Josh opened the bedroom door and a giant, white fluffy dog bounded out. “Dad,” Sasha screamed. She threw her arms around the dog’s neck, and Josh’s heart swelled. The dog licked her face tentatively and she buried her face in its fur. “Do we get to keep him?”
“Yes,” he said.
* * *
Carl hadn’t answered the door when Josh knocked that morning. He’d knocked again, because maybe Carl hadn’t been watching out the front window and hadn’t heard the knock. He’d grumbled to Josh once that he usually just left it unlocked but when his daughter found out about that she’d gotten upset. Josh knocked a third time and then a fourth. He walked around to the front of the house and looked into the living room window. He thought about calling Carl’s daughter to see if she had an extra key but decided it might be easier if he did a little breaking and entering in the name of a welfare check. He had the door unlocked in about two minutes and smiled because he figured installing a new lock would give Carl and him another project to work on. This one was flimsy as hell.
Norton came tearing around the corner the minute Josh entered the kitchen. Josh took in the overturned garbage can and the garbage on the floor as Norton jumped up on him, pawing at Josh’s chest. “Hey, buddy.” Normally the dog was as docile as they came, and Josh proceeded with caution as he rounded the corner into the living room. There was more trash by the couch, and Josh followed the trail. It was a small ranch house, with two bedrooms, a bathroom, the living room, and the kitchen on the main level, above the unfinished basement where he and Carl had done most of their work. The bedroom door was open a crack, and Josh could see Carl lying on the bed. He was fairly sure he knew what had happened but made himself check for a pulse anyway. Norton jumped up on the bed and curled his body around his owner. Except for rummaging in the trash because he hadn’t been fed, he’d probably been right here since Carl died, which was probably sometime after his daughter had checked in on him yesterday. Josh took comfort in the fact that the dog had likely been with Carl when he’d drawn his last breath, and it made him happy to know the man had spent his last days doing something he enjoyed. Josh left the room, steeling himself for the call he was about to make to Carl’s daughter.
“Where did he come from, Dad?” Sasha asked, her words muffled by the dog’s fur.
“The owner couldn’t take care of him anymore,” Josh said, and that was all she needed to know.
* * *
Sasha had not left the dog’s side. Josh was happy she didn’t ask if she could rename it. The dog was old, and a name change would likely confuse it and it had been through enough already.
“Can he sleep in my bed tonight?” Sasha asked.
“How about on the floor next to your bed?” Josh said. After leaving Carl’s, he’d taken the dog to be groomed, and while Norton was being attended to he’d purchased all the necessary supplies, including a large dog bed with plenty of cushioning and support. He had reservations about bringing an older dog into the mix but only because he knew it would be hard on Sasha when they lost him. But Carl’s daughter had been distraught over the news of her father’s death and she’d been so relieved when he’d offered to find a home for the dog.
Might as well be mine, he thought.
chapter 7
Layla
“So, Annie and I were talking the other day and we were thinking it might be time for you to dip your toes in the dating pool,” Tonya said as they stood outside on an overcast morning. “Maybe try an app.”
Thankfully, Annie had not yet arrived. Layla didn’t have the energy to deal with an ambush, and the morning drop-off was still a complete clusterfuck. How could so many grown adults not understand the simple process of dropping off their children?
“I’m not interested in a dating app,” Layla said. “Plus, I’ve heard everyone lies.”
“Nobody really says what they mean at first.”
Nobody really says what they mean during ten years of marriage, either, Layla thought.
“You’re free to browse,” Tonya said. “See what’s out there.”
“I’m not sure I want to know.”
Layla noted the arrival of Josh and Sasha. Either he had little patience for the drop-off line or Sasha continued to need extra encouragement, because Josh was still walking Sasha in. Layla was quickly becoming a touchstone of sorts for Sasha, and the little girl almost always stopped to say hi. That morning, Sasha barreled toward her shouting, “Miss Layla! Miss Layla! Guess what?”
Layla had no idea what Sasha might say. Teachers were often on the receiving end of some very personal information that parents would be mortified to learn came out of their offspring’s mouth in a school setting. A little boy had recently told Tonya all about the farting contest he’d had with his dad that resulted in one of them shitting themselves. “And it wasn’t the little boy,” Tonya said.
“What is it, Sasha? It must be pretty big news because I’ve never seen you so excited before.”
“We got a dog! It sleeps on my bed.”
“That’s hugely exciting news,” Layla said.
Sasha beamed. “His name is Norton and he’s big and fluffy. He eats a lot and his poops are really big,” Sasha said, wrinkling her nose.
Layla stifled a smile. “Well, that is to be expected, I guess.”
Josh looked at them and shrugged. “She’s not wrong.”
“I’ll draw you a picture of him,” Sasha promised as Josh began nudging her closer to the building’s entrance.
“I would love that,” Layla said. “Have a good day.”
“Okay, I will,” she said. Layla watched them walk away. Josh always smiled at Layla, and it made her happy. She would never admit to Tonya and Annie how much she enjoyed the daily interaction with Sasha and her dad. They’d lose their goddamn minds.
Annie joined them at the curb. “What are we talking about?”
Tonya answered her. “Online dating.”
“Oh, good. You told her. So, there are different apps depending on what you’re looking for.”
“I never said I was looking,” Layla said, but Annie wasn’t going to let something like Layla’s disinterest deter her.
“There’s one for hookups and another one that only allows women to send the first message so you wouldn’t have to worry about a bunch of dick pics in your inbox.”
“You’re making it sound so appealing,” Layla said.
“I just said no dick pics. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is that such a concern exists in the first place.”
“This is what dating looks like now,” Annie said.
“How do you even know this?” Layla asked. “You’re married.”
“I like to keep my husband on his toes.”
“This is the most depressing conversation I’ve had all week,” Layla said.
“It’s only Tuesday,” Tonya said.
“Exactly.”
The truth was that Layla didn’t know if she had the energy to do it all again, especially now that the rules had apparently changed. It exhausted her to think about the various stages of dating. There was the meeting stage followed by the getting-to-know-you stage. Then there was the I-like-you stage, and the falling-in-love stage. Then there was the I-can’t-live-without-you and let’s-spend-the-rest-of-our-lives-together stage.