บท 6: Fight over a dog

Sabrina was getting bored, as she had done nothing for the last two days, but stared at the four corners of the house or went swimming at the beach. Without company and work to do, she was beginning to feel the toll of loneliness.

For the past two days since she arrived, she had kept on thinking of Brad. It was not that simple to turn off her feelings for him, but she finally accepted her fault and that what she did was morally wrong. She had to end her relationship with him.

She had refused to check the internet or even watched the television, not wanting to hear news about him. Neither did she wanted to see any news about her. She wanted to use this time to heal her heart and rediscover herself.

She had lived her life in the limelight that she had forgotten what it was like to be just a normal citizen. She began to think that maybe she could use this opportunity to live a simple life. Pretend that she was just another ordinary person who wanted to act as normal as possible.

When her phone rang, she instantly answered it, wanting to talk to anyone besides herself. Luckily, it was Margie. She was closer to her compared to George because of their age difference and strict rules. Margie somehow understood her different personality. She tolerated her childish ways.

"Finally, you called. I thought I was going to lose my mind." She said over the line.

"Yeah, I miss you too. I heard from Jessica that your new name is Sky." She said sardonically. "Anyway, the reason I called is because of one of your contracts. They were initially suing you for breaching the agreement by not showing up for the photoshoot, but we managed to convince them to change their mind."

"That's good news. I knew I could always count on my favorite sister." She said to her.

"Don't let Georgina hear you say that, and she would skin you alive." Margie teased her.

"What about Dad? Is he still mad at me?" She asked, afraid to hear the answer. The disappointment in his face still lingered on in her mind. Never in her entire life did she felt shamed by her actions, more than that instant.

"You know how much he loves you. Just give him time to recover from this." Margie consoled her.

They continued talking for almost an hour before they finally said their goodbyes. Sabrina was thankful that Margie avoided talking about Brad.

She did not need another reminder of her mistake.

She decided to take a swim that morning before it got too hot, and she ended up with a sunburn. She put on her bathing suit and grabbed a towel, and then ran down toward the beach. Gerry placed a beach umbrella and a chair yesterday for her to use when she was out on the beach.

She was a strong swimmer, so she was not afraid to go to the deeper part of the water. She loved the sensation that the cold liquid produced on her skin. Swimming in an open sea gave her a thrill that a swimming pool could not. As she fought the waves, she finally got the distraction she was looking for, as she found herself having a great time.

After a while, she went back to the shore to get some needed breather. As she was lounging on the chair with her eyes closed, she felt something licked her face, startling her.

When she realized that it was a big black Labrador, she began to relax and patted the dog's head. "What are you doing, big fella?" She was a dog lover when she was young. She always wanted to take care of one, but her busy schedule did not allow her to do so. It would be unfair to the dog if she would be away most of the time.

"Who's your owner?" She tried to check at the dog's neck, but there was no collar. "Oh! Are you a stray dog?" She rubbed his fur, as she looked around the area for the owner.

The dog just started wagging his tail as if agreeing to her every word. After a few minutes of seeing no one in the area. She decided to get inside and grabbed some snacks.

"Come on. Let me feed you. You must be hungry." Patting the dog once again on the head. She quickly grabbed her towel and walked back to the path to the villa.

She signaled for the dog to follow her. "Come!" she said as the dog hesitated for a few seconds before it started to trail behind her.

As soon as she was inside the house, she wondered what he could feed the dog. She certainly had no dog food in the kitchen. She decided to call Gerry to ask him to get him some dog food and some essentials for the dog, like a dog collar, dog tray, among other things.

Gerry was curious because he was sure that Sky did not have any dog in her house. He wondered where she was going to use it. Well, he did deal with many stars and wealthy guests before and their eccentric ways, so this was not new to him.

"I shall name you, Cloudy." She named the dog after his dark fur. He seemed to like the name as he kept responding to it.

Sky started playing with the dog with fetch and some dog tricks. She was fascinated with what he could do. Cloudy must have training before the owner lost him or gave him away. "Poor you, would you like to live with me." She whispered to her new four-legged friend.

When the dog food arrived, she immediately took it from Gerry's hand and started to feed the dog.

"Come here, Cloudy. You're probably very hungry from wandering from place to place." Tapping the food tray in her hands as she encouraged the dog to eat.

Cloudy seemed not to respond as he failed to follow her. She started wondering why a hungry dog refused to eat the food given to him.

Gerry, on the other hand, tried to control his laughter because he did recognize the dog. He was about to tell Sky that it was not a stray dog, but someone beat him to it.

"Not you again." The man from the other day shouted in front of the sliding door facing the ocean. "Are you in the kidnapping business? First, Xavier, now, you took my dog."

"Baxter, you bad dog, going home with strangers. Come here." He continued completely annoyed to find his dog in her company.

"Wait a minute, Mister." She shouted back. "I'm no kidnapper. Xavier went here on his own." She defended herself.

Tapping the head of the dog, "Cloudy here, I found him on the beach wandering on his own without a collar, so naturally, I assumed that he was a stray dog. If you were responsible enough to take care of them, they would not run away from you."

"If you did not encourage Xavier to visit you, he would not have left the house without anyone noticing. And the dog accidentally got out of the house after he had his bath, so he had not worn his collar yet." He stated loudly.

"Still, it was not my fault if they run away from you." She insisted, making sure that she also raised her voice.

"Just stay away from Xavier and Baxter because I think you are bad news." He warned her, tapping his leg for Xavier to come to him.

"You can't tell me what to do. And... You don't have any right to judge my character. You don't even know me." She stood in front of him.

"No need. Just hand me over my dog, and we will leave this place immediately. Baxter, let's go." He again called for the dog to his side. "I'm just wasting my time here." Turning his back on her as he strode forcefully out and back to the path towards the shore.

Reluctantly, the dog started following him as they walked out of her place and back to the beachfront.

"Yes, get out of here before I charge you with trespassing." She hissed with so much contempt. "Gerry, make sure that he knows his way out."

Gerry was nowhere in sight. She looked at the door where he was standing earlier, but the door was closed shut. He was supposed to defend her from intruders, but he left her.

Gerry immediately slipped away, unnoticed, when the two started bickering, not wanting to be a part of the impending trouble. Besides, he was sure that no harm would come to Ms. Sky in the hands of his boss.

Good riddance, she thought. She did not need to be friends with a neighbor who was short-minded. It was a simple dispute, but he made it looked like she was a criminal. She would not lose sleep over something so insignificant as to fight over a dog.