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“Yeah, no.” Maybe it was a bad idea to involve Delaney in the naming.
Natalie covered her laugh with her hand.
“Glitter, Fluffy, Bailey…” Delaney listed them on her fingers.
“Bailey’s a possibility.” It wasn’t so girly. I hoped that this thing with Natalie and Delaney would last, but if it didn’t, I didn’t want to be stuck with a dog named Princess. “It might be a boy.”
Delaney gave me a face. “Why would you want a boy?”
“Just keep thinking boys are bad,” I said, getting an image of her as a teenager.
“But you’re a boy,” she said incredulously.
I met her gaze in the rearview mirror. “I’m a man. That’s different.”
Before Delaney could ask how, Natalie interrupted, “What about picking a name that means something to you?”
Delaney nodded. “It’ll come to me when I see her.”
“You’re fairly confident it will be a girl,” I said.
“Oh yeah. You don’t want a boy dog. They lift their leg to pee.”
We burst out laughing at her serious reasoning. Getting a puppy with these two was the best decision. It beat drinking a beer on the couch while I watched TV alone for the millionth time.
CHAPTER15
NATALIE
Icouldn’t believe Mac was getting a puppy. Delaney wanted a pet, but Carter was against it. It wouldn’t be possible to keep one at the B&B.
We were at the farm Gray suggested, which was about thirty minutes outside of town. The land was beautiful. I didn’t think I appreciated the view of the mountains when I lived here growing up.
Delaney sat on the ground, the puppies playing with each other and climbing on her lap. She giggled each time one fell off her lap and onto the ground. They weren’t steady on their feet. “They’re so cute. I want them all.”
“I was worried this would be a problem,” I said to Mac.
Mac unloaded the puppy he’d been cradling into my arms. With a challenge in his eyes, he said, “See if you can resist.”
Everything inside me softened when I caressed the puppy’s head, his fur tickling my chin.
“We should name him Butter because he’s yellow,” Delaney said.
“I don’t know if you should have put her in charge of names,” I teased Mac, knowing he had to be regretting his decision.
“Cookie?” Delaney asked.
“That one’s not bad. But we have to pick one first,” Mac said diplomatically.
He was so good with her. I felt all my defenses falling. If I’d bothered to make a list, he was everything I ever wanted in a man: good with kids, responsible, hardworking, conscientious, and a family man.
I wasn’t ready for this day to be over, and I was happy he’d suggested this outing. Even if we didn’t get to bring a puppy home today, it was one of my favorite days.
“These puppies aren’t quite ready to leave their mother, but I have one that just returned. He’s four months old,” the owner, Tina, said.
“Are you serious?” Delaney asked. At Tina’s nod, she asked, “Where is he?”
“I kept him separate in case you wanted a true puppy.”
