Finally! Bella quit her stupid job and EC grew a pair and hired her at Burger Co.! About time, right? ;)
I'm still enjoying reading all your thoughts on the developing relationships—between Bella and Edward, Edward and the boys...it's really nice to see you loving on them as much as I do, so please feel free to keep it coming. I promise I'll try and get to answering reviews now I'm nearly done pre-writing chapters. It's looking like this will end up around 32/35 chapters all-in. More than I originally had planned, but if you've been here a while, you'll know that's just my usual M.O. *facepalm*
Chapter Nineteen
Bella
"Come on, Momma!"
Rolling my eyes and stuffing the essentials into my purse, I hurry out the front door to join Jaxson, Finley, and Arlo on the driveway. "Watch the attitude, Lo," I warn gently, unlocking the car. I picked this beauty up first thing this morning. It's a Chevy Traverse and belonged to a couple that live right here in Jackson Bay who wanted to downgrade to a smaller car, which worked out perfectly for me. They let me buy it for a steal of a price and were more than happy for me to collect it early this morning so I'd have it ready to drive to the shelter in Jacksonville today. In anticipation of our new family member, whoever he or she will be, I ordered a trunk liner and fitted it at the same time as the boys' car seats. We'll still need to hit up the pet store once we've picked out our new pooch, because I couldn't order anything specific without knowing how big he or she will be or exactly what kind of things we'll need as far as grooming equipment and food go.
Flashing his best innocent smile, Arlo clambers into the backseat with his brothers. "Sorry, Momma. I'm just excited."
Once I've dumped my purse in the front, I head around to fasten him in and check Jaxson and Finley's buckles. They've been asking for a dog for so long, I can't really be mad that they're all wired up today. They've been bouncing off the walls ever since I told them today's plan shortly after breakfast this morning.
"I know you're excited, kiddo. You've gotta behave today though. The shelter is probably going to be busy and loud, so I need you to promise to be good and listen to me, okay?" The boys all chime their agreement, so I ruffle Arlo's messy 'do and close the door on their excited chatter, climbing into the front seat. "All right, let's get going, huh?"
"Yeah!" All three boys cheer, arms in the air and infectious grins on their faces. My own smile widens when I check my phone before setting off, a text from Edward waiting for me.
Have fun today. Pick something nice and friendly, please. I don't want to get attacked when I have to sneak out in the mornings.
Shooting back a promise to pick something nice and sneak-out friendly, quietly gleeful at his continued attention even if, for the moment, he does have to do the walk of shame so the boys don't walk in on us, I tap the address into my GPS app and get comfy, wondering if I'm going to regret this decision.
Probably a little, I concede, but it'll be worth it to make my boys happy.
~ oOo ~
The animal shelter just outside Jacksonville is full to bursting with dogs needing new homes. When we arrive, the lady at reception is so busy fielding calls that we end up waiting fifteen minutes just to say who we are and collect our passes to go back into the rehoming section.
"All right, kiddos. Where shall we start?"
Arlo is beside himself with excitement, his lip disappearing between his teeth as he bounces on the balls of his feet and looks between the two doors in front of us. "Left," he finally decides, Jaxson and Finley nodding in agreement before taking off toward the door to our left. Following dutifully, I cross my fingers and pray they'll find their new best friend today. The website says they have over six hundred dogs at any one time. There must be one here all three boys will like, right?
Wrong.
It takes a couple of hours for me to realize how completely and utterly wrong I was to assume this would be easy. So far, this isn't at all how I expected this to go. I thought we'd have a look around, the boys would fall in love with one of the pooches, I'd fill out some forms, then we'd be welcoming a new member of the family into our home. We already had our home check earlier in the week so we're good to go if only we can just find a dog all three boys agree on.
Instead, we've walked around the entire shelter and they haven't connected with a single dog. Big, little. Fluffy, short-haired. Old, young. And not one has caught their attention. I'm gutted.
Arlo's pursed-lipped frown makes me feel like the worst parent in the world.
"Why don't we have another look in here?" I suggest hopefully, pointing to a door leading to another section. "Maybe we missed one. Some were on walks when we went in there before."
