40. Sebastian

Chapter 40

Sebastian

T here was only one shelter in town that I knew the location of, and it was the only place I could think to go.

Matty practically skipped across the parking lot, his body so full of excitement from the moment I’d told him we were going to look at dogs today. I clutched Nelly’s hand in mine as we followed behind him, her left in my right, and I lifted it, watching as the light glinted off the diamond in the afternoon sun.

“I told you it was far too expensive,” she mumbled.

“Nope. It’s perfect. And you don’t even know how much it cost,” I chuckled, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. “How do you know I didn’t drop, like, a hundred dollars on it? It could be fake, you know.”

Her mouth popped open as her brows furrowed. “You did not give me a fake ring, did you?”

“Of course not,” I smirked. “At least, I hope not. I’d need to get my lawyer to fight for my twenty-one grand back.”

Her face paled immediately, her brows softening and raising as her eyes went wide. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Oh, come on, Nell,” I laughed, turning as we walked and stepping backward, my knee nearly buckling. “You honestly think I’d want my fiancée out and about wearing something worth twenty-one grand?”

I could have sworn I saw her eye twitch. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“All right, you got me, it was thirty-five,” I said, shooting her a wink as I spun back around, spotting Matty up at the doors in half a second. “Or was it forty-five…?”

Her eyes went impossibly wider. “Sebastian!” she huffed, smacking my arm with the back of her free hand. “You’d better be joking. Forty-five grand ? That’s… are you insane ?”

I couldn’t bite back the cackle rising from my throat, the sound echoing through the parking lot as we neared the doors. “Relax, Nell. It’s insured. Worst case, you misplace it, and I have an excuse to propose to you all over again with a new one.”

She groaned, but I caught the faintest twitch of her lips, her body betraying her and showing the smile she was trying to hide. “You’d better hope I never find out the real number because I will lose it,” she mumbled, her fingers squeezing around mine.

“Lose it, or lose the ring?” I teased.

Matty pushed the door open excitedly, and I reached out my hand, catching it and holding it open for both of them before slipping in behind them. Nelly’s only response was an exaggerated eye roll and the ghost of a grin.

“Seb? Nell?”

Luke’s gaze met mine across the lobby, his confused expression trained on me as he paused with his hands around either top of a broom or a mop.

“What the fuck are you guys doing here?”

“Luke, language,” Nelly hissed, a chuckle coming at the tail end of it as she hoisted Matty up in her arms.

“Oh, shit , sorry — I mean, sorry,” he laughed. “Don’t say those things, squirt.”

Matty grinned, the stretch of it almost comical as it almost reached from ear to ear. “I know!” he said. “We’re getting a dog!”

Luke’s brows shot straight up on his forehead. “You’re getting a dog?” he repeated, putting down the mop-broom and walking up to the opposite side of the counter. “You mean you didn’t come here just to see me?”

Matty shook his head ferociously. “Nope.”

Luke had mentioned a handful of times that he spent his weekends volunteering here when he had the time, and considering we had a weekend free from practice, I’d made the correct assumption that this was the place to find him — and he was the perfect person to help us pick out the ideal dog for Matty.

“Well, you’re in luck then, 'cause we just got a few puppies in yesterday,” Luke grinned. “They’re about ten weeks. All vaccinated and ready to go. They’ll need to be spayed and neutered, of course, though.”

Matty squirmed in Nelly’s arms, his excitement too much for his small body to handle. “Can I play with them?”

“Of course!” Luke chirped, slipping out from behind the counter.

——— —

“So, we don’t know their exact breed, but we think they’re either labs crossed with golden retrievers or just slightly longer-coated labs,” Luke said, leaning back on the door to the extra-large kennel they kept the litter of puppies in.

Matty lay flat on the floor, surrounded and swarmed and covered in five golden-colored pups, all wagging their tails and licking him head to toe. His laughter was infectious, all giggles and shrieks and giddiness.

“Daddy! Look!”

“I’m looking!” I insisted, chuckling along with him.

“Those are both good with kids, right?” Nelly asked, her gaze flicking between Luke and the pile of puppies on Matty.

“Oh, absolutely,” Luke grinned. “Labs are, like, the most popular family dog. And golden retrievers are close behind. So whatever they are, they’ll be great. And if they’re neither…” Luke watched as one of the puppies sat directly on Matty’s chest. “Well, they’re certainly well-socialized, so it shouldn’t matter too much. They seem pretty bomb-proof.”

“How old are they?” I asked.

“I want this one!” Matty exclaimed, his hands cupping the head of the one that was sitting on him.

Luke’s head lolled from side to side. “Somewhere between eight and ten weeks. Hard to be super certain when we don’t know where the mom is.”

Matty gasped, sitting up straight and letting the puppy slide down into his lap. “Where's your mommy?” he said, his eyes wide in wonder as he looked down at the slobbery little guy in his lap. “You can have Nell too!”

Oooh. I wasn’t expecting that to hit me right in the goddamn heart.

I swallowed past the ache in my throat and turned to Luke, trying not to overthink Luke’s expression — he’d clearly caught that, too. “We’ll take that one, then.”

————

We’d carried the still-unnamed puppy out to the car. Matty was already buzzing about being able to walk her.

Luke had sold us everything we needed — food, toys, a collar, a leash, treats, pee pads just in case she panicked in the car, and a bed. But I knew I’d be ordering even more the moment we got home.

“Clara?” Matty suggested from the backseat, his hand flat on the puppy’s back as she settled into the seat beside him. We’d collared her up so she couldn’t get very far if she tried. “Or maybe Missy. Or Meg!”

“I like Meg,” Nell said. “But we can name her whatever you want to name her.”

“Meg’s definitely a winner,” I nodded. “What else?”

He rattled off name after name as I drove, my hand locked in Nelly’s. I couldn’t deny that I was genuinely excited to have a dog around — I hadn’t had one since I was a kid, well before we had Otto the cat. I’d wanted one with Taryn, but she was allergic, and that idea had been scrapped before it could even hit the table. Thankfully, Matty wasn’t, and neither was Nelly.

“I think you’re right,” Matty said as we pulled into the neighborhood. “Meg is the best one.”

Nelly grinned as she looked at me, waiting for me to reply to him this time.

“Then her name is Meg,” I said, shooting Matty a smile in the rearview mirror.

“It’s perfect,” Matty cooed, his hand petting Meg’s head gently as I turned the car into the driveway. “Now we just need a cat!”

I slammed the brakes a little too roughly.

THE END

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