I let my eyes meet his.
“You didn’t have an unreasonable reaction. Your threat response did exactly…exactly…what it was meant to do. It isn’t meant to stop and think. That response is meant to protect you, and it did. What would happen, do you think, if you saw that dog in a calm state in a controlled environment?”
“I’d be nervous as fuck.”
“But would you overturn chairs and tables and fall to the ground?”
“No.”
“Good,” he said, smiling a little too broadly. “Then I have homework for you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What kind of homework?”
“It’s as easy as a walk in the park.”
Ah, jeez.
SEVEN
Alfie
I didn’t thinkI’d ever been more nervous about taking my dog on a walk. It was a crisp fall day, so I’d put Dame Judi in her favorite pink cardigan and matching bow, then had Andrea repaint her nails to match her cardigan for a little extra flair. Judi-girl looked like the world’s most adorable little alien, if I did say so myself.
Gideon and I had agreed to wait until the following weekend to give him a chance to settle into the idea and do whatever research and preparation he needed to meet my dog. That didn’t mean we didn’t keep in touch, though.
We’d been teasing each other back and forth via text, with a couple of sexting sessions to tide us over. I opened my messaging app, grinning at the last bit of back and forth.
Gideon: Fuck, Al. Look at how hard you made me come.
Gideon:
His cum made his tatted, furred belly look like a reverse ink blot, and my mouth watered at the site of it.
Me: God, you make me thirsty.
Gideon:
Gideon: No pressure. Just letting you know that my tests are clear across the board.
Me:
Me: Me, too.
God, was I really telling him that I wanted him raw?
Yes, yes I was.
Still, I worried—catastrophized, more like it—that all our spark was spent on that first night together, on these furtive little sexts that took place out of our reality. What if we were compatible as mud and floor cleaner the next time we saw each other in person? What if he and Judi could never be in the same room again?
I need more fire and gasoline, then shared snuggles on the couch with my dog, thankyouverymuch.
My cock wondered if maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I kept them separate, but my highly educated brain called bullshit.
Judi and I left my house and walked down the hill to my neighborhood park, enjoying the beautiful day. Kids, as usual, stopped us on the way, cooing and loving on Judi, and of course she was a perfect angel for them.
I spied Gideon at the far end of the park, hanging out by the swings. He appeared to be talking to himself. Probably hyping himself up to meet Judi. Jackson, his therapist, was someone I considered a friend, and Gideon let him share the salient details of why he was so afraid of dogs.
It had broken my heart, discovering how bad it had been for him. But then I looked over at the kind, scary-looking man whoall the mothers were side-eyeing, and I was so proud. I didn’t even know him well enough to say that. It was silly for me to be proud of him, but I was. He’d been working on this for a long time, and had been really disappointed at himself when he couldn’t control his reaction.
