Page 106 of Hey, Daddy

“Yeah, Daddy,” she croaked.

The vet disappeared around the corner, and I ran my free hand over Finn’s head.

He turned his face to lick my hand.

God, he was always trying to make me feel better.

Every single time that I came over, he never held it against me that I was no longer there. It’s like he knew that he wasn’t with me so he could watch over my favorite person. To be with her when I couldn’t be.

“Why do you always have to break my heart, Finn,” I whispered. “First I had to leave you behind, then I have to watch you go when I just got you back.”

Desi made a keening sound, and she was out of my arms a second later.

I turned my head to see that my mama had her and gave my attention back to Finn.

“There are going to be so many couches for you to lay on in heaven. No one will tell you to get down. No one will push you off because you take up too much room,” I crooned, stroking his head. “You’re going to love it there. You’re going to be able to run and play forever. You won’t ever get tired, and it’ll always be the perfect sixty degrees. You’re going to be able to eat to your heart’s content. You will never run out of non-slobbery water. And even better, you’ll have so many friends there to keep you company.”

Finn licked my nose and cheek, taking away half of my tears.

“Are you ready?” the doctor asked, startling me.

I looked up to find some syringes in his hand. One clear, one blue, and another milky white.

I wondered which one of those would be responsible for taking my Finn away from me.

He gave half the clear, then the full milky white one.

Finn’s head dropped, and he started to snore, making my heart ache.

God, I’d miss that sound.

I used to sit on the front porch after getting home from a long day at work, watching Desi in the yard playing in the dirt. Finn, passed out beside me cold, because Desi had made him run around with her for an hour.

He’d snore and snore.

Every once in a while, I’d reach down and run my bare foot over his big, bulky body, and that snore would turn startled before his tail would start a steady beat against the deck.

There was no more tail wagging, though.

On my knees, with Finn’s head in my lap, I knew he was finally at peace.

My Finn.

The hand was back in mine as the doctor connected the blue syringe, and Finn was no more.

NASTYA

“What now?” I asked the vet.

He was standing behind the glass walls of his office, and at first, he didn’t act like he heard me.

But then he turned and gave me his full attention.

His eyes were red-rimmed.

He wasn’t crying, per se, but I knew that he was seconds away from it.

“Two things,” he said softly as he turned his back on Desi and Haze that were finishing up their goodbyes. “The first option is to take him home and bury him somewhere of y’all’s choosing.”

---