TAKE TWO_ Who says you can't ma - Heather M. Orgeron Page 0,21
but I certainly don’t need it causing a rift so early in our marriage.
“Not we…you. And you better believe I’m bringing this up to Dr. Tate.” She gives me a warning glare before closing herself up in the office.
For the first two nights, El follows her mother’s instructions to the T, keeping her in the kennel beside her bed, and consequently not getting a wink of sleep. Midge is as bad as a newborn, crying until her bark becomes hoarse and then crying still. Poor Ellie was up every hour taking her out. By Sunday evening, she looks every bit the new mother: exhausted, with black circles beneath her eyes.
“What are you doing?” she asks, popping up from her pillow when I go up to her room and grab the kennel with Midge inside.
“I’m going to take over. You need your rest for school in the morning.”
“Mom is going to lose her mind.” She isn’t wrong.
I swallow to clear the fear from my throat. “Yeah…you just let me worry about your mother.”
“Don’t let her get rid of her! You promise?”
“I promise, sweet pea. Get some sleep.” I kiss her on the top of the head then head out to do battle.
Before I’ve even sat the kennel on the floor, Midge is screeching like a banshee.
Nya’s head pops up over the stack of pillows. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Look, our daughter has school in the morning. Until Midge here starts sleeping through the night, I’m going to have to take over puppy duty on school days.”
“Yeah? Well, when you move out in five and a half months, you’re taking it with you!” Her head slams back down on her pillow. Shortly after, she snatches the top pillow from the wall, sandwiching her head between them both in an attempt to drown out the wailing. “And you could have asked before bringing a dog into my house.”
“Our house,” I remind her yet again. “I thought about it, but you would have said no. The dog was already a done deal. How was I supposed to know you were going to propose marriage when I decided to get her for Ellie?”
“I didn’t PROPOSE marriage! It was merely a drunken suggestion born out of mom guilt.” She sulks, huffing at me before changing the subject back to the dog. “You could have told them you changed your mind.”
“But I didn’t.”
“Well you should have!”
“I’m hearing the words you’re saying, Nya, but I’m digging deeper to uncover your true feelings, and I don’t think you mean it.”
“Damn you and Dr. Tate straight to hell…and you can take that screaming rodent with you!”
After two hours of near constant crying with no relief in sight, I make the executive decision to put Midge in bed with me. It’s the only way she’ll stop howling, and I’m fairly certain Nya is on the verge of putting us both on the curb.
Less than two minutes after sneaking the pup into bed, Nya’s rhythmic snore lulls me to sleep.
It barely feels like I’ve closed my eyes when the alarm to wake Ellie for school sounds. My very first thought is that I can’t believe the dog actually slept through the night.
Then, the dog… where the hell could she have gone?
I sit up, looking under and over the covers and behind the pillow for the little thing, but she’s nowhere in sight. And then I spot her… curled up in Nya’s hair on her pillow.
Smothering a laugh, I reach over to retrieve her, but her nails get stuck, and when I lift, Nya jerks up with a yelp. “Did you just pull my hair?”
“Uh, sorry. I was trying to move the pillows to wake you and my fingers got caught.”
She squints, eying the ball of fur in my arm with derision. “Take that thing out before it pees in my room. I’ll go wake Ellie.”
Nya
Beasty
“She hardly looks like a beast.” Hannah stares at the floor, making goo-goo eyes at my latest unwelcome house guest before pushing past me into the entry way and dropping her purse and keys on the console table.
The pint-sized dog is circling my feet. I’ve been tripping over the little shit all morning.
I thought dogs were supposed to be smart. For instance, shouldn’t this one be able to sense the fact that I don’t like her? “Don’t let all that cuteness fool you, bestie. She’s a pain in the ass.”
“Hey, Hannah Banana.” The other resident thorn in my side strolls out of the kitchen in his slut