It was a pretty typical Thursday at the office. Trying to get ahead on things so I could slide out early on Friday, only to be derailed by a bunch of meetings that could have been emails.
Fortunately, traffic had been light on the drive home, and I was soon pulling into my garage.
I opened the door into the house and was a little concerned when Calypso, my Labrador, wasn't there to greet me. Probably sound asleep I thought, walking through the house, checking all her favorite nap spots to no avail.
I was headed out to the backyard when the doorbell rang.
I opened the front door to find a girl standing there with my dog. She was 5ft 6in or so, with long blonde hair wearing a black and gold shirt from the local college.
"Hi," she said with a big smile, "I think you might have lost something."
"Thanks for bringing her back," then looking down at Calypso, "come on girl, inside."
She just sat beside the girl, looking up at her then over at me.
The girl smiled, "Come on, go home," she said gesturing towards the door.
Calypso nuzzled against her leg.
"What a traitor," I said with laugh, "has she been giving you treats and belly rubs?"
"Well, only a few" the girl replied with a trace of embarrassment, "mind if I..." she gestured towards the door.
"Go right ahead, might be the only way to get this fickle girl inside."
I stepped out of the way, and she walked in, Calypso obediently at her side.
I followed her in, she glanced around the room before turning back to face me.
"I'm Tara, I live down the street."
"Oh, yeah...Jake and Wendy are your parents?"
"Yeah, but they're divorced now, Mom lives downtown now."
"Ohhh, sorry. I don't really keep up with the neighborhood gossip."
"You're a lot...younger... than most of the people in the neighborhood."
"True enough, but don't hold that against me, and I'm Colin". It was true, I was a 29-year-old living in a neighborhood full of people in their late 40s and 50s. It had been even more noticeable when I first bought my house. I never would have been able to afford to buy in the neighborhood if it hadn't been for a mix of bad and good luck. I had landed my first real job out of college just as the real estate market crashed, fortunately I was in a pretty stable industry, and then my grandmother had passed. My inheritance hadn't been all that much, but it had been enough to make a sizable down payment in a depressed market. Leaving me as a 20 something living in a 3400 sq foot house with a pool on a corner lot in a desirable neighborhood with a mortgage half what some of my older and wiser neighbors were paying.
"You going to State now?" I asked gesturing at her shirt.
"Yeah, just started."
Then, I had one of those harebrained ideas that would change my life.
"I know this is going to sound weird, but could you use a little extra spending money?"
She looked at me a little nervously, and I'm pretty sure she shot a quick glance back at the door.
"I guess..."
"Well, I was just thinking, poor Calypso here gets out sometimes because she gets bored with me at work all day, you're going to State, so I'm guessing that means you are done with your classes by 12 or 1?"
"Yeah, 12 or 10 depending on the day."
"Calypso obviously likes you, and I'm guessing by your outfit you were going for a run when you found her."
She nodded agreement, her face still puzzled.
"Well, what if I paid you to take her with you for a run, a walk whatever?"
"How much?" The confusion vanishing.
"Say, $50 a week? It's something you are going to be doing anyway and it's not really out of your way."
"Make it 60 and you have a deal."
"You drive a hard bargain young lady 60 it is."
We worked out the rest of the details and she headed home.
The next few weeks were uneventful. Tara used the garage door code to come in and get Calypso and take her for a walk, and I left cash on the dining room table for her trouble.
I had just gotten home on Friday, three weeks after our new arrangement started the doorbell rang again. Once again Tara was standing on my porch, and Calypso rushed out to greet her.
"How's it going, want to come in?"
"Thanks," she replied as she came through the door, Calypso making a hasty U turn to follow her. I closed the door behind her.
She turned to face me, and I could tell she was a little nervous, "I guess it's my turn to sound a little strange."
"Well, it seems to be working out for us so far..."
"That's true," she said starting to relax before continuing, "I was just wondering if I could... sort of...borrow your house?"
"Borrow my house?"
"Yeah, just sort of temporarily, in the afternoon. So, you know my folks got divorced, my Dad remarried and now he has a kid with my stepmom. He's a sweet little kid, but he's really noisy and that makes it hard to study. I tried the library, but I just can't get comfortable there. So, I was thinking after I take Calypso out if I could just study here for a few hours...if that would be, Ok?"
"Why not, it'll make the dog happy if nothing else, and I hated studying at the library too. You aren't going to raise my dog sitting rates for all this extra time."
"Of course not," she laughed, "I should probably lower them to thank you".