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6
Jackson needed cheering up, that was for sure. Lydia felt like Griff and Autumn had Jackson all wrong. He wasn’t a player. He was a workaholic who had no time for meaningful relationships. And she might not have time to solve all his problems, but she could at least make him smile today.
They hit the department store first, heading for the appliance section. It was rammed full of shiny coffee machines that made her mouth water for another caffeine fix. She ended up buying a replacement glass carafe as well as a Nespresso machine, because if Autumn and Griff didn’t crawl into the twenty-first coffee machine century soon, she wasn’t sure she could stay with them again.
“Do you have a coffee machine?” Lydia asked Jackson when she’d paid at the counter.
“Uh, yeah. But I keep forgetting to order the pods.” Jackson shrugged before adding, “Or buy milk.”
He took the oversized shopping bag from her as she slipped her wallet into her purse. “You don’t have to carry that for me,” she told him.
“I know I don’t. But I want to.”
He was still in a strange mood. Had been since he’d returned a couple of calls while she looked around at the coffee machines. As they wandered out of the department store and back into the main mall, her brow dipped as she tried to think of a way to make him smile again.
That’s when she saw it. The shop practically had their name on it.
“We should go in there,” she said, pointing at the pink and grey signage.
“Doggie Co
uture?” Jackson shook his head. “Why on earth do we want to shop in that place?”
“Look! They have little four poster dog beds in the window.” She laughed and pulled at his hand. “See? Imagine Eddie sleeping in one of those.”
Jackson grinned in spite of himself. “Eddie doesn’t look like the kind of dog who wants a four poster.”
“What does he want then?”
Lydia liked the way he smiled. Maybe too much. It made his cheeks lift up and his eyes sparkle. She also noticed he had perfect teeth.
Lickable, even, if you were into that kind of thing.
Which she most certainly wasn’t.
“A manly bed.” Jackson nodded. “Just a cushion is all he needs. Wherever he lays his tail, that’s his home.”
“We should go in anyway.” She hooked her arm through his. “Just to make sure he isn’t missing out.”
“If you say so.” He let her pull him in, not even bothering to make a cursory protest.
As soon as they were inside the shop, the absurdity of some of the merchandise hit her. Not just the ornate dog beds, but the silver and gold plated feeding dishes, the hand embroidered pet carrier you could loop over your shoulder, not to mention tiny leather handbags you could attach to your dog’s collar for all those doggy necessities.
“This is crazy,” Jackson told her. “Eddie wouldn’t be seen dead in any of this stuff.”
Her eyes lit up at a clothes rack. “Hey,” she said, dragging Jackson over. “They have little doggy leather jackets. How cute are they?” Searching through them, she found one in what looked like Eddie’s size. Made of soft black leather, it had a sugar skull emblem sewn on the back, along with the logo ‘Paws MC’.
“You are not putting my dog in a leather jacket,” Jackson told her, his eyes crinkling as he took the hanger from her hands and replaced it on the rail. “Next thing I know you’ll be buying him a bike.”
She didn’t mention the fact he’d called Eddie his dog. But she did store that fact away for later.
“Hi!” An assistant walked over, holding the leash of a chubby pug, who was wearing a Pink Ladies jacket. “Aren’t these adorable? What kind of dog do you have?”
“Uh. He’s a mix.” Jackson looked at Lydia, as though he wanted to run away.
“He has some German Shepherd in him,” Lydia added. “He’s strong and butch, just like Jackson.” She ran her hand up and down Jackson’s arm. Damn, his muscles were hard. He had to work out.
“I like the sound of him.” The assistant smiled. “Your boyfriend sounds like a wonderful dog owner.”