Shrugging, Arlo toes the floor and blows hair out of his eyes. He couldn't look more disappointed if he tried. Jaxson and Finley are wearing the same expression, which kills me, but this is Arlo's dream more than theirs. They won't be heartbroken if we leave today without picking out a dog. Arlo, on the other hand, will.
"Come on, boys, maybe we'll—"
I'm cut off by a cacophony of raised voices followed by a bang as the door at the other end of the corridor flies open and hits the wall. A mound of fur barrels through and charges straight toward the boys, a trio of shelter staff running after him, although not quickly enough to stop him crashing into my youngest.
"Oh my God, Lo!" Heaving the dog off my son by its collar, I just about manage to hold onto its wiggling body while I check that my son is okay.
The giggles that erupt out of him as he lays there on the floor set the dog off again. He goes even crazier when Jaxson and Finley join in, showering him with attention and laughter. Losing my grip, I find myself smiling at the waggy-tailed beast and my cackling kids rolling around together on the floor.
"I'm so sorry, Miss," one of the shelter staff pants, finally catching up. He hauls the dog off the boys and clips a leash to its collar. I'm not totally convinced it'll hold, if I'm honest. "He's a bit of a Houdini but I thought we had him."
Now I can get a good look at the dog's head, I can see he's a Saint Bernard, or something similar. He has big, brown, puppy-dog eyes in a wrinkly white, black, and russet face. He's all gangly legs and too-big paws with a fluffy, whip-like tail that slaps my legs over and over. He's cute.
And judging by the way my boys are going gaga over him, I'd say we're onto a winner.
The guy hanging onto the dog raises his eyebrows at me when I face him, a wry smile on my face. I'm not surprised that he looks stupefied. I guess most moms would be distraught if their kid got knocked down, but Arlo is a tough kid and he's perfectly fine. To be honest, I'm just relieved we've finally found a dog all three boys seem interested in. It's a good start. "What can you tell me about him?"
"Why don't we head down the hall to the family room and you can all get to know each other a bit?"
The floofy beast drags the poor guy down the hall and into the family room, then turns his sights on his new fan club. The boys are only too happy to take the heat while I sit down with the shelter guy—or Steven, as his name tag reads.
"So," he begins, dropping into a chair at the two-seat table in the corner. There's a computer wedged on one side and an overflowing tray of papers on the other, so I fold my hands in my lap and make sure I have one eye on my sons at all times. So far, so good. "I'll just load up this guy's info and then you can have a read, although I think you might have a battle on your hands now the little dudes have fallen in love."
Shaking my head, I realize why Benjamin said it was a dumb idea to bring the boys to pick their own dog. If, for whatever reason, this beast can't come home with us now they've fallen for him, I'll never hear the end of it. I distinctly recall my brother saying exactly that, not that I'll be admitting it to him.
"Let's just hope it's a good fit, then."
Steven nods, mumbling "Aha!" a few moments later before turning the monitor so we can both see it. There's no picture in the box on the side—because he only arrived a couple of days ago, Steven tells me—and very little information in the 'about me' box.
Reading aloud, I listen to my sons giggling across the room. "I am a four-month-old, purebred Saint Bernard. I'm a big, bouncy boy who would benefit from a refresher course on my basic training as well as some work on my loose leash walking and manners, including jumping up and greeting people nicely. I've lived in two homes with young children and enjoy their company."
Eyeing my sons and their new buddy with scepticism, I wonder, "If he's so great, why's he here? And two homes already at only four months?"
Steven scratches his neck with a faint smile. "The first home was his breeder. They planned to keep him to breed from as he has great genetics. They got pregnant unexpectedly and couldn't cope with the extra dog on top of a new kid."
Humming, I warn Arlo to calm down a little. He and the dog are running around at warp speed nine hundred. "And the second home?"
"He, uh...he kept escaping. They kept him in their backyard and with a busy highway right behind their house, they couldn't cope. Also, they worked a lot and couldn't give him the time and attention he needed for training. "
I bite my tongue to stop myself from asking why they thought a puppy would be a good idea in the first place if they work all day. At four months, he's still a baby. He needs a fair amount of supervision still, which is one of the reasons I'm glad Mom has already said the dog can come with the boys when she watches them while I work. I didn't anticipate the boys picking a puppy, but it's convenient that Mom is on hand to help out and make sure he won't be left alone all the time. "So, that's it? No other issues?"
