Profile

It was the end of a decade, but the start of an age
Emily grew up in Austin, Texas, hustled from foster home to foster home. She didn't fare well in high school, got into the 'wrong' crowd and ended up receiving her diploma through an alternative program. She was the only girl there that wasn't a mother or about to be a mother, which wasn't a good thing. Everyone knew if you were a girl and not there for pregnancy reasons, there was something really screwed up about you.

Emily's saving grace came in the form of an old man she met one afternoon riding her bike home in the pouring rain. He could have taken advantage of her. He could have hurt her and by the time he picked her up on the side of the road, she didn't care. She just wanted some place dry and warm. The cab of his truck provided that and from there, he provided so much more. He became something of a father figure to her and she became someone he could spend his life with. Of course that wasn't the impression everyone else got. Living with David did nothing for Emily's reputation. It bothered her at first; she got into fights and was nearly expelled from school, but the longer it went on the less it bothered her.

David had a golden retriever. It was an older dog that he expected to live out the rest of it's life with him. Instead, David got cancer and died when Emily was 22. She spent the last part of his life taking care of him. When he died, he left her a considerable fortune and his dog. She had no way of knowing that while she was saving him, he was preparing to save her. His family wasn't happy with his decision, but they would have put him in a nursing home long before he died if Emily hadn't been there to care for him.

That's how David and Rascal, the golden retriever, saved Emily Borges. Now, to try and repay him, she saves golden retrievers. It doesn't pay well, the hours are horrendous and everything she owns is covered in dog hair.