Ella and I don’t say anything, but we agree with her wholeheartedly. He was a solid member of our family, if only for a couple weeks.
Once we’re inside and all buckled up, I glance over my shoulder at Lucy in the backseat and then to Ella. “Where to now?”
Ella seems to ponder by tapping her finger against her chin. A peek in the rearview mirror at Lucy gets me a shrug back.
“I know,” Ella exclaims, holding her index finger up as if struck by the most amazing revelation. “How about we get a new dog?”
“Really?” Lucy whispers from the back seat, and the shrieks, “Really?”
Wincing, I swivel toward her. “Really. Your mom and I have been stalking the local shelters, and there’s one that has a few options.”
“Puppies?” she inquires because she wants a puppy, although she wants it to be a rescue for sure.
“They have a litter,” I assure her.
“Then let’s go,” she exclaims, bouncing in her seat. “Hurry… let’s go.”
I glance at Ella, who smirks. I hold my hand out, and she places her palm in mine for a short squeeze.
Life is good.
♦
It’s been an exhausting day, and I leave for an East Coast trip tomorrow. I’ll be gone four days, and I’m dreading it because I just got settled back into my home with my family, and I simply don’t want to leave them. It makes me wonder if I should consider retirement at the end of the year.
I still have good legs, stamina, and a lot to offer this team. But I don’t need the money. I’ve had all the glory. While hockey is still a passion, it’s not my main one now.
I head upstairs to check on Lucy. Our visit to the shelter was a lot of fun. We played with a variety of dogs and a group of wiggly adorable puppies. The shelter volunteer thought they were part golden retriever and part shepherd. There were three girls and two boys, and I simply couldn’t see how Lucy would be able to choose because not one stood out as better than the other. I expect if we let her, she would have brought the whole litter home.
Her bedroom door is partially open with the glow of light peeking out. I step inside, glancing at the wire kennel on her floor.
Empty.
Lucy is sound asleep on her bed with her new dog curled into her side. He lifts his head, blinks sleepily at me, then lays it back down on her chest.
He’s not a puppy. In fact, the volunteer didn’t have a lot of information on him, but the vet who checked him out estimated his age was somewhere in the five-year range.
To mine and Ella’s surprise, after playing with the puppies and walking the rows of cages, Lucy decided on adopting an older dog, who was frankly… unadoptable. He’d been at the shelter for almost six months. I can honestly say he’s the ugliest dog I’ve ever seen.
Lucy named him Tramp, and his fur is all wiry and stiff. Half an ear is missing, presumably from a fight on the streets before he was brought in, and somehow his tail had gotten broken and mended at an odd angle halfway down.
It was instant love between Lucy and this gremlin of an animal, and she insisted he was the one.
While it was probably a risk bringing home a dog that had spent a lot of time on the streets fending for itself, then another several months locked in the cage, I knew from his soulful brown eyes that he was the one for my daughter.
Lucy couldn’t have made a better choice, and it warmed my heart to see her choose the underdog.
No pun intended.
I move to the side of her bed, lean over, and kiss her forehead lightly so as not to wake her, then scratch the top of Tramp’s head. He opens one eye to look, and I swear his mouth curves into a smile before he falls asleep.
Turning the light out, I move downstairs and into the master bedroom.
I grin when I find Ella in a sexy pose in the middle of our bed. She has on a lacy red bustier that does fantastic things to her breasts, along with sheer panties that let me see plenty of the heaven between her legs.
Faking a yawn, I move to the dresser to take off my watch. “Sorry, babe. Not interested. It’s been a long day.”