“Gorgeous?”
The thing, sensing I was talking about it, growled at me.
Christ, its eyes looked like they’d had an argument and were trying to take off in opposite directions. And it’s teeth… they were like the front of a forklift.
Squatting down beside him, Mom reached out and started stroking its prickly hair. “There, there, sweetheart. Your brother doesn’t mean it.”
At the word ‘brother’, Tamsin started choking behind me.
“Ma, what the fuck is it?”
“A dog, Garrett. We adopted him the other day because he was just so handsome.”
This time both of us choked.
“Are you sure it’s a dog? Did you have a vet check him over?”
Sighing, she picked him up off the ground and made weird noises at it. “Of course we did. We made sure our baby was perfectly fine. Speaking of, where’s your new baby? The pictures and videos you keep sending us are just adorable.”
Yeah, I might’ve gotten carried away with Clyde when Tamsin wasn’t looking. Speaking of, when she heard this, she pinched me on the side hard.
“Uh, we dropped him off with the trainer, then he’s off to see his mom at Alex’s house, and Raoul’s bringing his dad over.”
Glaring at me, she cupped a hand over the thing's ear and held his head against her chest so that he couldn’t hear out of the other one. “Garrett Evans, once you adopt them, they’re yours. You don’t talk about their birth parents and siblings, it makes them feel like you’re establishing boundaries with your love.”
Looking from her to the thing, I nodded slowly. “Noted. I’ve got a question, though.” When she raised an eyebrow at me, I continued, “Is it snarling at me, or is that just its face?”
Peering around to see what he was doing, she replied, “That’s his loveable face. Don’t you just want to kiss him?”
Fuck no.
This time when Tamsin choked, it came with a full-body shudder that made me move slightly.
“Speaking of loveable faces, I thought you were bringing one with you today? Where’s Zuri? I mean, I can see her legs, but I was hoping the rest of us would be able to join us as well.”
As she said it, Mom took a step closer to us to try and peer around me, so I was pressed against Tamsin again as the beast got closer to me.
Because of that, her voice was muffled when she called out, “I’m back here!” and raised her hand in the air.
Mom looked from the hand to me and put her free hand on her hip. “I raised you better than to smother your guests.”
“Jesus, Mom. I was protecting her from that,” I pointed at the furry thing. “What the shit is it doing with its eyes?”
I swear, it was like it had the eyes of a chameleon.
“Leave him alone. He’s a handsome little baby, and you’re being a mean big brother.” Tamsin burst out laughing this time and gripped a handful of my t-shirt on either side of my body. “You’re also being a mean host. If you want this girl to like you, you need to let her breathe.”
Taking a reluctant step forward, I kept my focus on Fonzie as I moved to the side so that Mom could see her. I was also reminding myself that I had to introduce her as Zuri. As fantastic and trustworthy as my parents were, no one could know her real name unless they had to.
“Mom, meet Zuri Hadid. Zuri, this is my mom, Luisa.”
Squeezing her arm through the gap between my side and the wall, she shook Mom’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Evans. That’s a lovely… uh, dog you have there.”
“Don’t lie,” I hissed over my shoulder. “It might attach its soul to yours.”
Putting Fonzie down on the ground, Mom placed both of her hands on my side and pushed me away.
“Oh my God, you’re beautiful,” Mom breathed, her hands going to her chest. “I… Are you guys…” she started flapping her hands around. Sticking one finger out, she pointed at both of us. “Don’t you dare move. Let me get your dad.”
And with that, she was off and running down the hallway, the dog following her, grunting like a wildebeest the whole way. “Harry? Harry, you’ve got to see this.”
Taking Tamsin’s hand, I pulled her down to where the entrance to the lounge was. At one point, the house had been all open plan, but Mom hated the concept and had insisted on walls.
“This is beautiful,” Tamsin whispered once she saw the living room, and I had to agree.
“I think this is what I want my home to look like,” I agreed, taking it all in again.
Mom’s sense of taste ran more toward the country design. She detested any form of plaid and leaned heavily toward the artistically scuffed look and pitchers and milk jugs, with plain cream curtains in the windows. On one side of the room was a wood-burning fire that had an old fashioned metal protector in front of it, with all the old type shit that they had for fires about two hundred years ago.
“Here she is. I told you,” Mom announced, holding her hand out to Tamsin like Dad had called her a liar. “Her name’s Zuri, Harry. Isn’t that amazing?”
Tamsin blinked at them both and then looked at me for reassurance.
“Mom, I think you might be scaring her.”
“Oh, pish posh, Garrett. Zuri, this is my husband, Harry. He’s Garrett’s father, you know.”
“Nice to meet you, Zuri,” Dad said, trying to relax her with a smile as he held his hand out.
Shaking it, she smiled back, and I saw Dad lose his balance slightly when she did. “Thanks for having me, Mr. Evans.”
I smirked when dad looked at me to make sure I wasn’t yanking his crank. Yeah, I didn’t bring girls home, and definitely not one as beautiful as her.
“You can call me Harry,” Dad muttered, looking as flustered as Mom was now, “because that’s my name. Harry. I mean, it’s Harry Evans, but Harry’s—”
“She gets it, Dad,” I chuckled, moving next to her and putting an arm around her to give her some support.
“You must call me Luisa as well, Zuri. Mrs. Evans is my mother-in-law, and if I tried to take the title from her, she’d probably find a way to curse me.”
This wasn’t a lie.
“There are seats. People sit on them,” Dad stuttered, pointing at the couch.
Leading her away from me to it, Mom asked, “Would you like a drink? Maybe a sandwich? I’m making lunch, but you might be hungry before that.”
“Could we have some coffee, please, Mom? Zuri’s been struggling to maintain her normal caffeine intake with her arm because she can’t do jack with her left hand, so it’s important that I keep her topped up when I can.”
Like they’d both just noticed the cast, they both started fussing around her.
As Mom went to make coffee, Dad put a cushion on her lap and lifted the broken limb to rest on top of it. “Tell us if you need to see the doctor, okay, Zuri? You can never be too careful of things like clots and infections.”
Smiling shyly, she explained that she’d had it for a while and then told him about re-breaking it, too. Well, at least she was getting along with my parents, that’s the main thing.
I’d just sat down beside her when the weird dog thing jumped up and made an odd noise at Tamsin as it tried to curl up on her lap.