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“Oh.” Why is she calling me? It’s odd that she is, since I was just thinking about her.
“I know it’s a surprise, but I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t important.”
“What is it then?” The sooner we can hang up, the better.
“I’m moving, and where I’m going, I can’t take Lily.” Lily was our golden retriever. “I figured I’d see if you wanted her before I try to make other arrangements. If you wanted her, I could drop her off whenever, or you could come get her.”
“I live near Charlotte now,” I interrupt.
“Oh. Well, I could still make a trip to give her to you. I just want to make sure she has a good home, and I know you hated to leave her with me.”
Do I want Lily? Do I want to have to see Faith to get her? “Why can’t you take her with you?” I ask.
Faith is silent long enough that I know she’s hesitating.
“I didn’t think that would be a hard question.”
“It’s not; just an awkward one. I’m moving in with my boyfriend and his daughter is allergic. So, what do you say? Do you need to think about it?”
“You have no one else who could take her?”
“No.”
It’s like the music from Jeopardy is playing while I think about it. “Fine. Yeah, I wouldn’t mind having her.” She is a great dog.
“Fantastic. When can I bring her to you? The sooner the better for me.”
“If you wanted to do it tomorrow, that would work.”
I give her my address, and find out if there’s anything I’ll need to buy before she comes, but Faith is bringing everything. Once we hang up, I get out of bed and get dressed. I smile when I walk into the kitchen.
“I thought you were cooking.” She’s leaning against the counter by the oven, folding up an empty pizza box.
Brittany smirks. “Last I checked, you have to cook pizza to eat it. So, I am cooking.”
“And here I thought I was getting a decent meal.” She only shrugs. I walk over to stand next to her. “So, how do you feel about dogs?”
Her eyebrows pull together in confusion. “They’re fun. My parents already had one when I was born, but he died when I was ten. Why?”
“My phone call?” She nods. “It was my ex-wife. She wants to give me our golden retriever because she can’t care for her anymore. She’s bringing her tomorrow.”
“What’s her name?” she asks.
“Lily; I didn’t name her.”
Brittany laughs. “Well, are you excited?”
“Yeah. She was a good dog. I missed her more than Faith, but I haven’t thought about her in a while.” She laughs again, shaking her head. “What?”
“It’s kinda sad that you missed the dog more than your ex-wife.”
It is sad. That’s just where we ended up, I guess. I’m bombarded with memories of Faith asking what was wrong, and me not answering, trying harder to hide it because I didn’t want to tell her of my struggles. Our marriage fell apart because of that, and what am I doing right now? Trying to repeat history with Brittany.
Just as I open my mouth to spill the truth, the timer dings and Brittany turns away to pull the pizza out of the oven. I need to say something. Give her something in exchange for holding out on her. She gets the pizza cutter from a drawer and begins to slice.
“I didn’t just not talk to Faith about my depression; she didn’t know about it at all,” I blurt out.
Brittany’s hand stops over the middle of the pizza. Her shoulders droop, and it takes a moment for her to look at me. “What?” she asks softly.
