By Lisa Scottoline
It was the best of times it was the worst of times.
But all in one day.
Let me catch you up on last Saturday.
I had been thinking about getting a new puppy for a long time because my two Cavaliers Boone and Kit were nearing 15, and I thought my little puppy Eve would love a companion and a houseful of fur.
And by Eve, I mean me.
And before I continue, let me say first that my rescue credentials are very well established. I’ve rescued dogs, cats, and even horses. I currently have a rescue horse, so I’m fully aware of the need to adopt animals.
But I’m also of an age where I get to want what I want, too.
And what I wanted was a new cavalier puppy. So I called my wonderful preservation breeder, who doesn’t breed her dogs often, so I expected a six month if not a year lead time. I have waited as long as two years for a dog, that’s how responsible these breeders are.
So I sent my email, and amazingly, she wrote me back instantly saying that she had a litter of 15-week old puppies available.
My heart exploded!
It was sooner than I thought, But my life motto is don’t postpone fun.
Especially not at my age.
Francesca happened to be home, and we set up a Facetime and looked at three adorable puppies, two girls and a boy. I was leaning toward a girl and I didn’t care what she looked like as much as her temperament.
Eve is so adventurous that I didn’t need any more adventure in my life.
So we watched how the puppies behaved, not how they looked.
What a concept.
The two girls ran around like nuts, going up and down the stairs, and actually getting into a box of championship ribbons and wreaking havoc.
But the little boy only wanted to sit in the breeder’s lap.
He was interested in the world, but he wanted love.
What a coincidence, so do I!
So you know where I went.
I picked the boy!
This could be my best marriage yet.
I was overflowing with endorphins, if not estrogen.
Really there’s nothing better for your soul than watching a puppy video, and I do it all day, for random puppies online, but this time I was doing it for a puppy I got to bring home.
Francesca and I were jumping up and down all day, thinking of doggy names, picking out puppy collars, all the gloriously fun dumb stuff you do when you are expecting a new arrival.
But while we were sitting on the couch, my little dog Kit came over, walked up the little doggy steps to the couch, and sat in Francesca’s lap. He seemed kind of flat, which isn’t like him, and he smelled a little funny, so I thought he rolled in something.
We decided to give him a bath. And while we did, he was unusually calm but after we took him out, he was positively flat. He’d been having kidney and heart issues, but they were controlled with medication.
Still I couldn’t deny what I was seeing, and neither could Francesca.
We’ve loved and lived with enough animals to know when they are trying to tell you something, especially when that something is goodbye.
We called the vet and took him in immediately.
And we got the news that no pet lover wants to hear.
That he was suffering.
It turns out that his kidneys were failing more quickly than anybody realized and that weird smell we noticed was uremic acid or something like that.
I can never listen when I’m emotional.
And so we cuddled Kit and told him how much we loved him, and how much we adored even his little quirky things like guarding his water, and all of the joy he had given us and we hoped we had given him in return.
And we cried our eyes out and we said goodbye to our little guy as he breathed his last breath.
And so the day began with excitement over a new puppy and ended with sorrow over losing such a dear one.
Francesca and I cried all the way home, but we decided that we are feeling all the feels and that’s a good thing.
Life is feeling the feels.
And so is death.
Anybody knows that those two events are part of the same continuum, even if they don’t happen on the same day, like an illustration of that very lesson.
We will always love you, Kit.
Because it’s the love that continues, always.
Look for Lisa’s new novel, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING and Francesca’s novel FULL BLOOM, out now in paperback.
Copyright © Lisa Scottoline 2026
