At first, Dustin had been in pieces, and I’d stepped in to help, burying my own pain in busy work. Slowly, he’d come back to himself, and we found ourselves falling into a routine. I spent more nights on his couch than in my own bed, until one night, we’d fallen asleep on the couch together, watching a movie, and we woke up tangled in each other’s arms.
We fought it, at first, feeling like we were somehow being disrespectful to Sarah’s memory. After all, if she was like a sister to me, what the hell kind of brother was I being, going after her husband, the father of her child?
But when we both sat down and talked, and really, truly thought about who Sarah was, we came to realize that she would have wanted both of us to be happy, and she would honestly be tickled that the two most important men in her life had found that happiness with each other.
“Rudy? You ok?” Ava asks, and I realize I’ve been zoning out.
“Yeah, I’m good. Hey, isn’t tonight your last night at the restaurant?” I ask, remembering.
Ava groans. “Oh, shoot, you’re right. It’s probably good you got here early, I forgot my uniform, so I’ll have to run home and change.”
“Well, hey, last time you have to do it. Bright side,” I remind her.
I’ll be glad when she’s put the restaurant completely behind her. I worry about her being there, fake flirting with creeps and dealing with the occasional drunk. Plus she gets out so late, and her apartment isn’t exactly in the best part of town.
She smiles and nods, “Yeah.”
She stares reluctantly down into the playpen, watching the puppy. “Will you text me and let me know if you and Dustin decide to keep her?” she asks hopefully.
“Of course, I’ll need to get you that schedule I promised, won’t I?”
She grins. “Yep. Should I plan on coming by tomorrow to help with bottle feedings and stuff?”
“Tomorrow’s Saturday, you’re off on weekends,” I remind her, “And aren’t you working a closing shift? That usually keeps you there until after midnight.”
She shrugs. “I offered to help with the bottle feedings, that didn’t mean on a strict Monday through Friday schedule. She eats on weekends, too.”
“Well, I still have to get Dustin’s approval and everything, but in the event that he agrees-”
“Which he will,” Ava interrupts with a grin as she tugs her purse up onto her shoulder.
I ignore her and go on, “We’ve got feedings covered tomorrow, but I won’t stop you from coming to help ifyouwant to. After all, you’re just trying to get your ‘vicarious fix of fluff’, right?”
“Right,” she laughs.
“But if you’re here before 10 AM, I’ll be the one putting you down for a nap, got it? You’ve already worked all day and you’re about to go be on your feet all night.”
She giggles. “You’ve got a deal.”
She bids Brianna goodbye and leaves, and I start prepping a bottle for the puppy, with a bottle and some formula I’d snagged from the office. I hadn’t really even considered keeping this puppy for longer than the night until Ava had suggested it.
But maybe, like Ava herself, our new furry friend is just an unexpected surprise who’s meant to be.
Chapter Six
Ava
“I don’t think it’s letting up anytime soon,” Rudy told me when I went to look out the window again.
He was right, the storm outside the window showed no sign of easing up anytime soon. Rain poured down in sheets, and the wind howled like some kind of unearthly, demonic creature. Thankfully, Brianna was already down for the night, and she could sleep through a hurricane.
The puppy Rudy had brought home two weeks ago, who they had decided to keep and who had been dubbed “Petunia,” was settled into her crate as well, tucked in the closet where it’s nice and dark and quiet, the thunder muffled and unable to terrify the poor little thing.
“Maybe I could just make a run for it,” I muse, “I’ve driven through worse.”
“After dark?” Dustin counters from the kitchen as he presses buttons on the microwave.
I shrug. “Storms don’t magically stop at midnight, and sometimes you just gotta get home.”