But I put all that behind me as I got dressed in clean clothes. Then I made a call to the veterinary clinic to see what their case load was like today. Large animals were my specialty, but sometimes I helped out with the regular-sized patients. The receptionist who answered—and Jesus, it was apparently flirt with Flynn day—told me everything I needed to know. I made a quick trip over there, and then I arrived at the back door of the house just as Charlotte and Lucas were eating their after-school snack.
Lucas’s eyes lit up when he spotted me. He nudged his sister, and both kids ran over and pulled open the door. Their enthusiasm made me feel like even more of an asshole for staying away.
“What’s in there, Uncle Flynn?” Charlotte asked.
Even though my arms were full, my first impulse was to sign to her. It still amazed me that a completely deaf child could talk the way she did now. She’d worked her butt off to get to this point, and I was proud of her.
“You’ll see,” I said. “Is your dad here?”
“He’s upstairs. And Uncle Rafe is at the grocery store,” Lucas said.
“What about your houseguest?”
It took them a moment to realize I meant Alyssa, and I wondered how they viewed her. As a patient? A big sister? Or a blonde invader from the north? I had no clue.
“She’s in the bedroom,” Charlotte said.
“Go make sure she’s decent,” I told the twins. For all I knew, the pretty young woman lounged around in lingerie.
The twins ran into her room and launched into conversation with her, so I figured it was visiting hours. I followed behind them.
The twins were sitting on the bed next to her, looking at home and comfortable with her. Alyssa’s pretty pink mouth dropped into an O of surprise when she saw me standing there.
“Hi,” she said, sounding surprised. Jesus, I just lived next door. Was it that much of a shock? “Are you… um… hi.”
Clearly, Spencer and Rafe weren’t keeping her around for her sparkling conversation. But maybe that was just my bad mood talking. I didn’t like doing what people told me to do—especially when that person was Spencer.
“Word on the street is that you’re bored,’ I said gruffly.
“I, um, yeah, sometimes.”
She was wearing a light green dress, of all things. A real dress, not a nightgown. It wasn’t the kind of thing Lauren wore, clothing designed to make a man drool, but it looked good on her. The scoop neck showed a sliver of cleavage. The bottom of the dress flared out and ended mid-thigh. Her long legs were stretched out in front of her. I tried to ignore the bare, shapely one with the smooth, creamy skin. And I managed not to flinch when I saw the heavy cast on the other.
I set the large plastic laundry basket at the foot of the bed, and the twins squealed. You wouldn’t think that Alyssa’s jaw could’ve dropped any further, but you’d be wrong. The look on her face when I tilted the basket forward, spilling seven light blond retriever puppies on the bed, could’ve been next to the dictionary definitions for surprise and delight.
17
Alyssa
Puppies.
Soooo many puppies.
Puppies everywhere.
Soft, furry, sleepy, clumsy, adorable puppies.
They were on my cast. In my lap. And in my arms. Charlotte had one cuddled to her face. And they moved around so much, it seemed like twenty instead of just seven. The twins, somehow, were as good as sheep dogs. They turned the little dogs back when they got too close to the edge of the bed. They kept the dear little things right next to me.
I couldn’t remember having a better afternoon—ever.
“I see you’ve made some friends,” Raphael said when he came down after hearing the noise.
“Lots of friends.” I couldn’t help grinning.
“And where is our friendly neighborhood veterinarian?”
“He said he’d come back in an hour.”
“And did he agree to help wash the bedding after that?”
Oops, I hadn’t thought of that. Obviously puppies this age weren’t house trained. My mouth opened, but I didn’t exactly know what to say about that. It wasn’t like I could strip the bed by myself.
But Raphael smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Enjoy the floof onslaught.”
After that, he checked in occasionally while he worked on dinner, but I was in good company. Three of the puppies had decided to take a nap and had curled up against my cast. That kept me from moving my leg just as effectively as Raphael putting the quilt over it yesterday.
Lucas was lying next to me, making faces at the puppy he had on his chest. I had another in my arms, and Charlotte was sitting up with her legs crossed and two little dogs in her lap.
When Spencer came home, Lucas called out to him. Repeatedly. He was like a tiny jackhammer as he said, “Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad!”