I don’t know how long we sat huddled on the bed, flanking Gracie as if we weren’t too late to protect her from whatever was happening, but I watched shadows of clouds dance across the floor as rain gently pattered against the window, and it was almost peaceful.
When the doorbell rang, I used whatever surge of adrenaline I had to keep myself together as I dashed down the stairs. Just before I opened the door, I rubbed at my face and blinked away any stray tears that had made their homes in the corners of my eyes. God forbid I looked as distraught as I felt.
I swung the door open to see Brooklyn standing in the rain wearing a thick, square-framed pair of glasses and a backward hat. He looked out of sorts, with stubble prickling across his chin and a tired heaviness to his features. But then he stepped through the threshold of the door and pulled me into a hug, and his sweet, boyish charm overtook it all.
“It’s gonna be okay,” he mumbled into the top of my head. His jacket was damp and made goose bumps prickle down my arms, but I hugged him back like he was the warm little center of my universe.
“I’m sorry.” I shook my head as I pulled away from him. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “It’s your dog. That’s family.”
I gulped my heart down and nodded before turning and leading him upstairs. Nikki didn’t care about appearing to keep it together; her eyes were puffy and red as thick tears rolled down her cheeks. She had her arm around Gracie’s torso, and as we approached her, she tensed.
“Be careful,” she pleaded before she finally let Gracie go.
We slid Gracie to the edge of the bed so Brooklyn could get his arms under her and lift her up safely. We flanked him like a doggie secret service as he trekked down the stairs with a gentle precision.
“Nikki, get an umbrella,” I told her as we made it to the base of the stairs.
“I can drive,” Brooklyn offered. Even though he was already doing enough, I didn’t have the energy to debate it. I nodded and opened the door for him as Nikki jogged back into the foyer with a big umbrella. They stepped outside, and she held it over Brooklyn (for Gracie, really), and I slipped on whoever’s jacket was hanging by the door before following them out.
Nikki sat in the back seat with Gracie, cradling her head in her lap, and I watched in the rearview mirror as Nikki sniffled and rubbed Gracie’s nose. Nikki barely knew life without Gracie. I might have been Nikki’s big sister, but Nikki was Gracie’s. I knew what that felt like—the instinctive, almost carnal need to protect your little sister.
“Thank you,” I said to Brooklyn, and it came out softer and more distressed than I wished it did.
“No need.” He shook his head. “You’d do the same for me. If I had a dog.”
I choked out a quick laugh, and it dislodged a few tears that had been choking me up. They rolled freely down my cheeks, and I let them. His lips lifted into a gentle smile, and at the very least, he seemed back to his usual self. Maybe I was just emotionally vulnerable, but I had to believe that whatever had transpired last night seemed to be gone.
>> <<
Nikki refused to leave Gracie’s side and went into an exam room with a nurse while they took Gracie’s vitals. I managed to get a hold of Mom in between her classes, and in the fifteen or so minutes (ten if she ran red lights) it took her to get from there to here, Brooklyn refused to leavemyside.
“You really don’t have to stay,” I told him as I leaned forward in the creaky plastic chair of the waiting room. I’d had no time to change out of my lounge shorts and unintentionally oversized Sky Valley T-shirt, and the backs of my thighs had suctioned themselves to the sticky seat. “You’ve done more than enough.”
He reached over and put a warm, reassuring hand on my knee. “I want to.”
One simple touch was enough to make me want to give in to the unrelenting truth. Brooklyn had made it a point to wedge himself, in all his goonish ways, into the most uncomfortable spots in my life, and I was learning to accept the fact that he wanted to be there.Iwanted him to be there.
Before I had a chance to respond, Mom stormed into the waiting room, rain dripping from the disheveled locks of hair that had fallen out of her once-neat bun.
She yanked me out of the chair and pulled me into a tight hug. “Are you okay?” I could have come undone in her arms (and trust me, Iwantedto), but I put whatever energy I had left into keeping it together.
“I’m fine.” I nodded as I pulled away, keeping her at arm’s length. “Nikki’s a wreck, though. All they’re doing right now is vitals, but Nikki insisted on going into an exam room with them.”
Mom took a measured step back, and as she nodded contemplatively, her eyes fell on Brooklyn, who’d also stood up at some point. Sometimes it was easy to forget how big he was until he stood next to someone small, like my mom, who barely came up to his biceps.
“Hi, I’m Brooklyn,” he said as he reached out to shake her hand. “I’m sorry we’re not meeting under better circumstances.”
“My friend,” I interjected as Mom glanced over at me with curiosity. I might have neglected to tell her the details of our mad dash to the vet—namely, how we got here.
Recognition flickered in her eyes, and she gave him a polite smile as she took his hand. “Thanks for your help. I’m Natalie’s mother, Melanie. Mel is fine too.”
Thankfully there wasn’t much of an opportunity to marinate in the awkwardness as a vet tech in bright-purple scrubs came out to greet us. I felt Brooklyn brush his hand against mine, and despite all the logic in me ringing alarm bells, my natural instincts begged me to stay put, to relish in the fleeting feeling of his skin against mine.
“Gracie’s going to be all right,” she told us, and there was an audible, collective exhale. “She’d been prescribed Acepromazine last week. It can be great to treat nausea and anxiety in dogs, but sometimes can have dramatic side effects with certain breeds, such asprofoundsedation, which is what Gracie is currently experiencing. We’re not sure why it affects some dogs and not others, but all her other vitals are fine. She just needs some time to come out of it.”
“Her vet did mention that, but I figured since she’d been fine the last few days it was nothing to worry about,” Mom said.
