The Trainer Pt. 01

"Did you really think I would?" She felt the need to ask, curious about what was really going through Charlie's mind; what she really thought about Amy. She'd been wondering about this a lot in the past few days. Despite her ponderings, she was still unable to answer her own main question: why did she care so much what Charlie thought? The girl had a way of popping into Amy's mind at the most random times, and her brain had a way of reflecting Charlie in the most positive light; ignoring her rudeness, her business-only attitude, and her apparent indifference to Amy.

Charlie shrugged noncommittally and changed the topic. "How's your week in the tax world been?"

Surprised she'd actually remembered what Amy's job was and had bothered to ask about it, Amy replied: "It was pretty productive, actually. We managed to really get to the bottom of the revenue calculations. As it turns out, there's a certain threshold value that is often ignored when the tax is corrected manually but..." When she saw Charlie's eyes glaze over she stopped talking abruptly and said: "Anyway, what do you need to see here? Do you have a form or something?"

Charlie tapped the side of her head. "It's all in here. I've done more of these than I can count. It's mostly about the garden, really. Former street dogs are often escape artists. It's not that they always want to get away from their owner or anything, but we need to make sure they don't end up back on the street."

Amy took Charlie to the modest garden behind her apartment. Charlie studied the tall walls that surrounded it. "Good walls. She won't be jumping those. Just make sure not to stack anything against them she might use as a step." Amy thought it promising that Charlie sounded as if the decision had already been made.

Charlie then looked up at the sky. "West facing, that's good. So all of this will be in the shade during the afternoon, right?"

Amy nodded. She'd never paid that much attention to the orientation of her garden, but she knew that there was plenty of shade to be found during the whole day for Jamie to be in.

"Will you be leaving her outside when you go to work? You work a nine to five, right?"

"Yes, it's much cooler outside than inside. And I'll be coming home at lunch time to spend some time with her and refresh her water and stuff."

Charlie seemed surprised at that and gave a satisfied nod. She then saw the dog bowl stand Amy had made this week out of pallet wood. She had to borrow some tools from a colleague and had hit her finger with the hammer in the process, but she was quite pleased with the result.

Charlie raised her eyebrows and said: "Jumping the gun a bit, are you?" Despite her words, there was a hint of a smile playing around her lips, which took the threat out of the statement. It seemed she was pleased with Amy's efforts.

"I've read that it's better for them if the bowls are raised a bit when they're eating," Amy said slightly embarrassed now. She'd intended to put the stand away but hadn't found anywhere to hide it.

"You made it?"

Amy nodded. She'd made it with the help of an Instructables video, but she let Charlie think it was all her idea. She saw the other girl looking at her blackened thumb nail. She was surely putting two and two together, but she didn't comment.

"Garden looks good," Charlie concluded with another sweeping look that would put a security guard to shame.

"Great," Amy said. She didn't quite manage to keep the relief out of her voice. "Do you need to see anything else in the house?"

Charlie seemed to think for a moment and then said: "Yeah, just a quick once over, if you don't mind?" The way she said it made Amy think that it may not be part of the standard procedure. Had Charlie seen something that had made her doubt? Still, Amy was committed to showing she would be a great dog mom. She had nothing to hide.

She showed Charlie her living room, with its perfectly arranged couch cushions, the kitchen, and finally she opened the door to her bedroom. Charlie peeked in. She immediately saw the dog bed and pile of toys that Amy had bought for Jamie.

She was definitely smiling now. "The poor girl is not going to know what to do with herself when she has this many choices of toys."

"I wasn't sure what she would like...," Amy said, slightly embarrassed again, but Charlie seemed pleased with her preparations.

"Okay, I think that all looks good," Charlie said. "Just a few more questions and then I'll be on my way." At that she walked back into the garden and sat down in one of the chairs. Clearly she expected these questions to take a while.

"Erm, make yourself at home," Amy said needlessly. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

Charlie gave her a look that said 'Seriously?!' and grinned. "No, but I'll take a beer if you have one." Yep, no qualms about making herself at home, this one.

Amy got two cold beers from the fridge and joined Charlie in the garden.

