Shepley kissed her over and over as though he hadn’t seen her in months, and I smiled at a job well done. Travis stood in the doorway, grinning as I made my way into the apartment.
“And they lived happily ever after,” Travis said, shutting the door behind me.
I collapsed on the couch, and he sat next to me, pulling my legs onto his lap.
“What do you wanna do today, Pidge?”
“Sleep. Or rest … or sleep.”
“Can I give you your present first?”
I pushed his shoulder. “Shut up. You got me a present?”
His mouth curved into a nervous smile. “It’s not a diamond bracelet, but I thought you’d like it.”
“I’ll love it, sight unseen.”
He lifted my legs off of his lap and then disappeared into Shepley’s bedroom. I raised an eyebrow when I heard him murmuring, and then he emerged with a box. He sat it on the floor at my feet, crouching behind it.
“Hurry, I want you to be surprised,” he smiled.
“Hurry?” I asked, lifting the lid.
My mouth fell open when a pair of big, dark eyes looked up at me.
“A puppy?” I shrieked, reaching into the box. I lifted the dark, wiry-haired baby to my face, and it covered my mouth in warm, wet kisses.
Travis beamed, triumphant. “You like him?”
“Him? I love him! You got me a puppy!”
“It’s a cairn terrier. I had to drive three hours to pick him up Thursday after class.”
“So when you said you were going with Shepley to take his car to the shop …”
“We went to get your present,” he nodded.
“He’s wiggly!” I laughed.
“Every girl from Kansas needs a Toto,” Travis said, helping me hang on to the tiny fuzz ball in my lap.
“He does look like Toto! That’s what I’m going to call him,” I said, wrinkling my nose at the squirmy pup.
“You can keep him here. I’ll take care of him for you when you’re back at Morgan,” his mouth pulled up into a half smile, “and it’s my security that you’ll visit when your month is up.”
I pressed my lips together. “I would have come back anyway, Trav.”
“I’d do anything for that smile that’s on your face right now.”
“I think you need a nap, Toto. Yes, you do,” I cooed to the puppy.
Travis nodded, pulled me onto his lap, and then stood up. “Come on, then.”
He carried me into his bedroom, pulled back the covers, and then lowered me to the mattress. Crawling over me, he reached over to pull the curtains closed and then fell onto his pillow.
“Thanks for staying with me last night,” I said, stroking Toto’s soft fur. “You didn’t have to sleep on the bathroom floor.”
“Last night was one of the best nights of my life.”