I sensed Ben very close to me. He still smelled like Vermont, what I thought of as a mixture of pinecones and rushing water. Lost in Ben’s scent, I nearly jolted when I felt something soft like mink in my hand.
“Open up.”
Sitting in the palm of my hand was the tiniest puppy I’d ever seen. Midnight black and white and tan, and probably only a couple of pounds. Maybe four. Or three.
“Ben, what did you do?” I whispered, not wanting to wake the sleeping puppy. Truthfully, I was in a bit of shock myself.
“We talked about getting a puppy in Vermont, and well, I decided to go ahead and get us one.”
“He’s so sweet, but ...” I lifted the pup and checked to be sure I’d gotten the gender right, and when he barely opened his eyes, I giggled. “He looks drunk.”
“A while back, I put us on a waiting list. Someone else backed out of taking home this little guy,” Ben said, smiling down at the puppy, “so now he’s ours. He traveled a long way to get here today. I couldn’t wait to surprise you, but you don’t seem so happy. I thought we talked about it,” he said, his voice wavering slightly.
“No, we did talk about it. And he’s absolutely precious. It’s just, I took on this new client ...”
“Well, let me take him and you can finish up. You also have to think of a name. The breeder called him Red Beagle, but I’m sure you can come up with something more creative.”
“I don’t have to finish anything now. I was going to wait until tonight to tell you—”
The tiny beagle rolled over in my hands, revealing his pink belly and those big brown eyes staring at me, waiting for me to love. Of course I melted.
“He looks like a toy,” I said, smiling. “He’s pretty cute. Such a little peanut.”
Ben knelt on the floor at my feet and rubbed the puppy’s belly while staring at me.
My cheeks heated. “That’s a cute name, right? Peanut? Isn’t Snoopy a beagle?”
Ben nodded. “That’s it then. Mr. Peanut.”
Despite being a bit overwhelmed, I blurted, “I’m in love already.” It couldn’t be helped.
“You said you were going to tell me something tonight. Is everything okay?” Ben asked, interrupting my moment of happiness.
Pulling Peanut up to my face, I inhaled his sweet puppy breath before cuddling him back on my lap. I’d had a show-quality miniature poodle growing up. Penelope was her name. Peanut was better already because he was shedding all over my lap. He wasn’t meant to be looked at and admired but not played with. “This is a Vermont type of dog, right? I don’t want to have some froufrou pup.”
“Ha, yes, he’s not a froufrou pup. Short hair, musky, a little sneaky and adventurous is what the breeder told me.”
“How did he get here?” I asked.
“Actually, he’s from North Carolina. He flew here today and landed at JFK a few hours ago. I met him at baggage claim and took him to the vet, and here we are.”
“You gave this a lot of thought.”
Leaning in to kiss me, Ben murmured, “First, I asked you to move back to New York with me, and you did, and now I’m dragging you back to Vermont. I wanted to make it special, and like you were taking a new friend with you.” He knelt in front of me, eye level with the puppy but gazing up at me, his hand on its soft fur.
I’d reconnected with a couple of old friends in New York, but mostly I’d kept in touch with Hunnie and Gigi over the last two years, scheduling visits back and forth. I’d joined a women-only workshare space and sometimes got together with a friend from there. I’d loved living in Brooklyn, and I’d miss it, but Vermont was my home in my heart. Especially since it was where Ben and I had reconnected.
“Well, we’re taking two friends now, kind of,” I whispered.
Ben stilled and met my eyes. “What?”
Goose bumps broke out all over my body. “Yes,” was all I said.
“We’re taking who, exactly?” he asked, glancing at my belly.
I’d thought he’d forgotten. We hadn’t used protection for about six months, deciding to let things happen when they happened. And now they’d happened ... a few weeks before we moved.
“I’m actually around nine weeks already. I saw the doctor today. When I first missed my period, I thought it was stress and the move. I waited about ten days and then still didn’t get it, so I used a home test. Yep, positive. But I wanted to make sure-sure.”
