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My brain can’t seem to wrap around the idea of Ethan talking to Mom about me.
“So, pick one then,” Ethan says, grinning.
I put the puppy down that I’m holding and stare at him.
Ethan is smiling broadly at me. “I’m serious,” he says. “You can pick one if you want.”
I swallow a sudden lump of emotion. “My parents would never…” I start to say.
“I already asked your mom. She said it’s okay.”
“But I don’t have anything to take care of a puppy. I would need a bowl, and dog food, and a leash, and a collar,” I trail off.
“Your mom said she’d get you all that stuff as an early birthday present. But only if you want it.” My mind is completely blown. What on earth would possess my parents to say yes after years of saying no to a dog? Mom must really, really want Ethan to win.
I look from Ethan to his mom. She’s smiling too, behind the camera.
“You’re serious?” I ask.
Ethan laughs. “I told you I saved the best for last,” he says.
I lunge toward Ethan, throwing my arms around his neck. The force knocks him backward and I land on top of him. The sudden movement scares the puppies and they all dash away. Ethan smiles up at me. “Is this a yes?” he says, laughing.
“A freaking puppy?! It’s a yes! Yes! Yes!”
I roll off Ethan and we both sit up. Apparently, the puppies were only afraid for a minute. They are back in full force and they want to play. We wrestle with the puppies until they are worn out and begin falling asleep in piles.
“Is that good?” Ethan’s mom says, handing his phone back.
“Yup. Thanks, Mom.”
She leaves the two of us and heads back upstairs.
“Thank you!” I yell after her. Then I look back at Ethan.
“You are seriously serious?” I ask again, petting a snoozing puppy with each hand.
“Nope,” Ethan says, shaking his head. “It was all a cruel joke. Now it’s time to go home.” He tries to look at me with a serious face, but he breaks into a smile after only a few seconds. “I didn’t make it up. I promise. We just gave away the first puppy yesterday. My parents and your mom all said it was okay. Take your pick from these other guys.”
“That just feels like too big of a gift,” I say.
“My parents don’t feel right selling them because they’re mutts. And we don’t even know what the other half of them are. We weren’t planning on puppies. I promise, my parents just want them to go to good homes.”
“But you could call them a special designer dog and charge $1000 a puppy,” I say.
Ethan laughs. “Yeah, and what would we call them? Golden mutts? Mixed doodles?”
I smile and hold up the puppy with the dark brown spots. “This one,” I say. “He’s my favorite.”
Ethan scoots over and sits beside me. He reaches a hand out and rubs the puppy’s dark brown, curly ears. “He’s my favorite too. Good choice.”
“You’re not playing fair, you know,” I say. “A nice dinner, a fun Improv show, and now you’re giving me a freaking puppy?”
Ethan smiles wide. “I never said I’d play fair. I only said I wanted to win.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Shut the H up!” Stephanie drops her bag on the ground with a thud and stares at me with wide eyes. “He gave you a puppy?”
