Page 12 of All Tied Up
“Good morning,” I replied, then glanced back at the dog making its way to the door. “What breed is it?” I asked, not sure I’d ever seen a dog that big.
“Newfoundland,” Finton replied, then stretched while yawning. “AKA fucking huge. Mom is making him keep the thing in his bedroom at night. She doesn’t want him roaming. She’s afraid he’ll break shit.”
Birch reached the door, and it swung open before his new friend came barreling inside. Its eyes locked on me.
“He doesn’t jump—anymore at least. But he likes attention. Best you love on him before you get coffee, or he’ll follow you around, begging,” Birch said from the open doorway.
Smiling, I set my cup down just as he reached me.
“What’s his name?” I asked, bending over to rub his head as he nudged my thigh with his nose.
“Titan,” he told me.
“Aren’t you just an adorable little bear?” I cooed as he basked in my attention.
“How old is he?” I asked, not looking up from him.
“Eight months,” Birch replied.
Finton walked over and picked up my empty cup. “I’ll make it. Cappuccino?”
I glanced up at him and nodded. “Yes. Thank you. I’m afraid I don’t remember how it works.”
He smirked. “I figured.”
“TEN MINUTES!” Jellie yelled from the living room. “HURRY UP!”
Titan’s head turned toward the noise, and he trotted off in her direction.
“You’d better go stop him before he tries to get on Mom’s sofa,” Finton said over his shoulder.
“I told him he couldn’t do that last night,” Birch replied.
Finton made a grunt that sounded like he didn’t think that was going to work, but said nothing more.
“Okay, fine. I’ll go make sure. But Jellie’s squealing would probably scare him off anyway,” Birch said. “Make me an espresso while you’re at it.”
“No,” Finton replied.
Birch looked at me, then his brother. “But you’re making Noa a cappuccino.”
“She can’t work the damn machine.”
I nodded my head to back that up.
Birch laughed. “Yeah, that’s the reason,” he said, shaking his head as he headed out of the kitchen after Titan.
What was that supposed to mean? Frowning, I watched him go, then turned to glance back at Finton, who stood silently while the machine finished my cappuccino. The sudden quiet made it awkward—or at least, I felt that way.
“I have to say, I like Titan a lot better than his normal plus-ones during the holidays,” I said jokingly, although I did, in fact, much prefer the dog.
“That isn’t a high bar. I’d prefer a fucking wild animal to his typical dates,” Finton replied as he held out the cup to me.
“Thank you,” I told him.
He nodded, but said nothing more before focusing on making himself a cup.
Taking mine, I headed to go join Jellie on the sofa to try and enjoy one of my favorite days of the year while, inside, my heart was aching.
