LIFE Interrupted
Page 43
Sophie followed her friend to the front door. Kai was six or eight inches taller than her, so she had to lean over to kiss Sophie’s cheek. “Have fun with these girls and let me know what Josh said about the second one when he gets home.”
“I will.”
She sat on the floor and played with the puppies until Josh returned. She was a little leery when she looked up at him coming through the front door with a huge bag of dog food.
“Everything okay?” She asked.
“Just let me put this down.”
He walked past her, bag on his shoulder, he headed through the living room to the kitchen. She heard it hit the floor. Then he returned and squatted by her. His fingers caressed her cheek that soft gentle way he had with her. Then he ruffled the head of one of the pups closest to him.
“No more dogs, Sophie.”
He stood and went outside. She smiled and picked up the second dog while Delilah pawed at her thigh. “What is your name, little girl?”
Her husband returned to the house with bags of toys, two nice beds. Then she heard him banging around in the laundry room and Sophie wondered what Josh was doing. When he returned to the living room, he plopped down in the recliner. Delilah wandered over to him and pulled on his shoe string. Josh got tired of it, so he leaned over and picked her up. Sophie was somewhat concerned that he hadn’t said anything.
“What was all the noise in the laundry room?” She asked.
“Two metal crates for them to stay in while we are gone.”
“Oh.”
He nodded. “So, what’s that girl’s name?” He asked of the dog in Sophie’s arms.
“I don’t know yet. It didn’t come to me like Delilah’s did.” She gazed at the puppy she was playing with. “Want me to start dinner?”
He shook his head no. “I ordered Italian on the way home. It should be here in ten or fifteen minutes.”
Sophie smiled at him. “Thank you,” she told him.
“You’re welcome. When things get bad I hope they can make you feel better. They say dogs do that, you know…when you’re sick.” The corner of his mouth turned up in a half smile, so she thought he wasn’t too mad at her. “The sales associate at the store thought they were part hound, part something else, she wasn’t sure of.”
“Any guess how big they will get?”
“Maybe fifty pounds, she thought. More or less.”
Sophie glanced at the girl in her hands. She smiled at her. Her pretty, golden eyes were different from her sister’s. “Cleo?”
He was surprised by her answer. “Cleo?”
“Cleopatra but we’ll call her Cleo for short.”
Josh laughed at Sophie. “Two of the greatest femme fetales in history,” he declared.
“Works for me.”
“They do not get in bed with us,” he insisted.
“All right, they won’t.”
Chapter 10
Josh
She sat for three hours for her first chemo appointment then headed home. Madge had filled her port with all kinds of goodies to stave the nausea and headache that sometimes Chemo causes. Sophie told him she wasn’t feeling too badly when she left the hospital.
Later, at home, the headache started. She went to bed. Every time that he checked on her, her legs were moving about