Page 46 of River Wild

Carrie

Using the remote, I turn the TV off and stretch my body out. Buddy doesn’t even move next to me. Little sleepyhead that he is.

I did a double shift tonight, as one of the waitresses called in sick, and after I finished work, I came home and took Buddy for a walk. Poor thing had been stuck inside all day while I worked. I stopped at the store and got a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream, hot fudge topping, and marshmallows. The baby’s craving these things. What can I do?

When we got home from our walk, Scrooged was just starting on TV. It’s December now, so Christmas movies are in full swing. And I love Bill Murray movies. They always leave me with a good feeling.

So, I changed into my pajamas and got snuggled up on the sofa with Buddy and my ice cream concoction to watch the movie.

I watched. Buddy slept.

Thinking about Christmas, I glance around my living room.

I really need to get a Christmas tree. Weird that I haven’t thought about it until now.

Neil always used to buy our tree and put it up. I was never allowed to decorate it. He said I would mess it up.

Well, guess what, Neil. I’m going to get a tree, and I’m going to decorate the heck out of it.

It’s my day off tomorrow, so I’ll head into town and do a little Christmas shopping.

There’s a hardware store in town that sells and delivers Christmas trees. I saw them when I was in there last week, picking up a gardening trowel and fork set, so I could start on ridding the front garden of weeds.

I’ll take Buddy for a walk into town in the morning and get a tree. I’ll also pick up some decorations. Hopefully, they can do same-day delivery, and then I can spend the rest of my day decorating it. I might even grab some ingredients from the grocery store and bake some Christmas cookies.

I feel a tingle of excitement at the thought.

It’s the little things that matter most to me. The things I never could do before.

Maybe I’ll take some of the cookies to River. Another thank-you for his help with Buddy.

I give Buddy a gentle nudge with my hand, waking him.

“Come on, Bud. Toilet time.”

I pick my bowl up to take to the kitchen and get up from the sofa. Buddy clambers down and sleepily follows me.

I place my bowl into the sink and then open the back door for him.

I step out onto the deck and watch him trot down the steps and onto the grass.

The panels on the fence are still broken. For all of River’s complaining about them, he hasn’t fixed them like he said he would.

So, I don’t want to leave Buddy out alone in the garden in case he goes through the gap and into River’s garden and ends up back in the pool.

It’s been almost three weeks since I rescued Buddy out of River’s pool. I haven’t seen my neighbor around at all. If I were a paranoid person, I’d think he was avoiding me. But I’m not, so I don’t.

It’s not like I’m waiting around to see him.

I’m busy working at the diner and taking walks with Buddy. Life is good. Better than I could’ve ever imagined it would be.

I’ve also made a start at stripping the walls in the nursery, ready to prime it, so I can paint it.

I’m just not sure what color to go with.

I guess it depends on whether I decide to find out the sex of the baby when I have my next ultrasound.

But then I suppose it doesn’t have to be a pink or blue room. It could be yellow or green or lilac or even white with colored accessories to brighten it up.