Hold the Forevers

“I’m so glad that you found a dog for you!” the woman said after I finished filling out paperwork and paying the fee. “What are you going to name her?”

I looked at the puppy, and my stomach flipped. I knew exactly what I was going to name her. The name had been picked out for me almost a year earlier. There was no way she could be anything else.

“Sunny.”

We went to a local pet store and purchased everything I thought Sunny would need and more—carrier, crate, beds, toys, food, treats. The list felt endless, and I winced at the final number. Ash scooted me out of the way and paid for the whole thing against my protests.

“I can afford it!” I insisted angrily.

“I know you can, but I want to help you take care of her.”

“Ash …”

“It’s done, Lila. Just say thank you.”

I sighed. “Thank you, but you shouldn’t have done it.”

He shrugged. “I wanted to. She’s too perfect, and she needs all the things.”

There was no arguing with him. Unless I returned it all and then rebought it, there wasn’t much else I could do. And I decided to be grateful.

“Plus, I got her a bed and food and treats for my place too.”

“You think I’m going to let her out of my sight?”

He shot me a look. “I guess you’ll have to come over more.”

“I’m sure Heather will love that.”

“She knows we’re just friends.”

He said the words, but they rang false. How could Ash and I ever just be friends?

We got all of Sunny’s new things into the trunk. I set her on my lap, plying her with love and treats as we drove across town. I barely looked up until we reached Ash’s place. My Hyundai was parked on the street, where I’d left it before we went for my appointment. The ghost of it had left me behind with my puppy’s enthusiasm.

I got her on a leash and let her do her business in the bushes by his place before following him inside.

“Okay, Sunny, try not to pee on anything,” I said with a laugh at Ash’s stricken face. Then I took her off the leash, and she sprinted into the house.

“Oh!” a voice gasped from the kitchen. “Who are you?”

Ash and I looked at each other. Fuck. Heather was here.

“Yes, hello, aren’t you so sweet?” Heather appeared in the living room, holding my dog, who was indiscriminately licking her.

“Oh,” she said again as she looked between us. Ash holding all of Sunny’s new equipment while I still held her leash. “What’s going on?”

“Hey, Heather,” I said, trying for normal and calm. “That’s Sunny. I got her from the Humane Society.”

“She’s your dog?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah.”

“What is she doing here?”

“I went with Lila to pick her out.”

Heather squinted at him, carefully putting Sunny back on the ground. She crossed her arms. “You went with your ex-girlfriend to get a dog?”

That was my cue to leave. I sank to the floor. “Come here, Sunny.”

“Well, I told you that I was helping her go to the doctor.”

“Right. Which I thought was strange to begin with.”

“Sunny,” I said, patting my knees.

The dog didn’t seem to care or know its name yet. It was circling Heather and sniffing her.

“And then after that, y’all went to get a dog together?”

“It’s Lila’s dog,” he told her. But he was using the placating voice. I knew what that one meant. Every girl did.

“So, why do you have a bunch of stuff for it? Is the dog staying here? Is Lila staying here?”

“No,” Ash said. “But look at her. She’s adorable. I’m kind of attached.”

Heather’s face darkened at those words. “Are you talking about the dog or Lila, Ash?”

I grimaced, giving up on Sunny listening to me. I scooped her up into my arms and reattached the leash. “I’m going to just go home.”

“Oh no,” Heather said, seething. “No reason to leave on my account.” She grabbed her purse off of the coffee table. “I should have seen this coming.”

“Heather, come on,” Ash said. “This isn’t what it looks like.”

“What does it look like?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly, backing toward the door. “It’s nothing.”

“I think it is something. When Ash told me your whole sordid story, I thought he was moving past it. That we could work despite his past with a girl who clearly didn’t appreciate him. I’ve bitten my tongue at the just friends bit for long enough.”

“Heather—”

“But I was wrong. You’re not over her. You’re fucking obsessed with her.”

I winced at her words. The surety as she spat them at him.

“The one who got away and who your parents didn’t like and who you had to fight for. And I’m tired of trying to compete with that.”

Heather shouldered past us both and burst out of Ash’s house. He stood there for a full second, as if in shock that she’d walked out on him.