I let my head go back against the wall behind the couch and closed my eyes for one beat. When I opened them, she was still looking at me. Her shoulder was against my arm. I let it stay.
We talked about other things for the rest of the wait. Small things. Silly things.
She told me Moose had eaten a cork out of a bottle of wine her first month with him and survived, against considerable veterinary odds. I told her about Halsey's eggs at the firehouse, which were the only reason any of us got fed on shift days.
She made me laugh twice. I made her laugh once.
I hadn't felt this easy with another person in a long time.
Cabrera came out at eleven-fifteen with her mask down around her neck. Moose was on his feet before she'd opened her mouth.
"She did great. Tooth came out clean. Root and all. No abscess yet, which is a small miracle. She's gonna feel like a different dog by the weekend. I want to keep her until three or four o'clock, let her come up fully, walk on her own, and eat a little. I'll call you."
We grabbed lunch at a diner two exits up the highway with a back patio that took dogs. Moose got the corner of a bench to himself. Astrid took half my fries without asking. I let her.
I'd been checking my phone every couple of minutes since we sat down. I wasn't being subtle about it.
Astrid set her sandwich down and looked at me until I looked back.
"Sof would call you inside of a minute. She's gonna be fine."
"I know."
She reached across the table and turned my phone face down. Her fingers stayed on it for a second, like she was making sure it would stay there.
"I'll listen for it."
She slid two of the fries she'd taken earlier back onto my plate. Moose put his head on my knee under the table.
We were back at Hudson Valley at three-fifteen.
Cabrera met us in the lobby. Pen was on her feet, wobbly but on them, still working out where her legs were after the anesthesia. She saw me before I saw her. The whole back end of her wagged.
I went down on one knee. She came over on her own legs, listing slightly, and leaned her weight into me. I put my hands on either side of her face and held them there.
Cabrera counted off the aftercare on her fingers—soft food, pain meds, no hard chews for a week—with the ease of someone who'd given this speech a thousand times and still managed to make it sound like the first. She handed me a paper bag with the pill bottles and instructions inside.
"Got all that?"
"Got it. Thank you, Doc."
She looked over at Astrid, then back at me. The corner of her mouth turned up.
"With Astrid looking after you, you're in good hands anyway."
Sof's smile didn't ask a question. It made a statement and left it there for you to do something with.
"Yeah," I said. The word came out before I'd decided to say it. "Yeah, I know."
Astrid was looking at the floor tile by my boot.
"Thanks, Sof," she said.
"Anytime, Astrid."
I carried Pen out to the truck. Moose followed at Astrid's hip.
I laid Pen on the back seat. Moose hopped up after her and lay down with his chin on her shoulder. Pen closed her eyes.
