“A mix between a Chihuahua and a Pomeranian.”

“Adorable!” Trish beamed.

“While they’re in our care,” Finley said, “they’ll be called Oscar, Agatha, Felicia, and Steve.”

“Are you trying to give them the worst possible names?” he asked.

“I love those names!”

Trish lifted a puppy, rocking it like a newborn and singing “Away in a Manger.”

He turned toward his monitor.

“Luke,” Finley said.

He reversed his chair just enough to meet her eyes. The cobweb was gone. Her hands and face were clean. But stains remained on the knees of her overalls.

“You’ll be fostering Agatha,” she said.

“Come again?”

“Our vet confirmed that these puppies have been weaned. When we receive puppies of an adoptable age, we share the work of fostering them until we can place them in forever homes. There are four of us. And four puppies.”

He was having a hard time comprehending. “You expect me to take a dog home tonight?”

“I do.”

“What about Akira? She works here.”

“Her role is different than ours. The only pet care she’s responsible for is the pet care she oversees during the after-school program.”

“I’d love to cuddle Agatha and Steve all night,” Trish cooed. “I have two pairs of matching Santa jammies in puppy sizes.”

“I can housetrain a dog in three days,” Kat announced.

“And yet we’re going to share the workload like we always do,” Finley said stubbornly.

“You don’t want”—no way was he saying the name Agatha—“that puppy going home with me. I don’t know how to take care of a puppy.”

“We’ll give you pointers and provide supplies.”

“No thanks.”

She lifted her shoulders. “It’s a duty that comes with the job.”

Trish eyed him nervously. Kat smirked.

The confrontation pulled the air tight. He didn’t care. He had more experience with confrontation in his pinky finger than all three of these women combined.

“Chat with me in my office?” Finley asked him lightly.

He nodded. Just before he shut Finley’s office door behind him, he heard Trish singing “round yon virgin” to the puppies.

He turned on Finley. “Trish said she’d be willing to take two puppies.”

In one graceful movement, she lowered into her chair and crossed her legs. “Yes, but we’re all going to take one.”

“Are you doing this to punish me?”

Her lips parted with surprise. “No! I have no reason to punish you and even if I did, I’d never use an animal to do so. There’s an order to the way we do things around here. Very young puppies that need round-the-clock feeding go to specially trained volunteers. Weaned puppies stay at Furry Tails during the day. At night, we divide them evenly among us.”

He scowled.

She cocked her head the way she did when she was trying to psychoanalyze him. “Why would you think I’d want to punish you?”