her finger. She waved at Abby on the way out. She was sitting at her computer and gave her a thumbs-up.

—

Abby had been glued to her computer ever since Thanksgiving, working on her novel and short stories. And she was happy with the results. She was dedicated to what she was doing. Her parents had called her from Mexico over the holiday, and were pleased to hear that she was hard at work. As her mother told her, that always paid off in the end.

It had been something of a lonely holiday for her. Her parents were on a trip, Ivan was out of her life, although she hardly ever missed him, Claire was in San Francisco, Sasha and Alex were always working, Morgan was at the restaurant with Max, and there were times when she was very sad. Her work was a good distraction, but it wasn’t someone to talk to. She went out for a walk that afternoon to get some air, and walked past a pet hospital with signs on the window, about dogs and cats that were available for adoption. There were several Chihuahua mixes that looked a little like one of Oliver and Greg’s dogs, a pug mixed with a beagle they referred to as a puggle, and a number of fluffy dogs with a lot of hair that were also mixes. Her favorite listed on the poster was a Chihuahua-Dachshund mix they called a chiweenie, which made her laugh. And feeling irresistibly drawn to the photographs on the window, Abby walked inside. There was a sign indicating that the adoption center was upstairs, and she followed the arrows to the second floor, where she found herself looking through windows at heartbreaking little abandoned dogs. There were a number of cats too, some of them very old. All of the pets at the hospital had been rescued, some found by people and brought in, others brought in by their owners, to give up. It seemed sad to Abby, and all of them needed a home. It made Abby’s eyes fill with tears to look at them, they were all so forlorn. And then she found herself nearly eye to eye with an enormous black dog who stared at her, barked, and sounded like he was saying “Take me home.”

“Don’t look at me like that,” she said to him through the glass, and he barked again. He wasn’t taking no for an answer. “I can’t,” she said, staring him in the eye. “I live in an apartment.” His next bark sounded like “I don’t care.” She walked away from him, and he started barking frantically, as she glanced at a dog whose sign said it was a Lhasa Apso, but she was very old. And suddenly Abby knew she had to leave before she made a terrible mistake and went home with a dog. She had just gone to see them for the fun of it, to cheer herself up, and now they were tugging at her heart. The enormous black dog was still barking, standing up in his cage, and he was as tall as a man.

“What is that?” Abby asked an attendant walking by.

“He’s a Great Dane, he’s two years old, he was a show dog, and his owner left him here because he moved away. He couldn’t find a home for him. His name is Charlie. He’s a good guy. Would you like to meet him?” She felt like she was being fixed up on a date. And before she could stop herself, she said “Okay” with a slight feeling of panic. She wasn’t afraid of the dog, but of herself.

Charlie emerged from the cubicle she’d seen him in, and he came out politely, sat down in front of her, and held out his paw for her to shake.

“Hello, Charlie,” Abby said meekly. “I want to be clear with you. I can’t take you home with me. I have three roommates and live in an apartment. And they’d kill me.” His mournful eyes reminded her that it was a loft with a lot of space.

“How much does he weigh?” Abby asked the attendant out of curiosity.

“A hundred and eighty pounds.”

“Oh my God,” Abby said. Ivan had only weighed one sixty-five. Charlie was as big as a man, bigger in some cases. He sat looking at her expectantly, and she could see that he was very well trained. But what would she do with a hundred-and-eighty-pound dog? “What does he eat? A side of beef?”

“Ten or twelve cups of kibble a day, or a couple of cans of dog food.” It didn’t sound like a lot to her, given his size. “He sleeps a lot, and he’s very well behaved.” As the attendant said it, Charlie held out a paw to her again, with pleading eyes.

“Please don’t look at me like that,” Abby said to the dog directly. “I can’t help you out. I told you, I have roommates.”

The look in Charlie’s eyes said, “So?” She was having an entire conversation with his very expressive face. And he was not letting her off the hook.

“Does he attack people? Has he ever bitten anyone?”

“Never.” The attendant looked offended. “He’s the gentlest dog here, and he’s kind of a scaredy-cat. He hides when other dogs get aggressive. I don’t think he knows how big he is. He thinks he’s a lapdog.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said to the attendant, said goodbye to Charlie, and headed down the stairs. And as she did, Charlie broke free from the attendant and ran after her, and then lay whining at her feet. Abby was nearly crying as she patted him, and told him he had to go back. And then he put his hands on his head, while he lay there, as though it were the worst news he’d ever heard, and he didn’t want to hear it. Abby sat down on the steps next to him, and gently stroked his coat as he gazed up at her imploringly, begging her to take him. She felt a wave of insanity come over her then, stood up, faced the attendant, and said, “I’ll take him.” The attendant beamed and Charlie barked, and then the attendant asked her a question.

“Do you have a garden? He needs room to walk around.”