Baseball. Those tickets were probably worth hundreds of dollars.
I was just starting to get irritated with him when he said, “I would have done it for nothing, but my dad needed something to justify all the fuss.”
“What fuss?”
He motioned to Mojo. “He’ll probably bark at night at first. Until he gets settled.”
“He doesn’t bark.” Mojo had gotten bored and sat down.
“Even if he’s outside with another dog and someone walks by with their dog?”
I winced. “Okay, maybe then he would bark.”
Jonathan smiled. “It’ll be cool. Buddy could use a friend.”
“You named your dog Buddy?”
A little color rose in his cheeks. “Uh, my little brother named him.”
“Oh.”
“Let me bring Buddy out front. We can see how they do before we try putting them in the fence together.”
I dragged Mojo around the front yard and he peed on every bush we passed. “You’re on empty,” I told him. “Get over it.”
Jonathan’s dog led him through the gate on a mud-splattered leash. Buddy was a little smaller than Mojo. He was a tan mutt, and he got right to business sniffing Mojo’s butt.
At first, Mojo was too busy with his nose in Buddy’s rear end to get upset. Then, he growled and started to attack. “No, Mojo,” I snapped, holding tight to the leash.
Jonathan dragged Buddy a few feet away and we tried again. “Give them a minute.”
But Jonathan looked up and met my eyes and suddenly I couldn’t think. He had the most beautiful liquid brown eyes. Like the amber glass beads on my mother’s favorite bracelet. My family had green eyes. I’d always thought of brown as dull, but his were beautiful.
Unfortunately, he was still talking and I had no idea what I’d missed.
“Huh?” I said, like a total dork.
His lips curved into a smile. “I said let’s put them together in the fence and let them play.”
This time Mojo tried to hump Buddy. My face flamed.
I’d never been so embarrassed in my life. “Sorry,” I mumbled to Jonathan after we pulled the dogs apart. “It’s not a sexual thing, you know. It’s about dominance.” Oh my God. Had I really just said that? To a guy?
Jonathan laughed. “It’s normal. Don’t worry about it. I’ve had Buddy for six years. I’ve seen a lot of, um, humping.”
We stood awkwardly watching the dogs romp around the back yard. Jonathan was standing, but he wasn’t still. He seemed kind of edgy, like he was as uncomfortable as I was. He kept fidgeting and moving. Putting his hands in his short pockets. Taking them back out. He swiped at the lock of chestnut hair that had fallen across his forehead.
“They seem to be doing okay, now.” Mojo and Buddy were running at full speed around the back yard.
“Yeah, uh.” Jonathan bounced in place. “Do you want to sit down on the porch?”
“Sure. I guess.” A couple of chairs and a long metal swing, practically a couch, with big cushions formed a sitting area on the back patio.
Jonathan pointed to the swing. “That’s Buddy’s bed. I wouldn’t recommend sitting there.”
I stopped. “Why? Would he growl at me?”
“No. It’s just really not clean.”
With a last glance at the sofa, I sat in one of the chairs. The seat was warm, and the sun beat down on me as I tried to make conversation. “You go to Plum with Caroline?”
“Yeah.”
Silence. An uncomfortable silence followed. The sun-lightened hair on his calves between his knee-length athletic shorts and running shoes drew my attention.
“So you go to Catholic school?” he asked.
I nodded. “My grandmother insisted. Dad was raised Catholic, but they didn’t have a school where he grew up. My grandmother prays the rosary every day. She’s beyond devout. She’s practically a saint. She probably won’t even have to wait until she dies to get into heaven. They’ll probably just beam her up or something.” Why was I babbling?
“Do the nuns rap you on the knuckles with a ruler? I always wondered.”
“No. We only have one token nun. The rest are just normal teachers. And we have Mass every morning and religion class every day. It’s really not that different. Plus, they used to paddle kids at public school.”
He shuddered. “Thank God they don’t do that anymore.”
“My dad took a few beatings.”
The sun brought out the different shades of brown in his hair. “Do you have cliques just like public school?”
“Probably worse. We’ve been with the same kids forever and there aren’t that many of us. Everybody wears the same uniform but you can tell who’s rich by their jewelry and their purse. There are a lot of doctor’s kids.”
He raised a brow. “Catholic guys carry purses?”
I rolled my eyes. “Just the girls. And before you ask, mine is a Target special. I don’t own a Dooney and Bourke. I don’t have two hundred and fifty dollars for that crap.”
“Two hundred and fifty bucks!” His jaw dropped. “For one of those ugly purses. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I shook my head.
“Do you know how many games I could buy with that?”
I shrugged. “A lot?”
“Five. Five brand new games for my Xbox 360.” He looked at me with a hopeful expression. “Are you a gamer?”
“Not really. I like playing, but not enough to spend all my money on it.”
The sliding glass door opened behind us and a woman came out with a little boy at her heels.
“You must be Ally,” Jonathan’s mother said with a big smile. “According to Diane, we’ll be seeing a lot of you around here.”
“Yes,” I said, feeling stupid. “Nice to meet you.” She didn’t look much like Jonathan, but the little boy did.
The little boy ran straight at Jonathan’s knees like a runaway train. Jonathan scooped him up, turned him upside down, and made him giggle. His Spongebob Squarepants t-shirt fell over his angelic face revealing an adorable tanned tummy.
“This is Ben. He’s four,” Jonathan’s mom said. “And you should call me Marianne.”
I nodded. “Thanks for keeping Mojo here.”
“No problem. Bill, my husband took the bribe, but Jonathan and I love dogs. Ben too.” She had chin length reddish hair and wore a striped blouse, capris, and sandals.
Jonathan had righted Ben and set him on the ground. “Mommy,” Ben said, running over to her. “Can I play with Buddy?”
“Not right now, Ben. Remember how we talked about it. Buddy has to get to know his new friend first.”
Ben pouted.
His mother turned to me. “I just wanted to say hi. I’d better get the rugrat back inside.” She moved back toward the door.
“Thank you,” I said, not at all sure what to say.
“Go with Mom, Ben,” Jonathan said when his brother didn’t follow.
Ben gave a dramatic sigh and went in with his mother.
I looked at Jonathan who’d sat back down. “So, Ben named Buddy, huh?”
Jonathan froze.
“Two years before he was even born?”
“Uh, yeah.” Jonathan’s knee bobbed up and down. “Okay, so I named him. But in my defense I was only seven.”
I cracked up. He was so busted. Buddy! “Not real original of you.”
“Hey,” he said gracing me with a grin. “You named your dog Mojo. Is that for voodoo? Or Austin Powers?”
Crap. “Actually,” I lowered my voice, “it’s for MoJo Jojo.”
“What?” He scooted his chair closer.
“Mojo Jojo.”
“I can’t even hear you. Just say it.” He moved another foot in my direction.
“Mojo Jojo. You know from the Power Puff girls.”
Jonathan busted out laughing.
“It’s not that funny. Look at his face. He sort of looks like a brown and black monkey. Just like the villain on the cartoo
n.”
“That’s just,” he laughed so hard he could barely speak, “sad.”
I put my hands on my hips. “I was only eight.” Okay, so I was ten, but he doesn’t have to know that. “It’s not like I’m a devoted fan or anything.” Anymore. “It’s just the name of my dog.” Mojo dashed over to lap up some water from the giant bowl and then ran off again.
Jonathan’s eyes met mine, and I could see the curiosity mixed with his amusement. I was starting to feel less insulted and more, um, like I was just realizing how really cute Jonathan was.