I mean, I hadn’t gone anywhere by myself since I was still married. And even then, I’d never really felt free to buy anything I wanted. I always needed to run it by my ex-husband first.
“Yes, really. I mean, I’ll be hanging here, so you don’t need to be worried or anything. But go shop. Get a taste of real freedom.”
I didn’t really need much more encouragement than that.
I grabbed the cash, then the puppy, and made my way down the stairs, and over to the pet store on the same street.
That was where Cary found me what had to be almost two hours later.
What can I say? It was so novel to me. To shop in general, but also to check out all the dog items. I mean there were hundreds of different collar options, rows and rows of treats, special bowls to slow down eating, crates and beds of every shape and size, and, well, I maybe picked up almost every single toy that the puppy showed any sort of interest in.
“I know I should have asked first,” I said, wincing at him when he stopped at the end of the aisle, looking at me.
He’d changed into an all-black outfit that made him look even sexier than usual, and his hair was still wet from the shower.
What he didn’t look, though, was angry in any way.
“Do you want him?”
“I think I might die inside if you said you don’t like dogs,” I admitted, getting a smile out of him as he moved toward us.
His arm went around me automatically, curling me into his side, and pressing a kiss to my temple.
“We can’t have that, can we?” he asked. “I like dogs. I’ve just always lived at a clubhouse, so it wasn’t in the cards for me. He looks like he’s gonna be big,” Cary said, reaching into the cart to touch the puppy’s big paws with their little white spots. Like freckles on his otherwise all black coat.
“He’s afraid of birds,” I informed him. “He jumped and cried when we went past the parakeets.”
“Quite the guard dog, huh, bud?” Cary asked, rubbing his big head.
I knew I would always be child-free in my life. And I’d never really had that little uterus squeeze thing when I saw a cute baby. But when Cary was loving on the puppy? Yeah, all the squeezes.
“Do you have any name ideas?” I asked, watching as Cary mused that for a minute before turning to look down at me.
“What about Kent?” he asked. “Like…”
“Like Kentwood Penitentiary,” I said, feeling the smile pull at my lips.
“Where we first, for lack of a better term, met.”
It was perfect.
He was perfect.
Life, it seemed, might just end up perfect too.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Cary - 2 weeks
“Baby, he’s not mad at you,” I said, trying like hell not to laugh.
Because Abigail was absolutely fucking hysterical, curled up in a ball on the couch next to the dog, stroking his little snout and begging him to forgive her.
“You don’t know that! He doesn’t understand that it was an accident. I can’t tell him I’m sorry,” she added, sniffling.
She’d tossed her phone toward the couch, not realizing Kent was sleeping there, and whacked him on the head with it.
He’d let out a little whimper.
And that was all it took to make Abigail completely lose her shit.
I didn’t want to tell her that there were sure to be many situations in the future when she accidentally stepped on him, bumped him, or hit him with phones or remotes. I was pretty sure that wasn’t going to help the situation.
“I know. You had a hard day, and then you come home and mommy hits you in the head. I’m so sorry. I’m gonna get you a treat. Do you want a treat?”
Kent’s hard day involved his first puppy training class where he was barked at and charged by a chihuahua with a Napoleon Complex. And then a walk home where a seagull flew off a bench post and startled him.
I was starting to question A’s judgment if this puppy supposedly came from great guard dog genes.
Not that we needed a guard dog.
There was nothing left to fear from the cartels.
Once word got out that Raúl was dead, A swept right in to take over this operation, which, in turn, made Abigail even safer than before. If anyone had been left who had continued loyalty to Raúl was… dealt with.
It almost felt surreal that it was all over, that there was nothing else to worry about.
Not that we hadn’t been through enough, but I guess since the original plan that involved going down to Mexico had been so complicated and risky that not having to do any of that but having the situation handled was hard to come to grips with.
To be honest, I’d wanted more time with Raúl.