"She's looking much better," the vet said, pleased, as she ran her hands over Lily's tender skin gently. "She's got a long way to go, but really, she's showing tremendous improvement after only a week."
Lily nosed at her toy duck from her position on the vet's table and tolerated the inspection with her typical graciousness.
"You think so?" Lisbon said anxiously. She stroked Lily's ears in a soothing gesture, but Jane thought it might have been just as much to calm herself as Lily. "She responded well to the medication and it seems like the infection is gone, but I'm still worried about her rib. She hates being so restricted."
Jane stood beside Lisbon and watched her with affection.
"The rib will take time to heal," the vet told her. "The mange, too. But she's clearly under excellent care." She graced Lisbon with a warm smile. "I'm glad you decided to keep her. She seems very happy with you."
"Well, she's a sweetheart," Lisbon said, ducking her head and continuing to stroke Lily's ears. "And Patrick fixed everything with my building, so…"
She glanced at Jane, a soft smile in her eyes. Jane swelled with pride and tried not to stare too adoringly back at her. Which was difficult, given that the past week in her company had only exacerbated the condition of his adoration of one Teresa Lisbon.
They'd developed somewhat of a routine over the past week.
Jane would come over to Lisbon's place first thing in the morning, let himself in, and take Lily out. Once Lily relieved herself, she would sniff over the various rocks and trees and flowers in front of Lisbon's condo. Then she and Jane would sit on the stoop and watch passing pedestrians, birds, squirrels, and other dogs until Jane deemed it close enough to the time Lisbon naturally woke up to go inside and start making coffee for her.
The first day, Lisbon had been adorably flustered to find him in her kitchen with Lily at his feet when she had wandered downstairs half awake, her hair mussed, dressed only in her favorite Bears jersey. However, she'd accepted the coffee he'd offered her and eaten the breakfast he'd made her. After the second day, she'd mumbled something about being able to sleep in on her week off at least and given him a key so he wouldn't have to pick the lock anymore. Meanwhile, he stored away the image of her sitting at the kitchen table, bare-legged, Lily at her feet, savoring the coffee he'd made her.
Looking back, this had only been one in a long series of the exacerbating conditions in the progression of the adoration.
Lisbon would go out for a run after breakfast, leaving Jane and Lily to play on the floor in the living room. Lisbon reminded him not to overexcite Lily and risk making the rib worse. He assured her that he wouldn't, and it must be admitted that he occasionally indulged in the impulse to extol Lisbon's virtues to an attentive Lily while Lisbon herself was out on her run and was safely out of earshot.
When Lisbon came back, she would sit down on the floor with them and pet Lily between stretches as part of her cool down routine. Jane found the sight of a smiling and affectionate Lisbon stretching her long, lean limbs in shorts and a tank top extremely distracting. His capacity for witty conversation was lamentably diminished during these periods, so he mostly refrained from commentary and simply enjoyed the experience of observing Lily and Lisbon's mutual affection from this particularly delightful vantage point.
While Lisbon took her shower, Jane would pack up a picnic, and then the three of them would drive to a local park and set up a picnic blanket in some quiet corner with a nice view, where Lily would have nature's bounty available to observe and enjoy, but not too many opportunities to be tempted to cause further damage to her rib by chasing after squirrels and the like. After an afternoon enjoying the sunshine, they would go back to Lisbon's place and argue about Lily-appropriate dog movies while making dinner together. Lisbon would scold him not to feed Lily human food during dinner, and then they would watch a movie on the couch together.
They both pretended not to notice that they'd been inching closer and closer to one another on the couch with each successive evening. They'd started out safely on opposite ends, but somehow, around the fourth movie of dog heroism, they were shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the couch, Lily on the floor at their feet.
It was only natural, Jane reasoned uneasily. They were sharing popcorn. The popcorn had to be within easy reach for both of them. Then, too, they both wanted to be able to pet Lily at will throughout the movie. The gravitational pull, the amount of willpower he had to exercise not to put his arm around her and pull her closer—they didn't signify.
One memorable day, he convinced Lisbon to drive to the coast with him. They piled Lily into Lisbon's car and drove to the ocean. Lily loved it. She barked at seagulls and took possession of a piece of driftwood that she gnawed on and guarded jealously the rest of the afternoon.
It was too chilly to swim, but Lisbon wore shorts and this thin white long-sleeved thing over a tank top, and gazed out at the water and the sight of her –
"Let me take your picture," he heard himself say.
"What?" Lisbon said, startled. "Why?"
Because you look so lovely, you take my breath away, he did not say. Because when I can see the reflection of the ocean in your eyes, I'm not sure which is deeper. Because no one would believe any person or moment could be so beautiful unless they could see evidence of it for themselves. Because I want the sweet painful ache in my chest from this moment to be immortalized forever in a snapshot I can carry in my pocket next to my heart.
"To prove to your brothers you're really on vacation," he said.
"I already told them I was," she protested.
"Yeah, but they won't believe it without hard proof."
Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Fine."
She permitted him to take her picture with his phone, smiling with that mix of exasperation and affection that was so familiar and so dear to him. Then Lily wanted in on the game, nosing curiously at the phone, and Jane snapped a few of her, with Lisbon laughing in the background. He managed a few of them together properly, Lisbon's arm looped loosely around Lily's neck, a wide, joyous smile on her face. Lily licked her face, and Lisbon pushed her away laughingly. Lily started in on Jane next, but he was less successful in fending her off with one hand as he tried to keep his phone out of slobbering range.
Later, he found a picture on his phone of himself lying on his back on the picnic blanket, his face scrunched up and smiling while Lily licked his face, and Lisbon on her side, laughing at him and the dog.
A sharp pain pierced his chest. This, he thought. This is all I want. Ever. Is it really so much to ask?
He hesitated a long moment, then texted the picture to Lisbon.
It's a good picture of us, don't you think? he wrote.
A minute later, he could see the "dot dot dot" symbol on his phone signaling that she was writing back. Then it stopped. Started again. Stopped again. Then finally – Yeah, it is. Thanks for sharing.
Emboldened, he sent her several pictures of Lily. Our girl's very photogenic, isn't she?
This time the answer came right away. Oh, God. You're going to try to sign up my dog for some kind of dog modeling agency, aren't you?
You're going to need something to support you in retirement, he wrote back. That pittance they call a pension at the CBI isn't going to do it.
He sent her his favorite picture of her and Lily from the day, the one where Lisbon looked so light and happy and Lily was gazing at her adoringly. This is the one you should send to your brothers.
Another hesitation. Thanks, Jane. I will.
Gathering his courage, he sent her one more. The one of just her, with that exasperated yet affectionate smile, with a soft light in her green ocean eyes, gazing at him behind the camera. This one's for me, he wrote bravely.
Another long hesitation. Dot dot dot. Should have known you were just gathering blackmail material all along.
He grinned. You know it.
That had been yesterday.
Now they were at the vet, and they kept stealing looks at each other, then sharing embarrassed grins when they caught each other at it.
The vet looked back and forth between them and cleared her throat. "There's one more thing," she said to Lisbon. "You said you wanted to have Lily spayed during this visit, correct?"
"That's right," Lisbon said, still not quite taking her eyes from Jane.
"Well, I'm afraid that ship has sailed," the vet said. "Lily's expecting."
Lisbon's half smile vanished. She whipped her head around to stare at the vet. "Expecting?" she repeated.
"That's right," the vet said. "Lily is going to have puppies."