Page 42 of Lucky Mother Pucker

“He loves people,” I say, my nerves easing.

I look over at Leo, who smiles at me. “Told you they’d like him,” he says. “You guys remember Lucy, right? She was our server last night at the diner.”

The three of them look at me.

“Oh, right. I’m Nick.”

I shake his hand. The other guys, Travis and Blake, introduce themselves.

“Hey, did you get your car back?” Nick asks.

“Yeah. Leo helped me out.”

“I fucking hate the city’s tow trucks. They haul you away for no reason,” Travis mutters.

“Yeah, that’s messed up. Sorry you had to deal with that,” Blake says.

“It’s okay. Lesson learned. I just have to be more careful when it comes to street parking around the city.”

“Hey, if you want, I can have my girlfriend look into that for you,” Nick says. “Poppy’s really smart. She was gonna go to law school before her YouTube channel blew up. She could find out if the city is doing anything shady.”

A second later, her name registers in my brain. That’s why she looked so familiar when I waited on them last night. She makes educational videos on all sorts of topics. History, literature, music, calculus, physics. I’ve watched tons of her videos.

“Oh my gosh, your girlfriend is Poppy The Tutor on YouTube?” I say.

Nick beams. “That’s her. You know her?”

“Yeah, I love her channel. I’m a subscriber.”

I leave out the part about why I started watching her videos…because I was homeless and sad that I couldn’t afford to go to college, like the rest of my friends from high school, and watching her educational videos is the closest to college I’ll ever get.

“She’s so smart,” I say. “I can’t believe she knows so much about so many topics.”

Pride flashes in his eyes. “She’s a genius.”

“I think Wally might be hungry,” Blake says through a chuckle.

I turn around and see him standing by the coffee table, watching Wally lick one of their plates.

“Shoot, sorry about that.” I rush over and grab Wally, but Blake just laughs again.

“I should run out and get him some food,” I say.

“You don’t have to,” Leo says, swiping his finger across his phone screen. “I just started an online order. They’ll drop it off in an hour. What kind of food does he like?”

I stare at him, surprised at how thoughtful that was.

I tell him the brand of dog food, and he places an order for a big bag, along with treats and bones.

“Thank you,” I say.

Nick, Blake, and Travis sit back down on the couch. Wally hops next to them and settles on the cushion.

“If you don’t want him on the couch…”

I trail off when Nick wraps his arm around Wally and pats his belly. “Nah, he’s good. A way better cuddle buddy than Travvie.”

Travis rolls his eyes. The guys laugh.