AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The bell over the door in the front room dings again and Tessa calls out, “I’ll be right with you.Just need to wash up, feel free to look around.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll see what they want,” I tell her, drying my hands on the towel beside the sink.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.You have fish hands and five more filets to debone.I’ll be right back.”I breeze past her, holding my breath until I’m past the fish stink area.In the front room, where we sell soup mixes and seasonal food merchandise as well as meet with clients to plan menus, I see who’s decided to stop by, and my heart lifts in a way it hasn’t all day.
As soon as Chase sees me, he smiles and squirms out of Ben’s arms, shouting, “Mommy!”
“Hey, buddy!”I crouch to scoop him up and twirl him around in my arms.“What’s up?How was school today?”Chase likes to call his daycare “school.”It makes him feel like a big kid like his cousin Sara Beth.
“Good,” Chase says, playing with the top button on my chef jacket as I kiss his chubby cheeks, still cold from the February air outside.“I had animal crackers and apple juice and strawbabies.”
“Hmm, sounds delicious,” I say, charmed as always that my little foodie has to fill me in on what he ate first.He truly is my kid.“What else?Did you play on the slide and the swings?”
“No, it too cold,” he says.“But I did finger paints.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Ben says, crossing to join us by the checkout counter.“Chase wanted to give you the picture he made.So you could hang it up on the fridge and it would be waiting when he comes home tomorrow afternoon.”
“Heck, yeah, that’s awesome,” I say, cuddling him closer.“I can’t wait to see it.”I reach out as Ben hands the painting over, my jaw dropping as I take in the mess of red and blue finger smudges that somehow looks like a major work of art.At least to this proud mama.“Wow, this is awesome.You’re so talented, bud.You’re going to be a fabulous artist someday.”
“It’s Keenoo,” Chase says, because he can’t say Keanu.His eyes dance with excitement as he points to the page.“That’s his tail.And all his teeth!”
“I see that.That puppy hassoooomany teeth,” I say, laughing.“We’ll have to show this to Uncle Barrett next time he comes over.He’ll be jealous that I have such an amazing portrait of his puppy.”
“I want a puppy.And a skunk,” Chase says, picking up the same refrain he’s been singing since Barrett adopted Keanu and my other brother, Christian, took in a domesticated skunk.
“No skunks,” Ben says, meeting my gaze over our son’s head.“But we’ll see about the dog.”
I widen my eyes in a silent “what the fuck?”but banish the expression when Chase looks up at me with an expression of pure joy.“We can get a puppy?Can we, Mommy?A puppy at our house?”
“Daddy said we’ll see, which means we have to talk about it and decide as a family,” I say, cursing Ben for giving him hope.I love animals, but I don’t have time for a pet right now, especially a high-maintenance one.I’m barely keeping all the plates spinning right now, let alone if I had to add potty training a new puppy into the mix.
Setting Chase down, I hand him his picture and say, “Why don’t you run into the kitchen and show Tessa your picture?I bet she’d love to see it.”
As soon as he runs off, shouting, “Tessa!Tessa, wook at what I did,” I turn to Ben, hissing, “What the heck, dude?I can’t handle a dog right now.Not with wedding season starting in two months and Margot out on maternity leave.”
“I know, I know.”He lifts his hands at his sides with one of his “we’re on the same side, remember?”smiles.That smile used to be all it took to melt my resistance to anything and everything.Now, it makes my stomach cramp.“I didn’t mean a dog atyourhouse.I meant at ours.Radcliffe’s friend’s French bulldog just had puppies.She said she’d give us pick of the litter for half price.”
Irrational anger surges inside me, but I tamp it down, trying to think logically.“What about this summer when you’re gone for a month in France?What are you going to do with a puppy then?It seems cruel to board it for so long, but I really can’t puppy sit during the busiest catering season of the year.”
A look I can’t quite read flickers in his deep brown eyes.“We were thinking of taking it with us, actually.It’s not that hard as long as you plan ahead and make sure the rabies shots and microchipping are done on schedule.We were also thinking maybe—”
Chase runs back in giggling hysterically, chased by Tessa, who’s waggling her fingers at him.“Come here and let me hug you with my fish fingers!I’ll make you smell like a salmon steak!”
“No!”Chase giggles as he runs to hide behind my legs.“Mommy, don’t let her get me!”
“Stand back, foul beast,” I say, pretending to hold an imaginary sword.“I have the power of soap on my side.”Tessa and I sword fight for a few seconds before she clutches her side and holds a clawed hand up in surrender.
“You’ve beaten me this time,” she says in a wounded witch voice as she backs toward the kitchen.“But next time I’ll bring fish juice to spray on your sword and turn it to seaweed!”Glancing Ben’s way, she adds in a normal tone, “Hey, Ben.How’s life?”
“No complaints,” Ben says.“How about you?Looks like you guys were busy today.I drove by earlier and the front room was packed.”
Tessa laughs and rolls her eyes.“Oh, that wasn’t business.That was gossip hounds wanting to pick Mel’s brain about Aaron Boudreaux.Since she was at the hospital with him all night and all.”
Ben’s thick brows pinch together.“Oh yeah, how is he?From what I heard on the radio, it sounds like it was a serious injury.”
I nod, my stomach cramps getting worse.“Yeah, he’s not great.I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone in that much pain.I felt bad for him.I’m going to head over to his grandmother’s house after work to check on them, drop off some soup and fresh bread, see if there’s anything they need me to fetch for them at the store… That kind of thing.”
