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“We were about to adjourn to my room to engage in some behavior that would take your mind off everything when Tillie ran in.”
“That’s okay. Spending time as a family will take my mind off it too.”
“God, I love you,” she says.
“And I love you more.”
Rising, I hold out my hand for Evie and pull her up from the couch. We follow the sounds of Tillie talking to Brutus and find him already sitting in the tub, waiting for us.
“Look, he wants a bath,” Tillie says.
“I guess he does.” Scratching my chin, I look at the high sides of the tub. “How did he get in there?” There’s no way Tillie could pick him up. He’s too heavy for her.
“He jumped.”
“He did?” Whenever I’ve tried to bathe him at home, it’s been like wrestling an alligator to get him into the tub. Which is why I started to bring him to Evie’s salon.
“I told you, he wants one.” Her tone tells me she’s questioning my intelligence.
“This is the first time he’s been so happy about it, and I think that’s because he knows you’re the one who’s going to clean him up.” I move out of the line of fire and sit on the closed toilet lid.
Evie turns on the faucet and adjusts the temperature. She hands the hand nozzle to Tillie. “Try not to spray anything besides Brutus.”
“I know that, Mommy.” She carefully wets down his back and legs before aiming the water up under his stomach. Some of the spray repels back, hitting her, and she giggles.
“When you wet the top of his head, you need to be careful not to get the water in his eyes or ears. I’m going to help you.” Evie places her hand under his chin, tipping his head back.
Tillie cautiously moves the shower head until the edge of the spray hits the top of his head, then moves it backward once more.
“You’re doing a great job,” Evie tells her. “We’re done with the water for now.” She takes the shower head from her and sets it down in the tub. “Squirt some of the dog shampoo on the scrubber and start to move it all over his back until you’ve cleaned every part,” she instructs.
Tillie does as she’s told while Brutus stands perfectly still, eating up the attention. I should be annoyed at how well he’s behaving when he’s been such a shit about me bathing him, but I’m not. Seeing the intent look on Tillie’s face as she painstakingly runs the yellow scrubber gently over his fur is adorable.
Evie guides her through cleaning the rest of him and then it’s time to rinse him off. She picks up the hand nozzle and hands it to Tillie. “We’re going to start with the top of his head and move backward from there.” She tips his head back once more and holds him still for Tillie.
Every inch of Brutus gets rinsed off numerous times. Evie finally convinces Tillie that all the soap is gone and he won’t be itchy at all. They wrap him in a thick towel and rub his fur until the majority of the water is gone. Then they repeat the process again with another towel. By the time they’re done he looks like he’s falling asleep while standing.
“Come on, Brutus.” Tillie calls for him to jump from the tub. He leaps out and sits down in front of her. “Mom, can we put the scarf on him now?” she asks.
“It’s a bandana,” Evie corrects, bending over in front of my dog. When she straightens up, I laugh. She smiles at me. “How do you like our surprise?”
Brutus is wearing a bandana printed with the Charleston Coyotes logo. He looks handsome and he seems to know it.
“I love it.”Except for it being a reminder I might not be a member of this team much longer.
CHAPTER23
EVIE
I shiftmy weight on the bar stool in Ryan’s kitchen. “Hey, can you get Tillie off the bus today? I know it’s one of my days to do it but I need to take care of something.”
He nods. “Sure. Is anything wrong?”
“What gave you that impression?” I point to my face.
He smiles. “Yeah, you don’t hide when you’re mad very well. Or when you’re upset or happy or every other emotion you feel.”
“Yeah, so I’ve been told. Darius told me I’d suck at poker.”
