“Okay, okay,” I told her. I pressed a kiss against her forehead and then set her in the playpen. My chest felt suddenly heavy as I watched her crawl across the bedding toward her siblings. Would they take her back? What if they ripped out one of her staples, regardless of the shirt?
Violet climbed in and lay down, sniffing at Cherry. She nuzzled the shirt, attempting to get her nose beneath it, probably wanting to lick Cherry’s incision.
“Violet, no,” I told her.
She looked up at me with those soulful eyes before returning her attention to her puppy. Cherry settled in to nurse, only to be toppled by Elizabeth. The puppy rolled belly up, squealing loudly, and my heart catapulted into my throat. Had she popped a staple? Had she done internal damage? What was I thinking even trying to put her back in with her siblings?
I scooped her up and brought her with me to the bed, where I lay on my back and settled her on my chest. She crawled over to lie in the crook of my arm and closed her eyes. I hadn’t seen any blood on the shirt, so I was going to assume the incision was okay for now.
With Cherry’s warm, solid weight resting against my heart, I tried to relax, hoping Taylor got here soon, because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I should have checked when Cherry had been fed last before I lay down, but since she seemed content, I wasn’t going to disturb her until Taylor got here.
Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long. Taylor knocked at the front door about ten minutes later, and I called out to her, hoping I wouldn’t have to move Cherry. “Come on in.”
The door creaked open, and then I heard Taylor’s footsteps in the hall. She entered the bedroom, wearing her usual jeans and T-shirt, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. A dreamy smile passed over her face as she saw me lying in bed with Cherry. “How’s it going?”
“I’m scared to put her back in with her siblings, in case they mess with her staples. Elizabeth knocked her over the minute I set her down.”
“What did the vet say?” Taylor sat on the bed beside me, rubbing Cherry’s head as I went over everything Dr. Moore had told me. As she listened, she gently rolled Cherry onto her side and lifted the shirt to inspect the incision. I averted my eyes. Just the sight of those staples in her skin made my stomach squirm. “Don’t worry,” Taylor told me. “We’ve got this. I haven’t cared for a puppy this tiny post-op before, but I’ve cared for plenty of larger ones.”
“I’m so glad you’re here,” I told her, leaning over to give her a kiss.
“And I can stay a couple of nights if you need me,” she said. “Minnie’s with my sister.”
“Oh my God.” Everything inside me seemed to loosen and get lighter. Not only would I have help with Cherry, but I’d get to spend several nights with Taylor. What had felt like a scary and burdensome ordeal suddenly seemed almost fun. “That’s too good to be true, Taylor. Really?”
She grinned at me. “Really.”
26
Taylor
I sat cross legged in the middle of the bed with Cherry positioned across my knees as I brought the bottle to her mouth. I hadn’t bottle-fed a puppy before, but I had cared for a litter of abandoned kittens once, so I figured it would be similar. The veterinary hospital had sent a packet of detailed instructions home with Phoebe, so I wasn’t worried. Cherry took the bottle easily, eyes closing as she began to suck down her formula.
“You can tell she’s had a few days’ practice at this while she was in the hospital,” I said, hoping to reassure Phoebe, who was clearly fearful about caring for a post-op puppy.
Phoebe leaned forward to watch. “You make that look easy.”
“Cherry’s doing all the work,” I said. We’d tried putting her back in with her siblings, but she’d gotten knocked around a lot, and Violet kept trying to remove her shirt, so we’d decided to bottle-feed her for now. Hopefully, in a few days, when she was stronger and the incision wasn’t so fresh, we’d be able to get her nursing again.
The puppy made cute little slurping noises as she ate. I held the bottle steady, tipping it just enough to help her drink without overwhelming her with milk. I’d been able to mix her medication into the formula, so we were killing two birds with one stone here. “This sock shirt with the cherries on it is the cutest fucking thing. Did you make that for her?” I asked.
“No,” Phoebe told me. “Someone at the hospital did.”
After Cherry finished her bottle, I cleaned her up, since I couldn’t let Violet do the job at the moment. Then I tucked the puppy into her box with the portable heating pad to keep her cozy while she napped. I snuggled closer to Phoebe on the bed, and she wrapped an arm around me, drawing me close.
Lying here with her in the master bedroom of Margery’s cabin, everything felt upside down. I’d hoped this bedroom would be mine, that this cabin would be mine. I’d hoped I’d never see Phoebe again, and then I’d hoped she would leave town before I was foolish enough to fall for her again. And yet, here we were.
“This isn’t what I thought Vermont was going to look like,” Phoebe murmured, one hand splayed across my stomach beneath my shirt. “I thought I’d fix up this cabin and be on my way back to Boston by now.”
“Any progress on that front?” I asked, determined not to let her know how much I wished she could stay.
She shook her head. “I had a Skype interview last week, but I haven’t heard anything more about it.”
“Have you applied for many jobs?” I felt somewhat guilty that I hadn’t been more supportive of her job hunt so far. She owned a condo in Boston. Her friends and family were there. It was where she lived, and nothing I said or did would change that.
“Yeah,” she said. “Everything I can find. I need a real paycheck.”
“How is your consulting going?”
