Page 84 of Learning to Run

I thought they were too cute to even think about stoppingthe chaos, and it just kept getting better because Brady threw himself intoeverything he did…including playing with his new puppy best friend who wascurrently trying to dig the ball out from under the table.

Brady couldn’t be ignored and decided to take the game in anew direction. “My turn. I’m the puppy.”

As Cashel rescued the ball and tossed it toward the livingroom, the very talkative almost-puppy went scrambling through the apartment onall fours, making everyone laugh and me sigh with relief.

“Good save, Uncle Bates.” Cashel couldn’t help teasing me asI shrugged sheepishly.

“It was an accident.” But cars and toys would make for amemorable wedding…and it wasn’t like Brady’s family would’ve had an issue withit.

Jude couldn’t seem to decide if he was going to laugh orthrow something at me. “You’re worse than his family.”

“Aww, thank you.” They were some of the most fascinatingpeople I’d ever seen. “I’m glad I fit right in.”

That got a scoff from the confusing Daddy. “His mother lovesyou and is giving both of us grief that you haven’t come to a family dinneryet.”

I was not the problem with that nonsense.

“We will do our best to make the next one.” Especially nowthat we knew we could all be in the same room without making Brady’s motherwant to chase after us with a wooden spoon. “I heard good things aboutChristmas.”

Slumping back against the couch, Jude studied me. “How?”

That was easy.

“Brady really does talk to himself a lot.” More than any ofthem seemed to realize. “And he used to do it a lot more before you guys gottogether.”

Jude was good for Brady but bad for my informational needs.

“He also used to make loops around the building when he wasfiguring things out or on the phone with his family after class.” I shrugged asJude chuckled, finally getting the picture. “Now that he has you, that’sstopped. A Daddy is clearly better than pacing when it comes to wearing out alittle.”

Shaking his head, Jude smiled as Brady and Gareth landed ina puddle of limbs in the living room both clearly needing a moment to breatheand maybe some water. “Come here. You look like you need a cuddle and a drink.”

Jude hadn’t been nearly as specific as he thought he’d beenbecause the two cuties untangled themselves just long enough to wiggle over andcrash into him. They both seemed to think his lap was a wonderful place to takea quick rest and curled up together with Jude’s thighs as their pillows.“That’s not what I meant.”

Neither of them was listening, but as they closed their eyesand tried to catch their breath, Brady reached up and patted his Daddy’s chest.Jude frowned but he didn’t complain. The dramatic Daddy just started to run hishands over their heads. “It’s too late to take a nap.”

If he wasn’t careful, he was going to lose that battle.

But since I didn’t want Gareth taking a nap this lateeither, I stood up and headed toward the kitchen. It was time for cookies andwater at the very least. “I have a surprise, but if they fall asleep, I guesswe’ll have to eat all the cookies.”

That got movement and whines coming from the living room,but complaints meant they weren’t asleep, so I’d take it.

Cashel shook his head but clearly approved of whatever hesaw because he rose and came into the kitchen with me. “I’ll get them somethingto drink.”

Kissing his cheek, I nodded and got out the dough so I couldput it on the already-prepared tray. It’d seemed a bit silly to preheat theoven earlier but now I was glad it was all ready and wouldn’t take long to havedone. “Thank you.”

Giving me a smile, he called out to the living room. “Brady,do you want milk or water?”

“Water like the puppy.” Chaos seemed to come from the livingroom for a few seconds before a laugh led to silence. “Puppies drink water.”

So he was still a talking puppy?

“Alright.” Trying not to laugh, Cashel went over to thecabinet and sifted through the cups aiming to pick out the best ones forpuppies.

By the time I had cookies in the oven, he’d picked out asippy cup we’d purchased for Brady and a straw cup that I was assuming was forGareth. After telling him I’d get the rest, he took them out to the living roomand I quickly followed.

The cookies wouldn’t take long, so I was hoping the pupswould get their second wind by the time they were ready. But that was going todepend on whether Brady would ever actually drink his water. At the moment, hewas glaring at Cashel like the Devil himself was sitting in the living room.“No.”

Raising one eyebrow as I set the other glasses down on thecoffee table that’d been pushed to one side, I tried to guess what we werearguing about. “Do pups need milk instead?”

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