Beau sits patiently, watching the girl and sniffing her hand, and Neil's already talking a mile a minute. He's a big dog, over seventy pounds, and with that big blocky head he's obviously some kind of an American Terrier, and Neil knows that some people are very nervous about those dogs. She does seem a bit frozen about him, even if she lowered her fingers toward his nose.

"Sorry," he says. "Sorry, I have to let him off leash because he gets underfoot when I'm running, and I should have been paying more attention. He's still training, I'm still getting used to him. I'm so, so sorry."

Beau leans into Neil's leg, and he shuts up for a second.