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The pen pal friendship.
His release.
Our budding relationship.
His connection with Peyton, and mine with the Mallick and Rivers Clan.
Then, finally, Celen.
I went from such a small, though fulfilling life, to such a huge, amazing, beautiful, wonderful one so full of unique personalities, so much loyalty, so much love that it was almost painful to receive it all at once.
And in some moments, when my mind was on other things, when I wasn't prepared for it, it hit me.
With actual impact.
I would often go back a step.
My eyes would glass over.
And I would have a moment of complete and utter appreciation for this man, this amazing, wonderful, beautiful man who once upon a time didn't believe in himself, who had needed me to show him how perfect he was.
Then he spent every single day after proving to me just how worth it that all was.
"Incoming," Peyton said, turning away from the window where she was holding swatches up to the light.
There was an odd look in her eyes that I didn't quite understand until the door burst open, and in all three of them walked.
Eli.
Celen.
And some godawful, hideous mutt.
See, Coop had given us fourteen loyal years before old age took him from us, peaceful in his sleep, no illness, no pain, just a release from his duty to us.
I had sobbed for weeks.
Peyton had joined me.
Celen as well.
Even Eli got choked up over the loss of the amazing, pain in the ass creature who had, essentially, brought us all together.
Afterward, we simply never could bring ourselves even to try to replace that void.
Apparently, fate had other plans for us.
"Seriously, though," Peyton said, looking at the dog. "Where do you find these freaks of nature?"
To be fair, he was ugly.
He was all legs with a skinny center, pointed ears, and a tail that could clear tabletops. What made him so unfortunate looking was the fact that the only places he had hair was on his head, ears, the center of his back, and his tail. The rest of him was skin.
He looked like he was out of some sci-fi nightmare.
Some kind of genetically engineered dog.
I looked up to find Eli grinning at me.
"Let's see what kind of adventure he can take us on..."