"So, is it just you living here?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, it is." Amy half-expected her to be writing down her answers on a form or in a pocket-sized notepad like the detectives on TV used, but like everything on the island, the whole process seemed pretty informal.

"And are there any regular visitors?"

"Regular visitors? What, like friends?"

"Friends, partners, anyone Jamie may come into regular contact with?"

Amy still wasn't sure what she was getting at and why this was important. Was Charlie messing with her? "Why do you need to know? Is that also on your checklist?"

A small smile played on Charlie's lips. "You got me. It's not. I'm just being thorough. A lot of rescues have trust issues. Many are scared of men. It's important that we have a picture of anything that may put our dogs at risk of trying to escape."

"Well, I don't have a lot of men over. Certainly no regulars," Amy stammered, suddenly feeling awkward. Had Charlie really been hinting at that with her question about partners? Surely she knew that Amy was gay? The way they had danced together had left little doubt, hadn't it? Unless... Hadn't Charlie said that that was the way they danced on the island? Did that extend to straight women dancing together? An uncomfortable thought niggled at the back of her mind. Had she wrongly assumed Charlie was gay, just because she'd been at a gay party? Lucas did say there were a lot of straight women there who just enjoyed the experience for a night. Was Charlie one of them?

Amy racked her brain looking for hints in their past interactions. Had it even come up in conversation? She hadn't made a fool of herself with her assumptions, had she? Could she open up this topic of conversation and ease her mind? Her mind would certainly be eased knowing Charlie was gay. At least she'd know then that she hadn't wrongly assumed anything, that she could still read the signs, that even if she had said anything remotely gay, Charlie hadn't been taken aback by it. That, and you just want her to be gay, a little voice in her head said. That was stupid. Why would she want that? Well, perhaps she did, but that wasn't unusual, was it? To want to extend the size of your own minority group? It certainly had nothing to do with Charlie specifically. Or with how gorgeous she is, the little voice added sceptically. Amy told it to shut up and focussed on what Charlie was saying.

The other girl had already moved on, seeming pleased with Amy's answer about regular visitors. She asked now if the landlord was okay with her having a dog in the apartment, if she knew the good places to walk Jamie, and what she'd been thinking about feeding her. To the last question, Amy had been tempted to answer 'mostly human body parts' but had resisted the urge; Charlie would probably have a horrific story about someone who had done just that. All further conversation was strictly dog related, but at least Charlie seemed more relaxed about the idea of Amy adopting Jamie.

"Alright, I think that's all we need. Unless you have any further questions, I'll let them know I'm happy with the home check," Charlie concluded at the same time as she finished her beer.

"So, that's it? That's a yes?" Amy asked excitedly. She hadn't realised how on edge she'd been. She knew there was nothing wrong with her or her house but still, someone else was deciding hers and Jamie's fates.

Charlie smiled and got up from her chair. "That's a yes, Amy."

Without thinking, Amy threw her arms around Charlie. She'd always been a celebratory hug kind of person. Charlie startled but recovered quickly and hugged her back.

"Congratulations," she said in Amy's ear. The proximity of her face and the feeling of her breath on Amy's neck brought a strong flashback of her talking in Amy's ear on the dance floor a few months ago, their bodies pressed together; not unlike they were in this moment. Amy felt her heart pounding and quickly let go of the other girl. Pull yourself together, Amy. This is clearly not the same. Plus, it's asshole-girl, remember? Possibly-straight-asshole-girl. Despite these facts, her body and her brain seemed to be ganging up on her, and seemed intent on making her forget that. It wasn't the first time either. Words needed to be had with her disobedient body parts. Why were they so intent on defending Charlie?

Charlie gave her a knowing smile, as if she could read the very thoughts that had just passed through Amy's mind on her face. "I'm sure you're impatient to welcome her home, so I can drop her off tomorrow morning, if you want?"

As Amy confirmed that that would be great, a ridiculous thought popped into her head: was it only Jamie she was impatient to see again?

June

"Come on girl, settle down," Amy patted the towel next to her. Jamie flopped down next to the towel and rolled around demonstratively, covering herself in sand. Amy couldn't say she was surprised. In the three weeks the dog had been with her, Jamie had proven herself quite partial to getting into anything dirty and making every decision the opposite to what Amy had intended. Amy smiled. "Suit yourself." She lay back and continued reading her book.

