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“Wait, let me get this straight,” I said as I dropped onto my ass to pull the puppy onto my lap. “I just got a puppy from the head of a local cartel as a gift?” I asked, looking up at Junior with a confused smile.
“Honey, you’re just gonna have to get used to the absolutely absurd men in this town,” Alex said as she squatted down to pet the puppy’s head.
“I mean, I can’t keep her,” I said, my heart cracking at that admission as the puppy’s little tail wagged so hard that her whole butt was wiggling side to side.
“Why not?” Junior asked.
“Because I’m staying… here,” I said.
“So?” Junior asked.
“And I work a lot.”
“I work from home,” Junior said.
“Me too!” Barry piped in.
To that, Junior shook his head.
“So, you can keep her. Unless you don’t want her,” he said, but he was already smiling, knowing that I was going to keep her as I cuddled her to my chest.
“I want her,” I said.
“She’s gonna need a name,” Junior reminded me.
“Something Christmasy,” Barry declared. “Holly, Noel, Juniper. Or Clara! Jovie!” At our blank looks, Barry shook hishead at all of us. “Clara. FromThe Nutcracker.Jovie… fromElf.Or Mary,” he said.
“As in… The Virgin?” Junior asked.
“As in Mary Bailey. FromIt’s A Wonderful Life,” Barry said, throwing up his hands at us. “Lucy! FromWhile You Were Sleeping! Oh, come on!” Barry groaned. “Toll girl has a crush on a guy who goes on her train each day. He falls on the tracks and gets hurt. And through a misunderstanding, the family thinks she’s engaged to him. But while he’s in a coma, she starts to actually fall in love with his brother. It’s one of the best, most under-appreciated Christmas movies ever.”
“I kind of like the name Lucy,” I admitted. “But it sounds like we need to do a movie marathon tonight to make a decision.”
“Really?” Barry asked, brightening.
“Barry, how about you take Lucy for a walk?” Junior suggested. “Make sure she goes before you come back,” he added as Barry took the leash from me.
“So, now you have two puppies,” Alex said as he led the puppy out of the door, prattling the whole way. “You need to get that poor guy laid,” she added, making a laugh burst out of me.
“Sorry!” I said, smiling. “It’s just that your son came up with the same conclusion. I thought maybe he needed friends.”
“He could probably use both,” Alex said. “He’s sweet and all. But he’s going to be… in the way a lot,” she said, glancing around the loft with its utter lack of privacy. “Either you get him his own life, or you move into a bigger place where he can have his own bedroom. Okay. I’ve done the requisite meeting of the girlfriend. Who is probably too good to be dating someone who doesn’t even call his mother when he’s in a life-or-death situation,” she said, giving him small eyes. “But I don’t want to be in the way. You might want to take a trip down to your shop today, though,” she added, “and make sure the guys aren’t changing shit they shouldn’t be.”
With that, she was gone.
“Iloveher,” I told Junior, getting a big smile out of him.
“She’s a ball-buster a lot of the time, but she’s never going to be that nightmare mom who never thinks anyone is good enough for her son. She’s very aware that I am the best and worst of both her and my father. So she sympathizes with you,” he said, smiling.
“I dunno. I think you’re pretty great,” I said, holding out my hands, so he would pull me to my feet.
“Yeah?” he asked, wrapping his arms around my back.
“Yeah.”
“I think you’re fucking perfect,” he said right before his lips landed on mine.
For such a big, powerful guy, he could be so incredibly gentle at times.
