He grins. “Anyway, you can take some time to think about whether you want to adopt a new pet. I probably should have waited to confirm with you, but I thought you could use a dog in your life. You can take him on your walks with your Mom.”
“I can’t take care of a dog,” I say to him.
“Daddy said you might say that,” Kyle pipes in, his smile nearly as mischievous as his father’s. “So he said you two could share him, and that way, Connor and I can play with the doggie, too.”
I look up at Jenson, who swallows and waits for my reaction.
“Share him, huh?” I ruffle Kyle’s hair. “Well, that’s an interesting idea.”
“Is that okay, Livia?” Kyle persists. “Can you and Daddy share the dog?”
“Please say yes!” Connor says, his green eyes pleading.
I smile at him. “Of course. You can play with the dog as much as you want to, honey. He’ll be all of ours, okay?”
“He can stay at my mom’s for now,” Jenson says as he moves Connor to his other arm. “I’m taking the boys with me to practice this week, and Coach says the dog can come too. By the way, my mom reminded me about Thursday’s annual summer mayoral dinner.”
Great. I completely forgot about the mayoral dinner on Thursday. That’s the night before my meeting in Manhattan.
“Will that be okay for you?” he asks, his eyes reading the panic clearly crossing my face.
“Um, I guess it will have to be.” I shrug.
Just one of those things I can’t control. Kind of like whatever crazy things I told Jenson last night.
I hand Jenson back the leash as I stare down at this animal that’s just entered my life. I reach out to pat him again, and he gets so excited he licks my hand with that giant tongue. Kyle giggles.
“He’s a mixed breed, they think maybe part Rat Terrier, part Chihuahua,” Jenson adds as they go to leave. “He’s a boy, about a year old. He’ll need some obedience training,” he says as the dog starts to drag him down the driveway. “But we can talk about that later!”
I already know what I’m going to name him. Bernie, after the coffee house. Even as he’s walking away from me, tail wagging, I’m already in love with him.
* * *
Jenson
“Daddy, Smith said Connor and I can play catch with him during his break. Okay?” Kyle pulls at my sleeve to get my attention.
I look up from where I’m sitting on the bench on the side of the field. I’ve got the dog leashed by my feet and my iPad next to me so I can keep working on the offensive scheme while I take in the practice going on in front of me. The dog ran around like crazy when we first got here until he exhausted himself and fell asleep on the grass.
“If Smith says it’s okay and he has the time.” I nod at Smith, who’s making his way toward us. “How did those new plays feel out there?”
Smith gives me the thumbs-up. “Cool. Except for the one where I have to hand off to Dwyer. I should be throwing on that one.”
I shake my head. “You can’t throw on every down. Believe me, I fought my coaches for the same reason. But they were right. You’ll have more success passing it off on that play.”
“Hey, I looked you up,” he says, a smirk crossing his face. “So you were pretty fucking”—he cuts off with a glance at Kyle and Connor, who are grinning up at him—“you were pretty darn good, Coach. State record for touchdown passes still stands, huh?”
“That’s right,” I say.
“Why didn’t you pursue it? Coach said your knee, right?”
I point to the jagged scar that’s still visible on my knee.
“Oh, wow. Sorry about that.” Smith winces.
“The thing is, I feel like I was always meant to be a coach. So everything worked out the way it was supposed to.”
“Hey, maybe one of your boys will pick up where you left off.” Smith tosses the football lightly to Connor, who catches it in both hands. “Nice catch. You ready to play a little?”
