Page 70 of Bad Nanny

Lex changed the group photo. *picture of dog licking Gabriel’s face*

Lex named the conversation “Puppy Love.”

Lex: Josie, what have you done to our coldhearted brother?

Lex: *picture of Gabriel with the dog in his lap while sitting at his desk doing work*

Noah: Rumor has it, he gave Ava his black Amex card and told her to fill up the entire back of his SUV with whatever the dog would need.

Josie: OMG *three heart-eye emojis*

Lex: Don’t forget, he specifically requested a purple sparkly collar.

Me: What the actual fuck is this?

Lex: Payback is a literal bitch, isn’t it?

Me: Payback for what? Being the only brother who isn’t childish?

Noah: Keep telling yourself that.

Josie: If anything, they are helping you get laid. *eggplant emoji* *sweat droplets emoji*

Lex: I don’t need to know what my brother gets up to.

Josie: Oh, he’ll be getting up, for sure. *smirking face emoji*

Noah: Okay, maybe this group chat was a mistake. Also, Gabriel adheres to a strict no emoji use policy in all texts with him unless he is flipping us off.

Me: That rule doesn’t apply to her, and it’s not like you two follow that rule anyway. Payback for what?

Lex: You know . . . the thing.

Me: What thing?

Noah: If you don’t know what thing we’re talking about, you don’t deserve to know.

Me: You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?

Josie: We’re keeping Honeybun? *folded hands emoji*

Lex: That’s the perfect name!

Josie: Laney came up with the honey part. She decided Bluey would be too confusing for the dog when she was watching the show.

Me: We have to wait six business days before we can adopt. Technically, we are fostering her until then. They are posting pictures of her on social media and lost animal websites and suggested we walk her around the neighborhood.

I put down my phone and ran a hand down my face. Honeybun turned her head, so it was lying on my stomach, her soulful eyes staring up at me. She had hopped up in my lap not long after I’d sat down, despite her size.

My wariness over her had led to me offering to bring her with me. And now here we were, CEO and mutt, working on a project for a billion-dollar company.

I ran my hand down her back and put my head back against my seat, closing my eyes. The vet at Animal Care and Control said she was malnourished and was about twenty pounds underweight. He estimated her to be about threeyears old, and other than a few cracked toenails and her needing food, she was in good health.

Animals got lost all the time, but this one had been lost for a while. More likely than not, she’d been abandoned. How someone could do that to a creature was unfathomable.

There was a soft knock on my door, and it opened slowly, Lex poking his head in. “Hey, do you have a minute?”

“Sure, come in.” Honeybun shifted in my lap, her leg slipping from its perch on my leg and her foot going right into my crotch. “Ow! Fuck!”

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