Page 82 of Puppy Christmas

She was careful not to glance over at Neil as she got Byron settled in with the friendly ball of white fur he’d chosen. Already, he seemed to have forgotten that his weapons had been confiscated. He was far too busy patting the puppy and dancing a bright red rope in front of his eyes. Confident that Byron wouldn’t tug, pull, or bite the animal, Lila turned her attention back to Neil. She sauntered slowly over, pretending not to notice that he was poking into Andromeda’s kennel with a tentative finger.

“Pip, I think you said you liked?” she said as she made a big show of reaching for the Chihuahua.

“Who names all the puppies?” Neil asked. “Doyouget to pick them?”

“Sometimes, if they don’t have names when they come here. But I have to share with my sisters, so I don’t get to pick as often as I’d like.”

“Ugh.Sharing.”

She ignored this terse—if accurate—assessment of life with siblings. “Andromeda was already named when we got her. Why? Don’t you think it fits?”

“No!” he said quickly. “I like it. I like her. She’s really smart, see?”

He showed off the dog’s intelligence by making a face like a chimpanzee puffing out its cheeks. Andromeda’s ears perked, and she tilted her head in sudden attention. When Neil shifted into a grimace, the puppy jumped to her feet and drew closer.

“She doesn’t like it when I make that face,” he informed her.

“That’s because it’s her job to know when you’re not feeling well. She can read all kinds of cues—including expressions. It’s because she’s so serious. She watches and listens and learns, absorbing everything around her. She’s going to be a very special service dog someday, but I can see why she might not appeal to an active little boy like you.”

Neil’s eyes slid over to the Chihuahua. “No…” he agreed doubtfully. “But maybe I could play with her anyway? Just for a few minutes?”

Lila had to fight an urge to shout in triumph. She hadn’t been sure her plan would work, but Neil was proving to harbor a soft, sentimental inner core. He was his mother’s son, that was for sure, and Lila couldn’t think of a better compliment to give anyone.

“Absolutely,” she said. “I bet she’d love that. Not many people offer to play with her, which is why it’s all the more special when she finally makes a friend.”

Neil’s glance at her was sharp, making her fear that she’d been a little too heavy-handed in trying to draw the parallels between Andromeda and Emily, but he let it pass. He also jumped wholeheartedly into the next twenty minutes of playtime. In that short time, he discovered that collies were extremely tolerant of children, but also that in the animal’s eyes, he was little more than a sheep.

“She won’t let me leave, Princess Lila!” Neil laughed as he tried to get around the puppy to reach the other side of the kennel. “Lookit! If I go to this side, she follows me. And then if I go to that side, she comes back. I’m trapped.”

“She’s herding you, I’m afraid,” Lila said. “I warned you how it would be. Once a special animal like this one decides she likes you, you’re friends for life. She’ll follow you anywhere.”

Byron had given up on the Akita by this time, much more interested in his brother’s puppy than his own. Lila was about to suggest they grab their coats and head outside for some more rambunctious fun when the alarm on her phone started chiming.

“Oh,s-h-i-t.” She made a fumbling attempt to turn the sound off before the boys noticed and asked her questions, but there was no need. As much as she was learning about children, she still had a long way to go.

“Princess Lila, you spelled ‘shit.’”

“Um. What? No. No, of course I didn’t.”

“You did.S-h-i-tis shit. I know that one.”

Neil nodded in perfect solemnity. “Andd-a-m-nis damn.”

“Yeah. We’re not allowed to say those words. Especially notf-u-c-k, which is—”

“We can all spell that word just fine, Byron, thank you.” Helen appeared in the kennel in time to save Lila from her fate. At first, she was fearful that the other woman was going to be upset at finding her children swearing like pirates in addition to looking like them, but there was no mistaking that smile.

It was the smile of a woman who had spent a pleasant half hour in a handsome man’s company. It was the smile of a woman who’d been struck hard by Cupid’s arrow and planned to do nothing to stop the bleeding.

Lila knew that because it was the same smile she’d been wearing for weeks.

“You two have taken up more than enough of Princess Lila’s evening, I’m sure. It’s high time we headed home and got you ready for bed. Everyone is having baths tonight.” Helen gestured for her kids to join her back in the house. Instead of complying, the pair showed signs of mutiny.

“But Mom, we just got here.”

“This is not a negotiation.”

“But Mom, I want a puppy for Christmas instead of a Nintendo Switch.”