Chapter 11
Lenny was sniffing at everything in the library, and Danny had been instructed not to let him chew on anything or pee on anything. From the office, Rob and Julian kept an eye on the two of them while they worked.
Julian might have told Rob to use the big office, but Rob spent most of his time in the smaller office with him or with Danny and his new buddy. Rob was fine with that. Being close to Julian didn't make doing his job easier, but he couldn't deny himself the thrill of temptation.
In late afternoon, they were done with work and it was time to take Lenny for another walk. This time Julian came with them.
"Lenny made a stinky," Danny announced and pointed to it in the grass.
"Oh, man," Rob said as he got the bag ready, but Julian took it from him.
"I'll deal with it.
"You have the best big brother in the world," Rob told Danny.
Danny nodded and beamed at Julian, who looked kind of nauseous as he picked up the fresh dog deposit.
When they got to the house, Julian washed his hands for about an hour straight. Coming over to where Lenny was drinking from his brand new dog bowl while Rob and Danny stood watch, Julian frowned at his phone then he sighed.
"We have an invitation to drop by Mitch and Rico's," Julian announced. "I was texting with Mitch about the work over here, and I mentioned the new dog. Then he mentioned it to Rico, and now we have to go over to their house or else. What do you say?" Julian raised those pretty, brown eyes to Rob.
"I don't see why not," Rob said then he consulted Danny. "You want to show Sammy your new dog?"
Danny was eager to show him off.
"We can stop by their house and then go out to dinner," Julian said. "Or maybe get takeout?"
"We can play it by ear," Rob said as they both looked down at Lenny. "I'll go get ready."
"All three of us should go get ready," Julian said but Danny held up four fingers.
"It's four. Four. We have Lenny," Danny reminded him.
"Four. Right," Julian said with a smile.
Driving down a long driveway, they arrived in front of a two-story house where Rico, Mitch and Sammy were waiting for them in front. Sammy was already jumping with excitement as they got out of the car.
Plastic Halloween pumpkins were lined up on the porch but not lit. "It's Halloween here already," Rob said as they went up to introduce Lenny.
"They're friendly pumpkins. They won't scare you," Sammy said. She seemed to be talking to Lenny, but she was right. Their jack o'lantern faces were pretty goofy looking.
Lenny had proved to be pretty easy to manage, so Julian let Danny hold his leash as he was introduced. "His name is Lenny," Danny said as Sammy got down for a close look.
"I like him. He's nice," Sammy said and Danny was pleased. Lenny was pretty happy too, jumping between them.
"Lenny wants to be friends with you," Danny told her.
"He needs something for his hair. He can have my scrunchie." Sammy took off the small scrunchie that held a little bit of her hair to one side. Mitch helped her put it on the dog. It made Lenny's hair stick up but it kept it out of his eyes. "You can keep it, Lenny," she said to the dog.
"So you got a little dog," Mitch said as he crouched in front of Lenny. When he rose up on his back legs, Mitch held his paws.
"How did you pick him?" Rico asked as he got down and petted the dog.
"He was talking to me," Danny told him.
"He was?"
"Mostly he said yip, yip, yip," Rob said and Danny nodded.
