“How’s she doing?”
He wrinkled his nose. “I tell you, if I had a six-inch gash in my belly and my kids were butting me in the gut, I’d be a lot less patient than she is.”
“One more reason I plan to never have kids.”
“Word.” He pushed off the wall. “You coming back to bed?”
We needed to talk, but not in the middle of the night when he still looked tired. “Yeah. Although if you want more space to stretch out, the couch is fine for me.”
“No!” His reply came flatteringly quickly. “I don’t mind sharing at all.”
“I like it,” I said, watching him carefully. “Been a long time since I shared a bed with someone I wanted to spend time with again in the morning.”
“I never have,” he said. “I like it too.” Color rose on his cheekbones. He pivoted on his heel and headed back toward the bedroom.
Mimsyprrpedand chased after him. I followed more sedately. When I reached the bedroom, he was back on his side of the bed, lying facing away from my empty space, with Mimsy at his shoulder. Mimsy eyed me smugly, the faint light from the hall glittering off her eyeballs, then took two deliberate steps and curled up on my pillow.
Shane rolled to his back, reaching for her, as I slid under the covers, but I stopped him. “Let her be. We can share.” I liked the excuse to ease up close to him and lay my head by his on his pillow.
“Teachin’ her bad habits.” Fatigue already slurred his voice.
I dared to wrap an arm around him and pull him against me, spooning his back to my chest. Instead of resisting, he softened against me. I pressed my face into the pillowcase, my nose close to the warm skin of his neck, and murmured, “We’ll worry about Mimsy’s manners tomorrow.”
I heard him chuckle softly. “Lost cause.”
With our bodies separated only by the damned sweats I didn’t have the energy to get up and take off, I drifted into a dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER17
SHANE
Foxy was an awesome mom,which was good because those puppies were a lot. I don’t know if it was the Lab in them, but they bopped her with their noses and pummeled her with their little paws right on her incision as they nursed, and she just looked at them like she adored them and licked them all over.
“Is that redness normal?” I asked Arthur. I felt bad, dragging him out to Theo’s to look at Foxy when he’d spent an hour the day before getting the puppy bed and everything set up for us. She didn’t look terrible. If I’d seen that irritation on a cut of mine, I’d have cleaned the skin up and ignored it. But Foxy’s surgery had gone right into her guts, and that was a whole different level of serious.
“She’ll be fine.” Arthur straightened with a grunt and stood looking down at the cozy dog family in the kiddy pool. “Her temperature’s normal. A little redness is no surprise. Keep it clean, make sure she’s not licking the spot, and I’ll leave you a list of things to watch for.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
Arthur leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Tell me. Do you think Theo’s serious about donating that whole building as a rescue. For free? Who does that?”
“Theo does,” I told him. “Yeah, he’s serious. Honestly, I think he’ll be a lot happier once it’s off his hands.” I studied Arthur’s expression. “Aren’t you pleased?”
“Well, yeah, but …” He spoke even more softly. “I’m scared shitless, if I’m being honest. The shelter’s been my dream for years, but it was never quite real, you know? Like a fantasy I didn’t have to worry about because it could never happen. And now, all of a sudden, it might. What if I screw it up?”
Jesus, I could empathize with that. Responsibility had never been my thing. Not after years of being the guy who had to make sure dinner got started before bedtime and everyone had clean underwear, or helping my half-brothers pin Mom down so she signed their field-trip slips before the trip was already over. There was always more that needed doing, and being the one who stepped up just meant people took you for granted the next time. And then they’d toss you out when you got in their way.
But Arthur needed my help for innocent dogs and cats who had no one else they could count on. Before I could stop myself, I blurted, “I’ll give you a hand if I can, whatever you need.”
“You will?” Arthur jumped on my offer, not giving me time to take it back. “With the shelter? That’d be wonderful. Thank you.”
“Well, it’s not like I’m doing anything else.”Except lounging around eating Theo’s food. What happened to standing on my own two feet?I really needed to look for a job. Or to start all the stuff that came before looking for a job.
Perhaps my bitterness flavored my tone, because Arthur quickly said, “Except taking care of yourself and Mimsy and Foxy and six puppies.”
“And you have how many dogs and cats in your house?”
“I’m taking the Fifth,” he muttered.
