night?” he asks.
“A perfect angel.” The nurse nods. “I have some release paperwork for you to sign and then you’re out of here.”
“Excellent.” He sways with Prue in his arms. She’s a medium-sized dog but she looks pretty small in his arms. Her mop of hair falls down in her eyes, and I swear she flicks her head to disperse the hairs so she can see.
We take a seat and Xander holds her in his lap while the nurse goes to get the last of the paperwork.
“What do you think?” Xander asks her. “Are you ready to go home with us?”
Prue shakes her body and I laugh. “I hope that means yes.”
“Of course it does. We’re awesome.”
“All right, guys,” the nurse announces as she breezes back in, “here’s the last of it.”
Xander stands and hands Prue to me and I grunt under her weight. She gives me a look as if to say I’m not that heavy, get over it.
The nurse explains what he’s signing for and he scribbles his signature on the papers.
When he’s done, she hands him his copy and smiles at us.
“I think it’s so nice what you’ve done for Prue. Saving her and giving her a home.”
Xander glances over his shoulder at us and smiles. “Some things are meant to be and will find a way no matter the circumstances.”
My body heats at his words because I know he’s talking about more than just the dog.
We head out to Xander’s truck since we obviously couldn’t ride his bike here.
He opens the door for me and I sit down with Prue in my lap. When the door closes, she raises her paws to the sill and looks out. I ruffle the hair on her head. “You’re going home, girl,” I tell her. Even though I might not be the most animal obsessed person out there, I still like them, and I’m glad she won’t be living on the streets anymore.
Xander gets behind the wheel and slips his sunglasses on. “We’re going for ice cream,” he announces.
“Oh, we are?” I laugh.
“Yep. We have to celebrate.”
“Hey—” I shrug “—I’m not going to complain about ice cream.”
He drives about ten minutes away to a local place. It’s small, with a few seats inside and more outside. He goes inside to order—he doesn’t even ask what I want, he already knows—while I snag one of the picnic tables and sit with Prue. She sits beside me, tail wagging, and leans over to lick my face. I giggle.
“You’re pretty cute,” I tell her, scratching behind her ear. Her tail thumps madly and she tilts her head, encouraging me to scratch her neck.
Xander joins us a few minutes later and hands me my chocolate brownie sundae with extra sprinkles on top.
“I will never understand your obsession with unicorn shit.” He grins and sits across from me, taking a bite of his peanut butter sundae.
“They’re sprinkles, not unicorn shit,” I defend.
He eyes my sundae. “Pretty sure you’re wrong.”
I make a big show of licking my spoon. I mean it to be playful but his pupils dilate and I realize what it really looks like and I blush.
We grow quiet, enjoying our ice cream and each other’s company. It’s a nice day, with blue sky and fluffy white clouds. The temperature is warm, but not too hot.
Xander finishes his ice cream first and disappears for a few minutes before returning with a small vanilla ice cream cone.
“Please tell me you’re not eating that.” I laugh.
“Of course not.” He holds the cone out to Prue and her tongue slides out to lick the ice cream. “I gotta feed my other girl.”
Prue takes a few more licks before devouring the entire cone in one bite.
I look at Xander with wide eyes. “Was that safe? What if she chokes?”
Prue licks her mouth and I swear she smiles at us. “See, she’s fine.” He shrugs.
I finish my ice cream and toss it in the nearby trashcan. “We’re so not good at this whole dog parent thing and it hasn’t even been a full day yet,” I tell him. “Heck, it hasn’t even been an hour.”
He picks up Prue and carries her back to the car. “Are you kidding me? We’re great at this.”
I pat his arm. “You keep telling yourself that.”
“Prue, no!” Xander yells. “Bad girl.”
I snicker from the corner. “I told you we weren’t good at this.”
Xander picks up Prue and continues to scold her against chewing on furniture. “You see this?” He picks up a toy. “You