Her colleague had been right; this was a pretty blissful place to be. She couldn't believe it when she'd heard about this deserted beach; one of the few where dogs were allowed, or at least not explicitly disallowed. Most of the larger beaches were owned by hotels or catered by bars and had a strict 'no dogs' policy. This was a shame as there was nothing better than strolling on the beach with your dog and letting them dip into the water to cool off from the heat.

Fortunately, there were a few small bays that were inaccessible enough not to be overtaken by tourism and unknown enough not to be frequented by the island's inhabitants. When given a choice, most people would opt to have cold drinks, umbrellas and sun beds at their beck and call anyway. But Amy had filled a backpack and a cooler box and had trekked the twenty minute hike from the nearest place she could leave her car. It had taken her over a steep hill and down some rocks, through cacti and other prickly things, and it had been hard work in the blistering sun, but she'd made it. And it had been worth it.

In fact... She looked around furtively. When did she ever get a chance to tan in such a deserted place? Certainly not in her garden; that was overlooked by at least five other apartments. It was a great opportunity to even out her tan a bit; get rid of the bikini lines. With one more glance around her, she quickly took off her bikini top and made sure she lathered her sun-deprived breasts in sunscreen.

It didn't take long for Amy's eyes to get heavy and her book to keep dropping onto her face. She went for a dip in the sea to wake herself up and cool off and then settled down on her towel to dry off again. What a blissful routine. Jamie also looked very content, snoozing in the shade of a palm tree. It was hard to imagine it was the same dog she'd found in the bushes; abandoned, underfed, and covered in tar.

See, she's perfectly happy with me, Amy thought to herself. Take that, Charlie. The dog trainer also known as asshole-girl had popped into her mind fairly regularly in her first few weeks as a dog mother. It had mostly been thoughts along the lines of I'm glad Charlie didn't see that or how would Charlie tackle this challenge? but occasionally there'd been a Charlie would have been pleased thought. Amy was particularly strict with herself about those thoughts; why should she care about Charlie's opinion anyway?

Amy was dragged from her thoughts and her blissful slumber when Jamie suddenly jumped up and ran off with a bark. Amy called her but the dog continued bounding away from her. Amy cursed and scrambled to her feet to go after her. A few things happened almost simultaneously, which made for a spectacle that would not have been out of place in a slapstick comedy.

Amy launched off her towel into the sand but had not anticipated how hot it was, so she jumped around awkwardly until she could get her flip flops on. A large sandy-coloured dog, which was definitely not the one she'd been calling, came over to greet her, enthusiastically pushing its cold wet nose between her warm thighs, which made her shriek. It was then that she saw the owner of the dog coming towards her, leading a very happy Jamie along. Realising she was still mostly naked, Amy tried to grab her beach towel and wrap it around herself but the big dog was still standing on it and thought this was the best game ever. He leaned through his front paws and wagged his tail while she tried to get him off her towel.

"Diego, ven aquí," said a familiar voice. How was it possible that the one person Amy would encounter on a deserted beach was Charlie? Why was it always Charlie? Amy looked up to see the dog trainer accompanied by not only Diego and Jamie, but also little Paco and four others, of which one or two looked familiar.

Diego seemed disinclined to obey the command directed at him. He calmed down at least, but sat down on Amy's towel and looked at her expectantly. Amy covered herself with her hands as best as she could while she felt around for her bikini top without taking her eyes off Charlie. The other girl was wearing dark aviator sunglasses but Amy was convinced she was staring at her breasts. Besides, Charlie was not even trying to hide her grin.

"Really? Now is not a good time to speak English to him?" she called out. It seemed to her that the dog was very much in trouble.

"Nah, he's alright," Charlie said, her grin still plastered on her face.

Amy managed to get her bikini top over her head and her breasts covered, and was tying the top behind her back when she said: "You probably taught him to do this, hah?"

Charlie laughed. "I wish I had thought of that. I can't say we encounter nearly naked girls very often though."

"It's a deserted beach! I was on my own. Why are you even here? Why are you always everywhere? Are you stalking me or something?" Amy was trying to joke to hide her embarrassment but Charlie wasn't letting her off easy.

