Page 59 of Mail Order Splash

“Thanks. I won’t be but twenty minutes. By the way, should I bring my boat in and close the outside holding pen?”

“If you give me your keys, I can take care of that for you.” He caught the keys Josh tossed then went off to move it.

“I could get used to this.” Josh pulled me with him to get packed.

“Well don’t, because when we go back to just us it’ll be hard to adjust to being normal.”

“Fine, but that won’t be for at least a year, so I’m gonna enjoy it. What is my job going to be now?”

“The same as always, Josh. Nothing is changing how we do rescues. It’s me and you.”

“Things are going to change a little, Kleine, including housing a rescue while the place is being refurbished.”

“I know, I was thinking about that. I’ll have to put my foot down on having at least one tank available at any given time.”

“I’m ready. You need any help in there?” Josh called from the hall after he’d gone to pack.

“Nope. Sweatpants, pj’s, and sneakers, what every girl needs.”

“Most girls would say ‘makeup, blow dryer, shampoo’.” He paused. “Do you use shampoo?”

“Josh, yes, most of the time.”

“Do me a favor and don’t tell anyone that if they ask about your routine.”

“What routine?”

“Shower, shave, makeup, hair products, and on and on.”

“Oh, yeah, that.”

“Kleine, you’re the worst. Thank goodness you have all that natural beauty because, honestly, you’re a hot mess.”

“Such flattery. Look, he asked me to marry him as is, so why do I need to change?”

“Because they have an image. Have you never seen pictures of all of them together?”

“I saw them at the party and, sure, they were polished.”

“No, Kleine, I mean everyday clothes.” He pulled up a picture on his cell. “See?”

“Some of them look normal.”

“Yeah, shabby chic. Those ‘normal’ outfits cost more than my car payment.”

“You have a car payment? I didn’t know that.”

“Focus, it was an example.” He groaned. “I can’t handle you sometimes. What happened to the girlie side of you?”

“I grew up with no siblings and fish. Be glad I don’t wear a wetsuit all day.”

Bobby escorted us back to the car after loading our bags. “Do you have spare keys, ma’am?”

“Hey, Bobby, my name is Kleine and this is Josh. I appreciate the ‘ma’am’ thing, but can we do our names?”

“Yes. I can’t promise around the family, though.” He pulled out into traffic. “Spare keys?”

“You can keep those. What do you need with them?”

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