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“Sounds good.”
We spent the rest of the lazy Sunday chasing Vegas around and making sure he didn’t chew or pee on anything. It was a lot of work and we were both worn out.
“I think we should leave him out here tonight,” Emma said, but I was completely on board with sleeping on the floor with him again.
“Just for a few more days? Until he adjusts,” I said, and Emma sighed.
“I know I shouldn’t agree to this, but I’m going to agree to it just for tonight. After that, we have to teach him independence. He’ll be okay, I promise.” I was pretty sure that Vegas might be okay, but I’d be so worried about him, I’d spend the whole night going out to check on him. Guess it was going to be an adjustment for both of us.
“What are we going to do tomorrow?” I said.
“Well, I only have class for a few hours, so we’ll put him in the pen and hope he sleeps. I was looking into doggie daycare, so that’s also an option. It’s not going to be cheap, but I don’t want him to be alone here all day. This is why I wanted to plan more beforehand, Callyn.” She cracked her knuckles three times in succession, and I put my hand on her shoulder.
“It will be okay. We’ll figure it out. I’ll do some research.” At least I could take that off her plate of worries.
She waved my hand off. “I’m sorry, I’m just stressed about school and everything. Lots of change.” She gave me a tight smile and I pulled her into my arms. I realized I hadn’t hugged her in a while and I needed to fix that immediately. Emma sighed and fell into me. Her hugs were always perfect. She pulled back too soon, but only because we heard whining at our feet.
“Sweet boy, we love you too.” Emma picked him up and we squished him between us. Like our little furry son.
“Precious baby,” I said, kissing his head. I looked up to find Emma looking at me in a way that made my blood feel hot in my veins.
“I know I seem like I’m stressed, but I just want the best for him, you know? I don’t want to be a bad dog owner.” She put Vegas down and I reached out to stroke her face to reassure her, but then stopped myself. Why would I do that? Stroking your best friend’s face was weird, in any context.
“You won’t be,” I said, settling for squeezing her shoulder again. “You’re going to be the best dog mom.”
“I’m not sure about that, but I’m going to try. I mean, I have the additional pressure, what with going to be a vet tech and everything. I feel like I should look everything up in my books about puppies that I can find, but I feel like that’s googling your medical symptoms and I probably shouldn’t.” I laughed.
“Yeah, maybe stay away from the chapters about canine cancer?” Emma shuddered.
“We should probably take him out again,” I said. We were getting quite a workout going up and down the stairs with him. Unexpected benefit.
“Vegas, no!” she cried and dove to pull something out of his mouth.
“Where did he get this?” she asked, holding up a mangled toothpaste cap.
“The trash?” We dashed to the bathroom to find that, somehow, Vegas had overturned the trash and had ripped through it, not to mention completely shredding the toilet paper from the holder.
“I’ll take him out if you clean up?” I said.
“I’ll get the broom.”
I woke up before the sun the next morning (or was it still night?) to find Emma sleeping with her arm wrapped around Vegas, who was completely sacked out between us. Gently, I got up to pee and came back, but I couldn’t go back to sleep again.
In the weak light, I watched Emma sleep. My best friend and fake wife and fellow dog parent. Things between us had changed so fast and I hadn’t had a chance to even think about it.
She hadn’t kissed me on the cheek again, so I guess that was a one-time impulse. Not that I wanted her to do it again; that was absurd. I didn’t want to kiss Emma. She was my best friend.
Just because we were both queer didn’t mean we had to be together or have feelings other than friendship for one another. I loved her, but not in a romantic way.
Annoyed at myself, I shut my eyes and relaxed my body, starting with my toes and working upward in an attempt to lull myself back to sleep. It took a while. My brain was busy thinking about Emma and Vegas and all kinds of strange things that I didn’t want to be thinking about. Shouldn’t be thinking about.
I wasn’t. I wasn’t thinking about anything. Just sleep.
