Page 41 of Puppy Christmas

“Well, you must have told her something, because she has that look in her eyes. Mom, please stop fluttering your eyelashes like that. I’m not going to show two perfect strangers the pictures you have of me and Dawn and Sophie naked in the bathtub.”

“I knew an Emily once. Emily Lusitano. Your father and I used to play bridge with her parents. The last I heard, she has three children. Can you believe that?Three.And she’s not even thirty yet.”

“You’ve broken her,” Lila accused her sister. “Nothing but a grandchild will appease her now, and I refuse to be the one to give it to her.”

“Of course, Ford is a fine name, too, though I can’t imagine what made his parents give it to him twice. Were they hippies, do you think?”

Dawn bit on a quivering lower lip as she finished securing the puppies. “Strange, isn’t it? There’s no explaining the tortures parents will put their children through. Well, Lil—should we draw lots for it? The short straw takes Ford Ford to husband?”

“You can have him,” Lila offered, but there was no denying the tight squeeze in her chest as she did. It was silly to feel proprietary over a man who had literal hordes of women immolating themselves at his feet, but there was no help for it. Her feelings were proprietary. They were also inappropriate and only growing the more time she spent in his company. The best she could hope for was to push them as far down as they could go. “Mom, I don’t know what kind of stories Dawn has been telling you, but I promise there’s nothing between me and Ford.”

Her mom’s smile drooped. “Nothing?”

“Not a single spark,” she lied.

“Oh dear. Then why were you lying on the floor surrounded by puppies? You haven’t done that since you broke up with—”

Lila groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. The problem with loving and overly involved relatives was that they had a tendency to be, well, loving and overly involved. No wonder so many princesses allowed themselves to be locked inside towers. It was probably the only peace they got.

“Let’s just go look at that photo album, shall we?” she said, latching desperately onto the only escape she could find. “I’ll open a bottle of wine, and you can tell me all about your friends’ grandchildren and how lonely you’re getting in your old age.”

Her mother allowed herself to be led away, but not before she landed a parting shot. “That shows how much you know, love. I might be a silly and emotional old woman, but it’s never beenmyloneliness I worry about.”

* * *

“Here you are, trying to eat the Fourth of July fireworks. And here you are, sliding down that horrible winding staircase we had in our first house. I only managed to save you from breaking every bone in your body by putting a vacuum cleaner at the bottom. You were terrified of that vacuum cleaner.” Her mom flipped the page of the photo album and chuckled deeply. “Oh! And this is when you tried riding your tricycle off the back deck. To this day, I have no idea what you thought was going to happen.”

“Mom!” Lila pulled the album across the table and stabbed a finger at the picture in question. “I had a tricycle on the edge of a precipice, and you stopped long enough to grab the camera?”

“Well, we didn’t think you’d actually go through with it. You were a wild little thing, but you weren’tstupid.”

Lila peered closer at the muted colors of the pictures, which had been taken and printed in the days before digital photography. “You’re sure that’s me?”

“Well, of course I’m sure. I know you don’t have much experience with kids, but I promise that parents can generally tell them apart.” She glanced up and took a deep pull from her glass of wine. Dawn had opted to do some extra puppy training rather than face their mother in a mood as wistful as this one, so it was just the pair of them drinking the whole bottle. It had been having a mellowing effect on them both, so there was nothing but mild interest in her mother’s eyes as she asked, “Did you find what you were looking for in that journal?”

Lila placed her finger on the page she’d been reading and shook her head. “Not really, no. I was hoping it would offer insight into the depths of a young girl’s heart and soul, but it’s mostly lists of things. Look—this one is called ‘Ten Lies Dawn Told Today.’Number one: Said she ate all her peas but then put them on Sophie’s plate when Mom wasn’t looking.” She chuckled. “Poor Soph. She always hated peas.”

“Youallhated peas.” Her mom tilted her head thoughtfully. “You know, you might be putting too much thought into this. Kids aren’t complicated. They mostly just want—”

Lila sighed. “I know. Fart jokes and cotton candy.”

“Well, I was going to say someone to love and understand them, but I suppose yours works, too.” Her mom put out a hand to take the diary, pausing for a moment to flip through the pages. “This is awfully dry stuff, dear. How old were you when you kept this?”

“I don’t know. Ten? Eleven? It was before Sophie was diagnosed. I remember that much, so we can’t blame my lack of imagination on that.”

Her mother’s glance was sharp. Unlike her daughters, who all shared the same dark eyes, hers were an ethereal gray that could turn steely in a matter of seconds. “You don’t have a lack of imagination.”

“Um.” Lila pointed at the page that had fallen open. “‘Ten Times the Mailman Was Late.’Number one: May 3, 1998. Number two: May 4, 1998. This is literally a list of ten days in a row.”

Her mom chuckled. “I expect you were just being funny. You’ve always had a good sense of humor.”

Lila stared at her. No one, with the exception of Ford and Emily, had ever accused her of being funny before.

“Look,” her mom added, oblivious to Lila’s incredulity. “This one is ‘Ten Reasons I Like Puppies More Than My Sisters.’ You can’t pretend that wasn’t a joke. No one loves those two more than you.”

“Sure, I donow,” Lila protested. “Although I might still prefer puppies to them, to be honest. Dogs are much less likely to spill the details of my love life to my mother.”

Her mom looked as though she’d have enjoyed nothing more than to delve into the deep psychological meaning behind this remark—especially since the name Ford Ford hadn’t crossed their lips even once—but she kept her comments to herself.