“I have two partners, Binxie and Nathan. We used to live here, but recently moved to Montana, but we still have many friends in town.”
“Is Binxie a guy?”
Benson growled at him and said, “I swear to God, Luka.” After he said that, he said to Pappy, “Sorry, that’s blasphemous or something. Sorry.”
“No, it’s fine,” Pappy laughed. “Listen, I’m meeting with the current minister here, but what are you doing for dinner?”
“Not a thing. Right now, though, I’m giving Luka another of his presents, so…so, we…”
“Oh, I see. Well, there is a diner in town, the only one, actually. Come around six and I’ll introduce you to some amazing people.”
“We’ll be there,” Luka said. “I love it here already.”
After they left him, Benson whispered to him, “That’s getting you a spanking. Luka, you are hyper! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this way.”
“Hey, done with acting this summer, living in the mountains in a sweet little house and marrying the guy of my literal dreams. I’m a little happy right now, okay?”
Benson had changed him. Not that he wanted to change him, but changing him to be this happy guy, well, that he’d be proud of.
“So, what are you giving me now? Car, my own mountain, what?”
“Nothing quite that extravagant. We need to head down this street over here.”
“Cool.”
Luka was indeed freaking him out a little. From the serious, almost hostile man to this guy who was skipping like a little kid. “Baby, you’re even more beautiful right now.”
“I feel more beautiful! Like…it’s so weird!”
They heard it before they saw the place, and Luka stopped to stare at him. “Is that a pound?”
“No, not exactly. It’s an animal rescue. They take in dogs, cats, horses, and even cattle that other shelters can’t adopt out.”
Luka was glowing. “A dog?”
“A dog, and this time, you pick all on your own.”
Luka took off running, and Benson watched him, laughing. Like a kid at Christmas, and in a lot of ways, he was. So was Benson. The excitement he felt planning this trip, he felt like he was ten and he was running into see a room filled with Christmas. A gorgeous tree and presents that it would take hours to unwrap.
That was Luka. He was the present that he’d unwrap for the rest of his life, he hoped.
Luka was going from kennel to kennel, talking to all the dogs, kneeling to be soft with some that looked terrified, and Benson realized he’d probably be leaving with more than one. He saw it on Luka’s face.
“Benson, look at him,” he said, pointing to a dog that had to be part lab, part chow. “Isn’t he beautiful?”
“He is.”
“Fluffy and black, the eyes that seemed to be older than time. His curled tail was wagging as he moved to the gate and panted.
Across from the chow mix, there was a smaller dog, younger. She was a pretty thing, a corgi mix by looking at the short legs and big feet, though she was almost completely white and her face was much different from a corgi.
Luka was in the center of the aisle, his head on a swivel as he looked from one to the other.
When the woman came in, wiping the hair off her black jeans, she asked if they needed help.
Benson answered, “We’d like to take these two.”
Luka smiled and clapped silently. “Yes, please. These two.”
