As the door opened, she heard soft footsteps from behind heading towards her. As if from nowhere, suddenly a stranger sat at her table who claimed to be her soulmate. 


Her heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird. This was it, after months of research, profiling, background checks and visits to multiple locations on her quest to find ‘the one’ it all boiled down to now.


The familiarity was intense and the urge to reach out for a hug was almost unbearable, but they had only just met.


As she looked at his slightly awkward stance and curious mannerisms, she couldn’t help but wonder if they had they met before? Maybe in another life? She felt nervous and unsure, a knot formed in her stomach so tight she could split in two. She sensed his pain through the unspoken silence and familiar look in his eye as though she had experienced it with him. 

He wasn’t what she expected, yet she wasn’t sure what to expect. His profile seemed to match with hers, but she felt unprepared. What if he didn’t like her? He was bigger and older than she had hoped, but he had kind eyes which seemed to hide a gentle, sensitive soul.


Looking into the big brown soulful eyes staring back at her, she questioned if she was enough to be deserving of a love like this? Could she reciprocate the same feelings? What if she couldn’t? Why put this pressure on herself? Suddenly, it dawned on her that she would be accountable for whatever the future had in store for them both. Her throat felt tight as a feeling of panic came over her. 

As she attempted to relax a little more, she took a sip of her drink and gazed over the brim of her glass. His eyes fixated on her, watching as she held the glass to her lips. As she placed her glass down on the table, his eyes widened, and an almost expectant look fell across his face. What did he want? Was she supposed to say something? And what was it he wanted to hear? 


A thought crossed her mind, if after all he had been through, he could put all his trust into her and still manage a playful smile, then surely, she owed it to him to try.


The room was small, sterile and smelled faintly of disinfectant, hardly the ritz. She sat on a hard chair with her clammy fingers entangled together tightly on her lap. Sensing scrutiny, she let her arms fold down by her sides and opened her palms. As she breathed in, she could feel a strong tingling sensation building in her nose. As she tried desperately to hold it back, it was no use, she pulled a tissue from her pocket and let out a sneeze, which echoed around the room. This made him jump, and as she folded up the tissue and placed it back in her pocket, the corners of her mouth curled up to reveal a soft smile. Not intended, but there was something lovingly humorous about his expression as they locked eyes.


A door slammed, a caretaker locking up his equipment in a store cupboard from across the room. Once again startled, he went ridged, looked tense and stared at the door intensely as if waiting for something to jump out and scare him. She put her arm around him and stoked his hair. His body relaxed and the look of relief melted across his face. A warm tingle filled her body and suddenly she felt it. Love. Her heart was full, and she knew from that moment she would let nothing come between them.

He turned to her and smiled and slowly rested his head against her.


For the next 30 minutes she simply sat and talked, letting him set the pace. She didn’t push, she spoke softly telling him about her home and her family. She didn’t want to force anything, she just wanted him to know that she was there, that she understood and that she was patient.

She felt him start to relax, it wasn’t the grand, dramatic connection that she had hoped for, but it was something and she sensed that it was trust beginning to bloom.


A voice interrupted “well, what do you think”? A volunteer, a kind lady with long brown hair entered the room and sat opposite her.

“He is perfect” she replied, scooping him up in her arms. 

“I can see you have both connected" said the woman, staring fondly at him. "His name is Phoenix and he was found wandering the streets a few months ago, he was starved, we think he was abandoned by his previous owners.”

Lara shuddered and a protective feeling came over her all of a sudden. She looked in his eyes and said “I will never let that happen to you again”


“He seems to really like you” the voice interrupted again,” All we want is for him to be happy and for him to become the loving, trusting dog we know he was before we found him”

Lara nodded and a tear ran down her cheek. As she gave him a short squeeze, he gently lifted his head and licked the falling tear. In that moment she knew she had found her soul mate.


“If you are happy to proceed, I will get the adoption papers for you to sign”? the voice said.

She beamed a huge smile, and tears welled in her eyes like morning dew softly gathering on a leaf, and without hesitation she nodded.

Carefully placing him back on the floor, she clipped his lead onto his collar and led him out of the room following the volunteer. “Come on” she said, “you’re going to your forever home”.


Phoenix took his last few sniffs of the place that had saved his life, the place he had called home for the past few months and the place that had rebuilt his confidence to allow him to open his heart to his new owner. As the automatic doors of the reception glided open and the sun shone through the trees lighting up the pathway on the other side, he lifted his head up and without turning back, he trotted through the door with a spring in his step and together him and Lara walked into the distance.