“Aren’t those large dogs?”
“Massive,” I chuckled. “I thought he was a bear cub when he wandered into the garage Monday night. Almost gave me a heart attack.”
“So that’s why I haven’t heard from my darling son about his first week of work,” Mom concluded, entertained.
“Grandma, can you come visit?” Sawyer interrupted.
“Unfortunately, I can’t this weekend Soy-bean. But the next weekend you spend with your Daddy, I’ll be there, okay?” Mom replied.
“Promise?”
“Promise. I can’t wait to meet Tig. Give him a cuddle for me, okay?”
“Okay!” Sawyer said, abandoning the phone on the floor and wriggling closer to the dog. Tig was laying on his side, his tail wagging as she cuddled him. He lifted his head, licking her face gently. She giggled and buried her face into his fur.
I picked up my phone, taking my mom off speaker. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. Things got a little crazy.”
“I bet.” Mom chuckled. “How was your first week at the new job?”
“Great,” I responded, my thoughts automatically going to Gwen first, then the work I’d done. “My boss seems impressed. My co-workers are…all right.” Again, I thought of her and inwardly cursed myself.
“Good,” Mom said, sounding relieved. “About the next weekend you have with Sawyer—you wouldn’t mind if I pop up for a visit, would you? It’s been…well, four months since I saw her last.”
“Of course, Mom. You’re welcome any time,” I told her, meaning it. We had space—it was why I’d gone for the house in the country with five bedrooms instead of the one downtown with two.
“Great. I don’t want to take up any more of your evening, so give me a call later and enjoy your weekend,”
“Thanks, Mom. Love you.”
“Love you, Grandma!” Sawyer called out, still snuggling with Tig.
“Love you, Soy-bean!” Mom said. “Talk to you later.” She hung up, and I set my phone face down on the counter.
“How about that movie?” I asked, stretching. It’d be an early night with Sawyer’s dance class in the morning, but we had time for a movie before bed.
7
Again
Gwen
The smell of coffee woke me from the enticing dream I’d fallen into. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I sat and looked around, momentarily disoriented. It had been a long time—eight months, to be exact—since I’d woken up to the smell of coffee.
I reached for my glasses and stretched before I kicked off my blankets. Dahmer protested from the pillow beside me, resenting me for disturbing him. He’d claimed Erik’s side of the bed as his, and I was content to let him have it.
“Morning beautiful!” Renly’s sing-song voice called as I padded down the hall.
“Hmm,” I grumbled, lifting my hand in greeting and disappearing into the bathroom. After peeing and splashing cold water on my face, I joined Ren on the couch. “What time is it?” I sank onto the couch gingerly.
“Seven o’clock,” he answered, holding out the second mug, almost like some kind of peace offering.
I blinked at him, taking the mug into my hands. “You realize that I don’t usually get out of bed until eleven on Saturdays, right? Especially not after a night of drinking mojitos.” Remembering last night, I looked around the apartment. “Where’d Kelsey go?”
“Wow,” Renly tittered, shaking his head with amusement. “She left before you crashed—don’t you remember? She had Elliott pick her up because she missed him.”
“Oh, right.” I wrinkled my nose. Now I remembered. Kelsey had shown up about an hour after we got home with the pizza—miraculously, we managed to save her some.
Renly made another batch of mojitos, I put on some music, and the rest was kind of a blur. There was a lot of talking—I could remember bits and pieces of conversations and plenty of laughter, too.
