The Charm Bracelet (42 page)

‘Here you go fella,’ she said gently, peeling back the shiny foil wrapper and breaking off a corner of the bar.

She set it down on the path just in front of him, backing away as much as the passing foot traffic would allow. After a beat, the husky lurched forward and cleanly snatched it up. Darcy smiled, breaking off similar sized chunks and holding them out to him one by one.

When the bar was all gone the dog licked its grey and white chops thirstily, guilting Darcy into pulling out her purple water bottle, and empting some into her hand. The dog, happier now, more trusting, lapped it up, plus the six other handfuls she offered him. His tongue was stiff and ticklish, and it took all of her willpower not to giggle each time his big pink sandpaper tongue latched onto her palm.

Eventually, she reached out a tentative hand towards his silken head, curling her fingers inwards in a non-threatening manner. As her hand grew closer he momentarily lurched away, taking a moment to sniff her skin. Then he again licked the tips of her fingers, as if enjoying a ghostly taste of the food item that had been there previously. Seemingly satisfied, he relaxed his posture and allowed Darcy to place her hand on top of his head, and gently caress his ears. Confident that the dog now trusted her, she reached down and picked up his lead.

‘There you go boy, you’re a nice dog, aren’t you?’  The husky was silent save for his panting, but his tongue lolled to one side of his mouth, and his ice blue eyes stayed fixed on her own

She lowered herself to her haunches and put a hand under the dog’s bright white chin. A glimmer of light caught her eye and she noted a tag in the shape of a dog bone dangling from his leather collar. She leaned closer to read the name etched on it: Bailey.

              ‘So, what now, Bailey?’ she asked, and the dog immediately responded to his name with an energetic wag of his tale. Then, much to Darcy’s surprise, he lurched forward and jumped up on his hind legs, laying his big paws on her chest. He was so huge they were almost face to face and gulping nervously, she took a quick step backwards. ‘Whoa, down boy…’ she cried and, to his credit, the husky did exactly as she asked.

When all four paws were once again safely on the pavement, Darcy fiddled with the husky’s lead. ‘What do I do now?’ she wondered out loud.  ‘And more specifically, what do I do with
you
?’

Darcy worked through the current situation once again in her mind. Yes, she had not only hit his owner Aidan Harris and knocked him unconscious, but she’d done it while the man was evidently out for a morning walk with Bailey. And now said dog was here in front of her, probably wondering what
he
was supposed to do next.

She signed heavily as she considered the complexity of her situation.  She couldn’t very well bring the dog to work with her and … oh hell!  Darcy gasped as it suddenly dawned on her where she was supposed to be. Reaching into her bag, she took out her phone to check the screen, and sure enough more missed calls.

All from Joshua.

She pressed send on her phone and waited momentarily for her workmate to pick up, picturing him in a complete panic.  She glanced down and saw Bailey watching her speculatively.

              ‘Where in the living
hell
of all things holy are you?’ Joshua shrieked.  ‘I’ve called you twenty times now, and no answer! I know it’s hard to hear your phone ringing out on the street but good God Darcy… What is—’

             
‘Sixteen,’ Darcy said numbly.

             
‘What?’ 

             
‘You called me sixteen times. Just for the record.’

             
‘Whatever.  It’s well past eleven, where on earth are you?’ he repeated.

             
‘Listen, Joshua, just calm down for a second OK?  I’m sorry, I know I’m late but there’s been an accident and….

             
‘Oh my God, I
knew
this would happen eventually, I just knew—’

             
Darcy shook her head, wishing she he would just let her tell the story without interruption.

             
‘No, actually,
I
hit someone Joshua. On my bike.’  Tears sprung to her eyes as the shock and adrenaline gradually wore off and she was now able to properly assess the enormity of the situation. ‘I’m fine, but I knocked the guy out cold and I don’t know if he’s going to be OK.’

Mercifully Joshua listened in stunned silence while she recounted the tale and the fact that right now, aside from being frantic about his condition, she was also trying to figure out how to reunite the injured man with his dog.

              ‘It’s my fault he got hit and his dog got left behind. I need to at least to find a way of letting him know the dog is OK.’ And she very badly needed to know if he – Aidan Harris – was OK too.

Darcy realised then that the best thing to do was to take Bailey to whatever hospital they’d taken his injured owner to, and take things from there. Otherwise, not knowing whether or not he would be OK would eat her up alive.

‘You’re at West Fifty Ninth?’ Joshua mused, when she outlined her intentions, ‘So I’m guessing they would have taken him to the ER at Roosevelt,’ he said, reverting to paramedic mode ‘Either that or St Luke’s but Roosevelt’s closer.’

‘OK.’ He was right; Roosevelt was only a few blocks away.

‘Well if you’re going there, get yourself seen to too,’ her workmate continued, his voice now soothing ‘Sounds like dog-guy wasn’t the only one to take a knock. But don’t rush off right away, take a breather first. Grab a coffee or something. And try not to panic.’

Darcy nodded. In truth, that sounded like heaven. She definitely needed to sit down somewhere for a little while at least. ‘And it goes without saying don’t worry about coming in to work today – I can cover things and Ashley’s due in after lunch anyway. Consider it a Joshua buck.’

‘Thanks Joshua,’ she sighed gratefully, knowing that there was no way she’d be able to face work just then. ‘I’ll make it up to you, I swear.’

‘Don’t be silly – just make sure you’re OK. But if you even think about bringing some strange dog down here, all bucks will be revoked and I’ll - ’

She smiled. ‘I know – you’re not a dog person, I get it. I suppose I’ll just have to take him round the emergency rooms with me.’

‘The good people in the ER aren’t exactly dog people either, sweetie – they’ve got the humans to think about. Tell you what though, instead of trying to strike it lucky with the hospitals, let me make a call. I know a guy who still works at Roosevelt.’

Darcy brightened a little. ‘Do you think your friend would be able to tell me if the man I hit is OK?’

‘I can’t promise anything, it’s been a while since we’ve talked, and he could well have moved on since, but I can certainly try…’

‘I’d really appreciate anything you can do Joshua, thanks.’

‘Like I said, go and sit down somewhere for the moment - preferably out of this cold. I’ll call my friend and see what I can wheedle out of him, if anything.

Grateful for her workmate’s help, Darcy said goodbye to Joshua, while he promised he would make the call back as soon as he knew anything.

Feeling a powerful headache coming on, she tugged on Bailey’s leash and wandered back towards her bike. As she did, she again noticed the deli bag and wondered if she should just leave it there beside the lamppost in case the lady came back for it.

But now, lifting it up, Darcy realised it was not a bag containing deli or bakery products, but something much, much heavier. And looking inside, she saw that it contained a package, solid, rectangular and beautifully wrapped… No actually it was a gift box, she realised, a dark rich forest green coloured box - the exterior almost like wallpaper, thick brocade wallpaper and tied with a wide red grosgrain ribbon.

The bag itself, although a little wrinkled, also had an expensive look to it. 

But where had it come from? Darcy wondered.  Alongside her, Bailey panted and furiously wagged his tail with such enthusiasm it was causing her to wonder if his owner might have been carrying it before he got hit. And thinking about it now she recalled, a snapshot of the man and his dog right before they connected flashing into her mind, there was indeed something on the end of his arm – the same one in which he held the leash.

Darcy looked from the gift box back to Bailey, quickly understanding that she had more than one thing to return to Aidan Harris.

Download  A GIFT TO REMEMBER

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