Page 36 of How to Prevent a Fumble

“This is Champ!” Elara exclaims, her small hand outstretched toward… is that a dog?

“Is there adogin my house?” I ask, my brain not quite processing the information quick enough.

Briar yanks the phone out of Elara’s hands, and her face fills the screen. “I can find her a new home. She needed one and Elara begged and begged and then Izara told me I had to get her.” Her words come out faster and faster. I should have known her friend Izara was somehow behind this. She made it clear she wasn’t a huge fan of me. I wouldn’t have been either, so I get it.

I try to say something, but no words come out.

Out of all the things that she could have told me, I’m not sure that made the list.

“She just really really needed a home, and Elara was so sad going there and coming home with nothing, and she asked like a million times and I’m usually so good at telling her no?—”

“She’s not!” Elara yells in the background.

“—And the second we got home I knew it was a bad idea and I told her we may have to find a good home for her. Zara could possibly take her, or one of Isla’s friends… actually no, scratch that. They’re all super nice but I don’t really think they’re in places to take care of pets. Umm, I’ll figure something out before you’re home,” she rambles on, growing more and more frantic as she watches what I assume is the puppy run around the floor.

“You named her Champ?” I ask.

She looks down, confused.

“I want credit for that,” Elara sasses from across the room.

“I’m not allowed to take credit for that,” she winces.

Elara yanks the phone out of her mom’s hands. “Leo. Buddy. We’re friends, right? I’ll do your chores for a wholemonth.”

“Is that so?” I ask her, a smile stretching across my face.Most of the chores are taken care of by her mom, or someone her mom hires with my card.

“Ya. I’ll do it all. I’ll wash your stinky socks you leave around the house. Mostly so Champ doesn’t eat them.”

Hurtful.

“And I’ll water all my plants.”

My brows furrow. “Plants?”

“Fuck,” Briar says from the other side, and Elara’s eyes widen. “Swear jar, mom,” she whispers.

Briar takes her phone back. “Isla took her to the farmers market the other day. She got plants for our house. But I couldn’t bring them there for obvious reasons,” she starts.

“She said it’s being painted,” Elara says quietly.

“Yes, because it’s getting painted and we don’t want the plants to get suffocated from the paint fumes, you know?”

“Oh absolutely,” I say. “And how many plants are there?”

She takes a deep breath, her free hand slapping against her forehead as she drags it down, forming a trail through her green face mask. She flinches, realizing she now has goop all over her fingers. “Well you see, Isla has decided she wants to be a Super Aunt and spoil the hell out of Elara. And well, there’s about ten.”

I choke. “Ten plants? In my place.”

She nods as she gets up, and I can hear the sound of my sink in the background as she washes her hands.

“Jesus Briar, that’s too many plants!”

“Are you seriously more upset about the plants than there being a dog in your house?”

I open my mouth to say yes, but nothing comes out. Am I really okay with the dog?

Although I never wanted one, seeing her little puppy eyes made my heart melt, and I only saw them for a couple seconds.

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