"Other than the usual puppy things, none that we know of. Our assessors have worked with him a little bit and he's passed with flying colors. One of our volunteers walked him this morning with a few dogs of all different sizes and he was great. Very playful, but otherwise good. He's had all his vaccinations so he's good to go for walks and stuff, you'll just need to be mindful of his growing joints until he's fully grown." With a grin, Steven quickly pulls up a Google search of 'adult Saint Bernards' and opens the first image so it's fullscreen. It's a full-grown dog complete with a string of drool hanging from one side of his mouth. "You're aware that he'll probably grow to be around one-fifty to one-eighty pounds?"
Holy crap, that's a big dog.
Gazing across the room at him with my boys, all four of them curled up on a big bean bag while Jaxson ruffles the beast's fluffy coat, I can't help but feel like this overgrown puppy is our overgrown puppy, despite the fact that one day in the not-so-distant future, he'll be bigger and heavier than all three of the boys put together.
"I think we can handle it. What do you need from me so I can take that lump home? And I suppose we'd better know his name, if he has one."
Smirking, Steven murmurs, "Max. As in, to the max."
At the sound of his name, the beast—no, Max, looks over at us. His big, brown eyes catch mine. "Well, Max," I pause, laughing at the answering thump of his tail against the floor. "I guess you're coming home with us. Welcome to the family."
~ oOo ~
"Oh, he's so cute! A little Beethoven!"
Smiling, I nod and agree, because Max does look like the dog in the Beethoven movies. The woman currently petting Max has us paused outside the pet store. It's taken almost ten minutes to get from the car to the front door because every person who sees our floofy beast wants to stop and pet him.
"We're takin' him to get supplies," Jaxson tells her cheerfully, hanging onto the middle of the leash while I hold the loop at the end. Max may only be a puppy, but he's a big puppy. The spaniel he met a few minutes ago is three years old and only had a couple inches on him at most.
"Well, I'll let you get to it." Grinning at me, the woman stands and brushes Max's hair from her pants. "I bet you'll get stopped every five seconds in there. Good luck."
Mumbling my thanks, I hurry the boys along and praise Max loudly when he pees right before we go into the store. The last thing I want is him peeing over everything inside.
"Okay boys, let's consult the list, shall we?"
Finley pulls the list from his pocket and frowns as he slowly reads the first thing. "Harness."
"Right." Looking at the over-the-aisle signs, I lead them left as I send up a thanks to Steven, who was an absolute Godsend and wrote out a list of the essentials to get Max properly integrated into our home. "Now, he's going to grow fast, so whoever picks the harness today can let someone else pick the next one when he grows out of it, okay?"
"'Kay."
Thankfully, the boys manage to agree on a matching red collar, harness, and leash set. With a harness, I guess the collar is kind of surplus, but we dump them in the basket Arlo is dragging along anyway and head into the next aisle for the next thing. As the woman outside predicted, almost every person in the store stops us to say 'hi' to Max. His tail doesn't stop wagging the entire time as he meets dogs and people of all shapes and sizes. I'm relieved when he behaves impeccably and waits until we've paid for our sizeable haul and almost made it back to the car to pee again.
"Can I give him a treat, Momma?" Arlo asks, plucking a bag of liver snaps from one of our six shopping bags.
"Sure."
It isn't until we're halfway home with another thirty minutes or so to go that I realize treats right before a long car journey was a grave error.
"Uh, Momma? Max is making a funny noise…" Finley says, repeating himself when I turn the music down a little so I can hear him better.
"What do you...oh, crap."
Ignoring Arlo telling me I said a bad word, I hurriedly pull over and rush to the trunk, but I'm too late. By the time I get there, Max has thrown up the contents of his stomach.
"Aw, Max," I half groan, half laugh, because even feeling sick he still manages to wag his tail and offer me a sweet, tongue-out grin. It would be cuter if he didn't have puke breath, but never mind. "Let's get this cleaned up so we can get home, huh?"
