Page 28 of Mia Amata

“Good to know,” I sent back. I filled his food and water dishes, putting them in the mud room where he could get to them easily. I took his dog bed into the living room, putting it on the floor in front of the fireplace. Lucky was following me around the house, watching every move I made. I went back into the kitchen, made another pitcher of tea, and put it in the refrigerator. I realized that I had skipped lunch, so figured I would fix myself an early supper. “What sounds good for supper Lucky?”

Lucky barked at me.

“I agree. A hamburger does sound good.” I got the fixings out to make myself a hamburger and started cooking the burger. On a plate, I put a bun with a piece of cheddar cheese. I put a bit of ketchup on that and grabbed a bag of chips out of the pantry. I put a few on my plate and then put the bag away. Pretty soon my hamburger was done, and I put it on the bun. I sat down at the table and ate my supper.

Before I finished, my cell phone chirped. I looked to see a new text message from Jacob. “Welcome to the area Mia Amata. Hope to see you again.”

I wasn’t sure how to feel about his texting me like that. There was something about Jacob, I couldn’t place my finger on it, but I felt uneasy. I debated about replying to his text message but decided not to. I didn’t feel like I should encourage him too much.

Lucky went back to his food dish and ate his supper, while I washed up the dishes by hand, even though there was a dishwasher, putting them away. I then went into the living room. I armed the alarm system and then sat down with the remote. Lucky sat at my feet, looking at me, whining. “I really shouldn’t let you on the couch you know,” I said looking at him. “That is probably a bad habit to get into.”

He tilted his head to one side and looked at me.

“Stop that, no fair! No sad puppy eyes.”

He tilted his head to the other side and gave me the same look.

“OK OK! Get up here.” I patted the couch next to me, he jumped up lying his head on my lap. I laughed and stroked his head. We sat like that, watching a movie on TV. When the movie was over, I stretched, looking down at Lucky. “I’m tired, boy. I think I will take a nice bath and turn in.”

He jumped down, sitting there looking at me expectantly.

“I’d swear, it’s almost like you can understand everything I say to you. It’s uncanny.”

I got up, shutting all the lights off. I checked the alarm again. I had closed all the drapes when it got dark. I headed to the bedroom with Lucky following behind, not letting me out of his sight. I ran the bath water, putting my clothes in the hamper. I got my pajamas out and lay them on the bed. I climbed into the tub, letting out a huge sigh. I turned up the hot water a little bit, letting it run for a little while longer. Lucky lay on the floor where he could keep an eye on me.

After my bath, I crawled into bed. Lucky sat on the floor looking at me again, whining. “Seriously?” I laughed as I looked at him. He put his paws on the side of the bed, begging me to let him up. “I guess the bed is big enough for both of us.” I spread a small blanket on the other side of the bed and said, “All right, get up here.” He leaped onto the bed, almost not making it with his puppy legs. He immediately lay down on the blanket I put down for him. I shut the lamp off, rolling over on my side, stroking his head. He gave my hand a quick lick. Pretty soon we both were sound asleep.

***

I slept soundly, getting up once during the night to let Lucky out when he whined. He was such a good puppy, letting me know he needed to go out and then going right back to sleep. We had no reason to get up super early the next day, so we lazed in bed until mid-morning. Finally, my stomach and Lucky’s bladder demanded that we get up. I left Lucky outside, leaving the door open to the deck, while I went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.

I took my coffee, along with some toast I made, out on the deck, watching Lucky chase butterflies, then a squirrel who sat in the tree chattering at him. As I sat there drinking my coffee, I heard a voice hollering my name. Randy was coming up the path with Lady. I waved at her, motioning her to join me on the deck.

“Morning,” I said as she joined me on the deck.

“Good morning,” she said. “Hope I’m not imposing.”

“Not at all. There is coffee in the kitchen if you would like a cup.” I offered.

“Oh, that sounds wonderful. Thank you.” She went into the kitchen, poured a cup of coffee, then came back out and joined me. “Lady and I like to go for a walk in the mornings before I go to work. I thought we would walk in this direction and say hi if you were up.”

“I’m glad you did. We are just sitting out here enjoying the morning. It is so beautiful here.”

“It really is. I’m not from here, I moved here a couple of months ago after Josh asked me to marry him. I have come to love it here.”

“So, you and Josh are my neighbors to the north. Jacob lives reasonably close Josh said. He isn’t married?” I asked, trying to seem like I was just making conversation and not trying to pry information about Jacob out of Randy.

“Yes, that is right. Jacob rents a small house about 20 minutes away. He isn’t married. Their sister, Janet, and her husband, Jack, live about an hour away. Nora and Donald, their parents, live just a few minutes away. They try to get together every weekend, if possible.” Randy sipped her coffee.

“Sounds like a close-knit family,” I commented.

“They really are. They are all so nice, I feel lucky that I am going to be part of the family. They already treat me as if I am family. You would like them,” she looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

Taking a sip of my coffee, I asked, “Do you work today?”

“Yes, I should probably get going in fact,” She stood up. “Would you like to come over for supper tonight?”

I smiled at her, “Thanks for the offer, but I really can’t tonight. Let’s plan some night this week though. I would love to have a girl’s night with you soon.”

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