A dog.
She got me a dog.
You didn’t gift people things like dogs that required care, training, vet bills, food, toys, time …
“I haven’t named her yet, but if I’m honest, I think she looks like a Bella.” Adrianne handed her to me.
“I’ll set the kennel in your backseat, and I have a sack of toys and food to get you started. I really wish I could see the look on your kids’ faces when you take her home.” She rolled her lips between her teeth and wrinkled her nose. “But I suppose that might be crossing a line, huh?”
Crossing a line? I felt certain she’d crossed a line by gifting me a dog, asking me to put her bed together, and knowing my address.
“We’re not ready for a dog.” I tried to give back the wiggling puppy, but Adrianne held up her hands like no take-backs.
“Nonsense. Your darling little ones are the perfect age for a dog. And you have the perfect location, big yard, lots of sticks and trees …”
“I can’t.”
She shook her head. “Just take her home. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll take her back to my breeder friend.”
Take her back? Sure. There would be no taking her back after I showed her to the kids. And I would never have sex with my wife again if she found out Adrianne Craig gifted us the dog.
“Adrianne—”
“Enjoy!” She hopped into her car and pulled out of the parking lot before my brain could make sense of anything that just happened.
I contemplated taking the dog to a shelter or seeing if Noah wanted it. Then I thought maybe the dog would be the perfect distraction for my family from me.
Me and my fucked-up emotions and physical ailments.
The kids were outside in the yard, playing with toys while Evie split firewood—the job I should have been doing—as the sun crouched behind the mountains.
“Daddy!” Franz and Anya ran to greet me.
The puppy barked.
“Is that a dog?” Franz’s eyes bulged from his head as he gasped in excitement.
“Um … yeah.” I opened the back door and let the puppy out of its kennel, handing her to Franz.
He giggled as she licked his face, squatting to release her to the ground. She took off toward the yard, sniffing everything along the way.
“Doggie!” Anya squealed chasing her brother and the puppy.
Evie made her way toward the dog, wiping her brow with the sleeve of her plaid shirt as she glanced up at me.
I smiled.
“Wow … a puppy. Did we um … discuss this?”
I slipped my hands into my pockets and shrugged. “Yes. We’ve discussed getting a dog.”
She couldn’t be mad. The kids went crazy over her. I was mad … mad as hell at Adrianne for ambushing me like that.
“What kind of dog is she? We discussed a small dog, if we ever got a dog. Right?”
“Yeah. But I did a little research, a lot of the smaller dog breeds can be a little snippety with kids. So I went with a Bernese Mountain Dog. She’ll be great with them.”
Evie’s eyes widened as her lips parted. “Uh … yeah. She’ll also be big. That’s a large breed. Did you know that?”
“So what do you want to name her, Franz?” I ignored Evie’s line of questions.
“Mrs. Humphrey.”
Evie rolled her eyes and laughed as Franz chased the puppy and Anya tried to throw a pink ball at her. “Franz, that’s your teacher’s name, not a dog name.”
“I want to name her Mrs. Humphrey!” he insisted.
“Franz—”
“That’s her name!” he yelled.
Evie turned toward me for help.
“It’s not an awful name.” I gave her a tight smile before retrieving the dog’s things from my car. I needed to rest my arm and shoulder. Franz could name the dog Big Bird for all I cared at that moment.
After depositing everything just inside the door, I dragged ass to the bathroom and turned on the shower, adjusting the temperate to hot.
“Thanks for the dog. She’s peed on my rug already. Did you happen to notice I cleaned the whole house today? How did you know I was really secretly hoping you’d surprise us with a dog tonight?”
I closed my eyes and let the water wash the suds from my hair.
“I’ll return it.”
“Ha! Okay. Great idea. It’s like taking back the kids’ Christmas presents the day after Christmas.”
Shutting off the water, I reached for my towel, grimacing at my fucking shoulder.
Mrs. Humphrey cried from the other room. Evie must have kenneled her.
“Your shoulder hurts because Lila fell last night. Tripped on the tiny threshold between the bedroom and bathroom. She dislocated her shoulder and fractured her wrist.”
I rubbed the towel over my face. “She told you that?”
Evie, narrowed her eyes. “Yeah. Why are you saying it like that? I’m her best friend, of course she told me.”
Nodding slowly, I finished toweling off.
“So now we know why you’re sore. I’m still not sure why you’re depressed. It’s not like I surprised you with a dog. Or spent an hour at a whore’s apartment.”
I tied the towel around my waist and brushed past her to get my clothes from the closet. “She needed help putting together her new bed. I tried to get out of it, but she put me on the spot with a bunch of other people from the group, and I caved. How did you find out?”
“Oh … how did I find out? That’s the direction you want to go?”
“It was nothing.” I pulled a white tee over my head and combed my fingers though my hair.
“It was something … because someone took photos of you coming and going from her apartment and anonymously gave them to Graham. That’s how I found out.”
Again, I brushed past her and sat on the end of the bed, letting my body deflate after a long day. “I’m not having an affair. I have no idea who took the photos or why they would take them.”
“She was getting out of your car.”
“Someone slashed the tires on her car.”
“Oh … another tire slashing. Seems odd.”
“I thought so too, so I notified the police and they’re going to keep a closer eye on that area. Now … can I just rest for a while without getting the third degree?”
“Sure. You rest. I’ll go take care of dinner, bath time, and the dog you brought home.”
“Evie …”
She marched out of the bedroom. I deserved that. I just didn’t have the energy to plead my case.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Graham
“What did you say?” Lila asked me as we ate dinner in the formal dining room. Just the two of us at a table for twenty.
“Say to whom?”
“The doctors and nurses who treated me at the hospital. Do you really think it’s not going to end up in the tabloids in the next few days?” She picked at her food with her good hand.
My wife looked like hell—bruised, broken, emaciated. She for sure pulled off the cancer look. Too bad it did nothing to make my dick hard.
“I told them you were mugged, and I didn’t want it made public.”