I sort of figure he won't have anything left in his stomach to throw up but leave the liner down anyway, using some of the puppy pads I just bought to clean up the mess and provide an extra layer of protection in case he is sick again.
Much to my relief, Max manages to make it all the way home without any other incidents. In fact, when I release the boys and let them race to the trunk to let him out when we're stationary on the drive outside our house, he's fast asleep in the bed we just bought him, the tip of his tail in his mouth like a pacifier.
Hushing the boys, I quickly snap a photo and send it to basically everyone in my contacts list.
The replies are pouring in minutes later as I sip a glass of cold lemonade and watch Max running around on the trampoline while the boys crawl behind him.
"No bouncing while he's on there," I remind them, reading the responses from my friends and family.
SQUEEE! He's so adorable! When can we come over and snuggle his royal cuteness? - Carlie
Her text is followed by about ten heart-eyed emojis and a GIF of Agnes from Despicable Me with the caption 'It's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!'
He's precious! Drop by once he's all settled in so we can meet our new grandbaby xx - Mom
Are you sure that's a puppy? He looks huge already! Cute, though. Let me know when I can bring Danny by to meet the new fella. - Benjamin
It's Edward's response that makes me sigh and smile, though.
He looks ferocious! Remind me to bring protective clothing when I come over.
Glancing up to make sure the boys aren't terrorizing him, I quickly tap out a response.
Oh, he's terrifying, all right. He licked Finley right on the nose when we brought him inside, can you believe it?!
"Mom, I think Max needs to go potty!"
Spying Max doing circles with his nose to the trampoline, I think Finley might be right, so I jog across the yard and heft him down onto the grass. He does a few laps of the trampoline, looking up at the boys watching him through the net, before squatting to do his business. The treats come out again and the boys leap down to fuss over him until he's running around with his tail wagging a mile a minute and his tongue lolling everywhere. Thanks to the research I did online, the praising-every-time-he-pees method seems to be working. We haven't had a single accident besides from the puke in the car. I know he's only been here fifteen minutes, but still. Every win is a win, no matter how minor.
The buzz of my phone ten minutes later distracts me from the boys' attempting to teach Max to 'sit.' So far he's got the nose in the air following the treat part down, it's following through and putting his fluffy butt to the ground he's not mastered yet.
That does sound terrifying! I'll be sure to be careful when I meet him.
Another text follows it before I have time to write a reply.
When will that be, out of interest? I'm guessing you won't be coming for dinner tonight like you mentioned before.
Eyeing Max and the boys, I chew my lip and ponder my options. I did tell Edward we'd be by for dinner today. I also told the boys that, and although they're distracted right now, I bet they'll remember as soon as I mention food. The three of them love the food at Burger Co. as much as I do. I obviously won't leave Max alone in his new home just hours after bringing him here, so that leaves two options—skipping dinner out tonight, or taking him with us.
On one hand, if we skip Burger Co., the boys will be hangry little terrors and I miss out on my daily dose of Edward. On the other, Max is only hours into being a part of our family and it's probably kind of ambitious to expect a public outing to go well. He'll need to sleep before we go, too, because I've heard puppies can be hell when they're overtired.
In the end, I opt for the path of least resistance and cross my fingers we'll all come out of it unscathed.
"All right, kiddos. Who wants to have their bath first? We can't go to Burger Co. and see Edward all stinky and dirty."
So...they got a dog! I know a lot of you thought it was happening a couple of chapters back, but nope. Bella was already on it. If you want to see pictures of Max and snoop on my inspiration for Jackson Bay and the crew, I have a Pinterest board called 'Under The Willows' and my account is under the same name as I am here.
As always, huge thanks to my wonderful team of ladies who call me on my bull and point out when I'm being too liberal with my 'it's fiction' excuse. annaharding, LizziePaige, ThatSoAlex, Anakinsmom, and LadyLoonie, I love you all dearly.
And I love each and every one of you who reads, reviews, and recommends this little tale of mine. Come friend me on Facebook - Ciara Shayee Hill - to chit chat with me and see the visuals I create to go with each chapter.