“H.D.!” she barked.
The Bichonpoo startled, jerking back before his chin was out of the bowl and bringing it down on top of himself.
“Oh damn!” Ildaria gasped, hurrying forward to snatch up the pup before he could spread the mess around. She started to bring him to her chest, but then realized she was still wearing her work clothes, and held him away from her body instead.
“Well, it’s your own fault,” Ildaria said firmly when H.D. yipped in protest at the way he was being carried. But she alsomoved a little more quickly, rushing up the hall to the bathroom to set him in the tub. She expected H.D. to try to scrambleout right away, but he surprised her and instead dropped to sit and set about trying to lick the yogurt off himself.
Ildaria didn’t risk leaving him alone though. She quickly undid the buttons of her blouse, removed it and hung it from thehook on the bathroom door, then knelt beside the tub in just her skirt and bra.
H.D. was still trying to lick himself clean. An impossible task. There was no way he could reach the yogurt on his head andback. Which meant bath time for H.D. The only problem was Ildaria didn’t have any dog shampoo for him. But she didn’t wantto leave H.D. on his own for the length of time it would take to fetch it. At least, not until she’d rinsed the worst of theyogurt off him.
Grabbing the handheld showerhead from its holder, she pointed it away from H.D. and turned on the water, waiting and repeatedlychecking the water sprinkling out of it until it felt warm enough. Then she pushed the button on the handle until the sprinkleturned into a light spray. She used that to rinse H.D. off.
H.D. did not like baths. That became apparent rather quickly. The minute the first splash of water hit him, the pup began trying to climb out of the tub and up her chest, soaking her through. Ildaria tried to urge him back into the tub, but it was impossible with one hand. Deciding she couldn’t get much wetter, Ildaria left him pressed to her chest, held him in place there with her free hand and simply leaned forward over the tub so that most of the water would land in it as she rinsed him down.
Once she had the worst of the yogurt removed, and the water ran clear, Ildaria turned off the showerhead. She tried to sethim back in the tub then but he still wasn’t having that. Pressing closer, he rubbed his face against the cloth of her bra,and then pretty much tried to bury his head inside it between her breasts.
“Come on,” she said with amusement, getting back to her feet. “Let’s get you dry.”
H.D. didn’t respond except to press his snout deeper into her bra until she snatched the towel off the rack next to the tuband wrapped it over him. Then he lifted his head out and tried to bury himself in what he could reach of that.
“Si. Enjoy it while you can,” Ildaria murmured, rubbing the towel over his back as she carried him back out of the bathroom.“But your bath isn’t done. We still have to find your shampoos and give you a proper bath or you’ll be sticky.”
She didn’t know if H.D. would have understood her words, but it didn’t matter. She was pretty sure he couldn’t hear them whatwith the way he was twisting his head back and forth against the towel.
Wrapping him more firmly in the cloth, Ildaria carried him out to the kitchen to fetch the keys G.G. had given her to his apartment in case of emergencies. She then took him across the hall to fetch the dog shampoo and conditioner.
Ildaria found them under the kitchen sink where G.G. had told her they would be the first night she’d watched H.D. after movinginto her apartment. Then she carried him and the items back to her apartment and straight to the bathroom to set him in thetub again.
Ignoring the betrayed expression he was now giving her, Ildaria gave him a proper bath this time, soaping him up with thedog shampoo and rinsing him, then soaping him up again and repeating the rinsing process, before moving on to the conditioner.
Ildaria had never realized they had such a thing as dog conditioner, but H.D. had small tight curls that G.G. swore becamea frizzy tangled mess if the conditioner wasn’t used, so she applied it liberally, and let it sit for a couple of minutes,before rinsing that off him as well.
The first towel was a sopping mess and a new one was needed for drying him this time, but Ildaria slicked her hands over H.D.first, removing as much of the liquid as she could. It helped that H.D. gave a shake as she grabbed a fresh towel for him.Well, it helped him, but just managed to soak her even further, sending water spraying everywhere. Her bra was already soakedthrough so it made little difference there, but now her face and hair were soaking too.
Ignoring that, Ildaria wrapped H.D. up in the towel and scooped him out of the tub. She then knelt to set him on the floor, intending to rub him dry, but the moment she set him down, H.D. scampered out of the bathroom. The towel was dragged along the first few feet, but fell off as he skittered out the door and turned right.
“H.D.!” Leaping back to her feet, Ildaria hurried after him, catching up to him just at the entry to the living room. Shenoticed G.G.’s black Doc Martens only a couple feet away as
