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“Good puppies,” Lainey crooned.
“Go lay down.” She pointed to the large doggie bed that took up a corner of her and Mateo’s living room. They both got up and trotted over to the bed where Xena rested. She looked up at them and gave a welcoming yip but she didn’t move. Faith and Hercules lay down on either side of her, and all three were soon fast asleep.
“How in the hell do you do that?” Brax demanded to know.
“That’s what I keep asking,” Mateo said as he gave Brax the smoothie he’d just made.
“Thanks.” Brax smiled.
“Do you want one?” Mateo asked Lainey.
“Does it have kale in it?”
“Absolutely.” Mateo grinned.
“Then absolutely not.”
“You didn’t answer the question. How did you get Faith to obey you? She’s not listening to any command I give her. Two months ago she had them all down pat. I’ve read up on all of this and apparently she’s a teenager now, but that can’t be right.”
Lainey laughed as she slid past him to go into the now vacant kitchen. Mateo came to stand beside Brax on the other side of the kitchen island, where they both watched the three sleeping dogs.
“Hercules pulls that same shit with me,” Mateo admitted. “But he’s right back to normal when Lainey tells him what to do. Granted, she uses a different voice. She calls it her mom voice.”
“So stuck-up and bitchy?” Brax asked right before he took another sip of his smoothie. Everybody on his and Mateo’s SEAL team knew that Lainey’s mother had belittled her for years, and they all felt very protective of Lainey.
“No, Brax,” Lainey sighed. “It’s my no-nonsense voice. Deep down, Mateo thinks the whole thing is kind of funny, and I bet you do too.”
“Lainey, that’s not the deal. I’m really frustrated. I’m thinking about enrolling her into a doggie training program for a couple of weeks, but that’s admitting defeat. I should be able to handle this on my own. So, tell me what this mom voice of yours is all about.”
“What different voices do you use with her?” Lainey asked.
“Huh?”
“Voices? Do you yell at her?”
“Nope. I know better than that. I try to stay calm, but sometimes she frustrates the hell out of me and I think she catches on.”
“She probably does.”
“Does Hercules catch on with me?” Mateo asked.
“Yep,” Lainey answered.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You told me that I was the one who was in charge of training him, remember?”
Mateo squeezed the back of his neck as he looked at his fiancée. “I did, didn’t I?”
She nodded, with a sparkle in her eye.
“Okay, teach us both,” Mateo half requested and half demanded.
“Oh, so now you want to learn,” she teased.
“Damn right I do. No telling where else that might come in handy.”
Lainey grinned. “Okay, here’s the deal. You both need to use different tones of voice so the dogs know what you’re trying to convey. They know your voice when you want to play, since you two always want to play.”
