At least, I hadn’t intended to.
I was going to come back and bring it something to drink, though.
When I finished my run.
But, since I was already semi-cooled down, I decided to walk back to Zack’s parents’ house, and at first, didn’t pay attention that I was followed.
I was just turning into their driveway when a whimper caught my attention.
The little fluffball had followed me.
I looked at the fluffball that disappeared into Rue’s bushes, knocking several flowers off in the process, and winced. “Oops.”
“Oops what?”
I jumped at the sound of Zach’s voice coming from directly behind me.
I turned to look and found him with a weed whacker in his hands, and his father sitting on the same tractor that Zach and I had sex on last night.
My face flushed, but luckily you couldn’t tell seeing as I was already really sweaty and red from my run.
“Umm,” I hesitated. “Nothing?”
That’s when a howl sounded from the bushes.
I whistled and looked away, hoping that the sound would go by unnoticed due to the low hum of the tractor that Cleo was sitting on, and the rumble of the weed eater in Zach’s hands.
No go.
They both noticed, and they both looked at me accusingly.
Zach’s weed eater shut off, followed shortly by the tractor.
I opened my mouth to explain when Zach started to make his way toward me.
Only, the pup behind me took offense, I guess to the aggressive move he made because he came darting out of the bushes like he was actually going to accomplish something and started to howl.
My mouth fell open.
Zach stared at me in surprise.
Cleo started laughing.
And a large man I hadn’t noticed until now said, “Is that a fuckin’ coyote?”
I turned to see Ford, the police officer that’d pulled me over a few days ago, standing there with his wife in tow, a baby in his tattooed arms, and a curled-up smile on his face.
“Hey, Ford?” the beautiful woman at his side said. “You remember that time when we convinced Zach that the coyotes were going to come eat him when he was seven? And he said, ‘no they’re not’ and we said, ‘one day you’re going to regret not paying them a tribute?’ and then for the rest of our days we teased him about coyotes? Isn’t it fuckin’ funny that there’s a coyote protecting the woman he loves?”
The woman that he loves.
My head whipped around to look at Zach, expecting him to contradict her statement, but he said nothing. Only stared at the little pup that was now quietly sitting at my side, staring at Zach like he was the real threat.
“What did you do?” he asked me, completely ignoring the woman and the man.
“I was,” I hesitated. “Just running. I swear. And my AirPods died,” I showed him the dead AirPods like that would help my case. “And where I stopped, there was a dead momma coyote on the side of the road. But I swear, I did not call him toward me or anything.”
“She,” Cleo said, looking at the puppy. “Pup is a she.”
I looked down at the ‘girl’ pup in question. “How do you know?”
“Because when she ran into the bushes, I got a good look at her very much there girl parts,” he explained, grinning.
“Oh my God.” I heard a woman’s voice from behind me. I turned to find another woman standing next to Rue, along with a very tall, sexy version of the police officer standing right next to him. They both had different colored eyes. “What is that?”
“It’s a coyote,” I said. “And I swear to God, I did not invite her to follow me home.”
The man standing next to them laughed.
Then I had a baby in my arms and the police officer, Ford, was bending down to look at the pup.
I blinked in surprise at the cutest little bundle of baby I’d ever seen.
She blinked open her eyes, and I gasped.
“Ohhhh,” I said quietly. “She has blue and green eyes like your dad!”
“He does,” the officer said. “Like my mom, too.”
“Ford,” the woman called. “Introduce us.”
Zach appeared at my side. “Baby,” he murmured. “This is Ford, the officer that pulled you over when you were in nothing but a t-shirt the other day. That’s Ford’s wife, Ashe. The baby that you’re holding is their newborn son, Chevy. Those on the porch with my mom are Trance and Viddy, Ford’s parents.”
I would’ve waved, but I had the baby in my hands, and he was all I could look at.
“Ooh, I want one of these.” I sighed.
And I did. I wanted three or four of them, actually.
Hell, I’d take an entire football team of them if Zach wanted to.
“I’d like five, just like my baby,” I heard Rue say. “But make sure at least one is a girl. I didn’t ever get one of those. I can’t wait to buy all the dresses.”