Page 97 of A Reluctant Boy Toy
“Do you guys have a dog?” I asked.
Lincoln bobbed a nod. “We have a beagle named Wiley.”
“What’s he like?”
“He never does what we tell him,” Jesse said. “Auntie Ariel’s going to teach me how to train him.”
“Beagles can be pretty independent.” I had experience with the breed.
“That’s why we call him Wiley. He gets into everything.” Jesse looked at Morrigan while he spoke. “Did Ariel train your dog?”
“Morrigan’s an emotional support dog, so she was specially trained to help veterans with PTSD by an organization that does that. That’s actually where I met your aunt Ariel.”
“And then you introduced her to Uncle Taggart?” Jesse asked. “Mom said you did.”
“I am proud to say that I did that.”
They grew pensive, looking at Morrigan. From her body language I saw they’d passed the sniff test. “You can get down and pet her gently, but don’t crowd her, please. She gets nervous around new people.”
It was best that they remain cautious at first, but they knew how to pet her. They didn’t reach for her face or her ears but ran their hands down her neck and over her back until she plopped down between them to enjoy it.
Serena came back inside with her arm around Sadie, who looked like she’d been crying. Sadie glanced toward the space on the couch where Sebastian had been and started crying again, quietly. She turned her head into her mother's shoulder.
“You said to come early,” Serena pointed out.
I stood. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d call or text first or—”
“That was Sebastian Keye, wasn’t it?” Sadie more or less accused.
“Yes.” I looked to Serena, who rolled her eyes heavenward.
“How do you know Sebastian Keye?” Sadie asked. “Why is he here? Why were you—”
“I met Sebastian when I took Hades and Persephone to theBlood Academylocation shoot.”
Sadie glared at me. “Why didn’t you say he’d be here? I havepimples.Do you hate me so much that I had to meet Sebastian Keye with a face full of acne?”
I was aghast. “I don’t hate you. Not at all. What—”
“What are you looking at?” she shouted at her brothers. “You think it’s funny?”
My hundred-pound German shepherd, who was named after the Irish goddess of battle, scrabbled behind Lincoln.
“You think it’s funny that Sebastian Keye saw me looking likethis?” She beat her chest with her clenched fist. “Wearing this dumbdressMom made me put on with these ugly shoes?”
I looked to Serena for answers because as far as I could tell, Sadie was the image of her beautiful mom at that age. To me, she looked wonderful, wearing an autumn-shaded floral dress, black tights, and pretty, girly shoes.
Serena mouthed the wordthirteen.
Adolescence? Was that all?
I could see where that might be hard to live with, day in and day out.
“He’ll think I’m alittle kid,” she wailed. “How could you do this to me?”
Molly, stalwart champion of rational behavior, chose that moment to reappear.
“Hey. So, I’m Molly. Who do we have here?”
