can’t quite tell if I’m disappointed not to see more of him or if I just miss Penny.
As I toy with the idea of texting him to see if he kept the puppy or took her to the pound, my phone pings. Are you at work? It’s him.
I answer back, Nope, it’s my day off.
Can you babysit for a little while?
Babysit who?
Penny.
Delighted that he kept her, I text back that I’d love to babysit. Instead of bringing her to me, he asks me to come to his farm. It takes me ten minutes to get ready and get into my car.
My only plans for today were to walk around town before settling in to watch some of my favorite nineties rom coms. On past days off, I’ve gone into work to make sure things were going smoothly. I zip-lined one day and hiked another. As much fun as those things are, they’re a lot more pleasurable when you can share the experience with somebody.
When I pull into James’s driveway, I pass the farm stand, and ponder some of our squabbles as I drive to his house. My jaw drops once I arrive. In a word, it’s old. If pressed for another word, I’d have to say it’s dilapidated. While it doesn’t look quite ready to be condemned, it’s definitely run-down.
James meets me at the front door and immediately hands me the dog. “Hello,” I say to his back as he walks away from me.
“I have a flood in my master bathroom,” he calls over his shoulder. I watch as he runs up the stairs. I’m not sure whether he expects me to follow him or not. I ultimately decide to stay put.
His living room is sparsely furnished, but what pieces there are look comfortable. I settle on an overstuffed whalebone corduroy couch with Penny, who’s so happy to see me you’d think I was her long-lost mother.
I’m busy rubbing her belly when I hear a variety of noises coming from upstairs, mostly banging and cursing. James runs down the stairs mumbling something about his dumb luck before he walks out the front door.
Penny and I continue to play with her bone-shaped chew toy until James returns a few minutes later. He looks like he’s been in a fist fight. His hair is mussed, his shirt is half out of his waistband and his hands are covered in something that looks like grease. Although it could be mud, it’s hard to say.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
He shakes his head while holding up his hands like a surgeon right before walking into the operating room. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he says before heading toward the rear of the house.
When he returns, he’s not only washed his hands, he’s changed his clothes. “I’ve been updating my bathroom. When I started to remove the old tile from the wall, I accidentally hit the water line with my hammer.”
“Is everything okay now?” I don’t know anything about plumbing and, from the looks of it, neither does he. The devil on my shoulder is tempted to point that out to him, but I tamp down the impulse before I make him mad at me again today.
“I was trying to do the work myself by following YouTube videos, but I’m not doing a very good job of it. I’m going to have to have to hire a plumber now and lord knows what that’s going to cost me.”
“Have you called someone yet?” I ask, unsure of what to say to him while he’s in such a state.
“I’m going to. But in the meantime, I had to shut off all the water to the house. You might want to take Penny to your place where it’s less chaotic. I can pick her up tonight.”
I’ve been dismissed. Yet, there’s really no point staying with all the upheaval going on here. Before leaving, I state the obvious. “You kept Penny.”
His smile causes a wave of undefinable emotion to wash over me. “She slept with me her first night here and I was hooked.” Now that’s sweet.
“You’re going to call her Penny?” I ask with borderline jealousy that the puppy belongs to him and not me.
He shrugs his shoulders. “It’s as good a name as any.” Pulling his phone out of his pants pocket, he says, “Her food is in the kitchen. She gets a cup at noon and another cup at six. I might be there in time for her supper though.”
I gather Penny in my arms along