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It just felt as if it was one more thing to be responsible for on his shoulders and every time he thought of pulling the trigger he backed out.
He didn’t want to let anyone down. Not even a dog.
He supposed that was why he did most of what he had in his life. He always had this fear of letting his parents down. Or his memory of them.
“You know where to go to get one if you want a shelter dog. I’m sure you’re the saving type and would do that.”
He wasn’t comfortable with what Mia thought of him. He wasn’t close to perfect and everyone was damaged at some point in their lives from something that happened to them.
He worried that at times she used him as a measuring stick and brought herself down and he wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.
There was no way he could do her job. She was great at it and she cared. She cared whether she did a good job or not and that said a lot about a person’s character.
“I do know where to go,” he said.
They got out of his truck and he grabbed the bag of the wine and Mia had the beer he’d picked up.
The front door was opened before they even reached it. “Hi, Cal. Good to see you again,” Cooper said. “Not sure if you remember me or not. Lots of faces at the picnic a few months ago and it was my first and all.”
He did remember what the guy looked like. It was hard not to when Brian went out of his way to introduce them. “Robin has a lot of nice things to say about you and your shelter. Luke and Leia are great dogs.”
“Robin is my best volunteer,” Cooper said. “I’d be lost without her. And since I know she’s got another baby coming, I’ll be without her for a period of time. But she’s got more important things to focus on in her life.”
“She does,” Mia said. “Robin stopped in the other day to thank me again for working with Brian. I think it was her all along that pushed him to get someone so he could take some more time off.”
Cal wouldn’t be surprised, but Brian was good at balancing work and family. He’d seen it enough.
“I’m sure he wanted to do it,” he said. “He loves his wife and Harper and is excited for the next baby.”
Lucky bastard. He’d always wished he could find what his parents had in life and was losing hope.
Until Mia came into his life.
“Come in,” Cooper said. “Morgan is changing Leah right now. Good timing with her messy diaper.”
“I’d say,” Mia said.
The two of them moved into the house. He was surprised by the four dogs that were calmly walking with them to the back. There’d been some barking and then they all stopped.
“Can I pet them?” Cal asked.
“Go right ahead,” Cooper said. “Harry and David are pretty well behaved. They will go mind their own business after. Mark and Donnie might find their way onto your lap. No matter how much we push them down, they come back up.”
“It’s fine,” he said.
“Cal and I were just talking about dogs. He said someday he might get one and I told him he knows where to go.”
“We can hook you up,” Morgan said, coming into the room.
“Let me have my niece and you take the beer.”
They set the beer and wine down on the island. “I’ll get everyone a glass of something,” Morgan said. “Cooper is doing the cooking.”
“Cal doesn’t cook,” Mia said. “He buys everything. But his grandfather came over the other day with a big pot of chili and Cal is a master at hollowing out the bread for it.”
“We all have to be good at something,” he said.
“I hear you’re pretty good at a lot of things,” Morgan said.