"It's actually a very popular spot with dog walkers. You may want to remember that next time you decide to strip off." She chuckled. "You could do a lot worse than Diego finding you."

Amy huffed. It wasn't Diego she was embarrassed about. But Charlie wasn't done. "I was worried I had a heatstroke or something. I thought you were an oasis. Shade, cold drinks..." She made a vague gesture towards Amy which could be interpreted as pointing out her scarcely-clad form, if there ever had been any indication that Charlie was even remotely interested in that. "And then I saw this girl." She gave Jamie a rough cuddle. The dog rolled over at her feet and Charlie indulged her with a wrestling match.

"So, you got anything in that cooler box you're willing to share?" Charlie asked, not at all shy, as seemed to be her standard.

"What's the matter?" Amy teased. "Did the big, experienced dog walker forget to pack water?"

"Oh no, I have water but I prefer beer," Charlie retorted with a grin.

Amy tried to convince herself she was reluctant to share her beer. After all, she had lugged it all the way here. Plus, Charlie seemed way too smug for her own good. However, when she saw Jamie roughhousing with the other dogs and that dazzling smile Charlie was now throwing her way - no doubt to sway her - she decided there'd be no harm done in sharing a beer with Charlie.

"Ah, that's amazing, thank you," Charlie said when she flopped down in the sand, leaning her back against the palm tree and stretching out her long tanned legs. Amy moved her towel a bit closer to share the shade and tapped her bottle against Charlie's. "Cheers."

"How are things going with Jamie?" Charlie asked, just as the smaller dog managed to pin down Diego with her chest, before they bounced up and chased each other again. The other dogs joined into the chase, little three-legged Paco keeping up surprisingly well.

"It's going great," Amy started. "She's just such a superstar. I think she really feels at home."

Charlie looked at her sceptically, a small smile on her lips. "Really?"

Amy couldn't see through Charlie's sunglasses but she imagined a spark of amusement in those pale grey eyes, along with that knowing gaze, those years' worth of experience that let her look straight through Amy's white lie. "She destroyed my sofa," she admitted with a sigh. "And the corners of the coffee table. And her own bed."

"I knew it," Charlie said triumphantly. "Adopting a rescue dog is never without a hitch."

"I just never thought it would be this hard," Amy admitted, glad to finally have someone to talk to about this. When she'd mentioned it to Lucas he'd said she was crazy for bringing one of those creatures into her house in the first place.

Charlie nodded. "It is hard work, but trust me, if you stick with it it's the most rewarding thing you'll ever do."

"It's just that... She cries whenever I leave the house. It's heart-breaking. The neighbours said that sometimes she goes on for an hour."

"Poor girl. Sounds like she's got some abandonment issues. She's probably thinking that now that she's found a good person, she never wants to let you out of her sight."

"Does she have to destroy my furniture in the process though?"

"It's all part of her anxiety. She gets stressed when you're not there and she doesn't know what to do with herself, so she chews things."

"But she has loads of chew toys!"

Charlie laughed. "They're probably not as tasty."

Amy smiled but couldn't help a sigh escaping from her lips. "I'm going to have to replace that furniture. It's not mine... But I don't want to do that until she's not going to chew it again. But I don't know how to make her stop. It's just... I don't think there's any progress, no matter what I try." She felt tears of frustration welling up and fought to suppress them. Not in front of Charlie.

"There is progress, Amy. There absolutely is. I can see it in her. She looks much better: she's got a good weight now and her fur is shiny. And her behaviour... Look at her: she's so much more confident and happy. She's really coming out of herself."

Amy felt a tear run down her cheek, which was no longer hidden by her sunglasses. She wiped it away quickly. "I don't know," she sulked.

"And you are still working with her every day. That's more effort than some people are willing to put in. I've had people bring back dogs after a few days because it was too difficult. Because they didn't expect dogs to behave like dogs, I guess."

"You thought I was like them," Amy couldn't help but remind her.

"At first I did, yes," Charlie admitted. "You just made the decision to adopt her so flippantly. Can you blame me? But I can see now that you're willing to put in the work."