Lost and Found on Foxglove Street (The Foxglove Street #9)

Chapter 4

4

STANLEY

There’s nothing like a tasty gravy bone to make you feel better about life.

I could’ve snaffled the entire bag of the treats if Grace had let me. Wisely, she listened to the advice that nice older lady, Olive, gave her about how too much food might make me sick if I hadn’t eaten properly in a while.

Considering what had happened in my life over the past days and weeks, the last thing I needed was to end up being sick. It was a good thing I had Grace looking out for me now.

I’d been on my own for a while. Alone and lonely, wandering the streets, wondering where I should go and what I should do. Now that I was with Grace, who I knew would take care of me for one night at least, it felt like a weight had lifted.

It’s scary being on your own and not knowing who you can trust.

You see, I wasn’t used to being a stray—at least, not as far as I could remember. The truth was, I didn’t have much memory of anything before a week earlier. I thought something had happened to me then—something bad —but I wasn’t sure what.

My memory was just a blank.

All I could remember was wandering in the countryside and in some towns and villages until earlier that day when I happened to find myself in Hamblehurst and trotting down Foxglove Street.

As soon as I set eyes on Grace, I knew she was someone I could trust.

But it was more than that, too.

I felt like I’d been drawn to her, and that I was meant to find my way to her.

Maybe those were just the silly musings of a daft dog. In that moment though, as I lay curled up on the cosy carpet beside Grace, drifting in and out of sleep while she tapped away at her laptop keyboard on the sofa, I couldn’t help but feel that something good was about to happen in my life.

After my days spent on the streets, I badly needed a change of fortune.

Right then, I had a roof over my head, a cosy carpet to lie on, and I’d eaten a delicious meal. That was definitely a welcome change in fortune after sleeping outdoors for night after night and surviving by scavenging food on the streets.

But above all, I had this lovely young woman, Grace, looking out for me. Her aura was sweet and good, a warm shade of pretty peach that made me feel all gooey inside. She had a kind heart, and there aren’t as many of those in the world as there should be.

Stanley. That was my new name, apparently. I rather liked it. The young man, Ryan, who Grace spoke to earlier when I first appeared on Foxglove Street, seemed to think the name suited me, and Grace agreed.

So, who was I to argue? Especially as I couldn’t remember what my name was before I arrived there, anyway. I did have a name once; I felt sure about that. But what it was, I couldn’t say.

Like so much else, that important detail had mysteriously vanished from my memory. That worried me, naturally. Memory loss is no trivial matter.

But that night, I told myself not to worry about it, because it seemed like my luck might just have changed. I was cosy and safe and my stomach was full.

And I had Grace at my side.

Already I loved her with every fibre of my doggy heart.