My Babies and Me

“You okay?” Sliding his arms around her from behind, Michael kissed the side of her face.

Resting the back of her head against his chest, Susan nodded. “Just tired.”

“Hey—” he let her go “—the house looks great!”

She nodded again. She felt chilled, needed a sweater.

“What are you going to do with it?”

Susan busied herself with the last of the dishes. “Give it to Annie.” Actually, she’d decided to call Seth’s friend Brady. The disadvantaged kids in his care wouldn’t mind that the house was a month late.

“Who’s Annie?”

“Ed Halliday’s dog,” she reminded him. “Tricia still brings her to work every day.”

“I thought you didn’t like that dog. You always complained that she sheds.”

Shrugging, she put away the frosting utensils. She’d complained about Annie a time or two when she’d first gone to work at Halliday Headgear. A dog at the office hadn’t seemed quite professional.

“Annie grows on you,” she finally said. “I’ve actually been thinking about getting one.”

“An Annie?”

“A dog, or maybe a cat.”

She turned in time to see Michael shaking his head, as though he didn’t know her at all.

“I’ve thought about it myself,” he shocked her by saying. “I’m just not home enough.” Taking a seat at the kitchen table, Michael started munching on the gumdrops lining the side of the house. For someone who was heading out, he was doing it slowly.

“We had a dog when I was growing up,” he continued.

Susan joined him at the table. “You never told me that.”

“Haven’t thought abou

t it in years.”

“What was his name?” They’d never been allowed pets when she was growing up. Too much commotion.

“Her.” Michael grinned. “Samson.”

“Samson was a girl?”

“What did I know? I was only six.” He grabbed another gumdrop. “Besides, she was a mutt. She didn’t care.”

She’d known Michael for almost twenty years, and she was seeing a part of him she’d never known. A part that mattered, somehow. “How long did you have her?”

“Until I left home.”

“What happened to her?”

“She was old.” He shrugged, pushed the house a little farther away.

“She got sick?”

“Not really. She just sort of...stopped wanting to live.”

He wasn’t making any sense. “She must have missed you an awful lot.”