The dog whined but moved a few steps away from Seth, then sat down on her rump. She couldn’t help the shakes she had, though. Her tail wagged and she had a huge doggie smile on her face as she waited for permission.
“Good girl,” Leaf said after a while. “Go give Daddy kisses.”
She bowled right back at Seth, and now that he could move, he straightened his legs and just cuddled with her for a while. Well, if he could call a dog wiggling on his lap and trying to lick him to death out of love “cuddling.”
Once Missy calmed down a bit, Seth walked with her to the back porch where Leaf stood, holding a bag of treats.
“Treat-searching for Grace?” Seth asked, gesturing for Missy to go inside, which she did, albeit reluctantly.
“Yeah, she’s a bit stiff, and you know how she gets if she’s searching for you.” The old lady got quite into the imaginary search-and-rescue, and when she got worked up, the others got worked up. Besides, Grace was getting older, which meant her back end was a bit stiff some mornings. They tried not to overexcite her these days. She wasn’t an excitable dog, but searching for her humans… yeah.
“Do you want me to go give the others something to gnaw on?”
Leaf shook his head. “You hide a handful of these around the yard. That way she’ll know they’re from you. I’ll go treat the kids.” Leaf kissed him and handed the bag of Grace’s favorite freeze-dried chicken strips.
Trying to remember where he usually hid the treats, Seth went around the yard and hid five strips in different kinds of spots, everything from the grass to a lawn chair by the fire pit, and one in a bucket by the porch stairs.
Leaf came back just in time to see Seth open the garage door on his way to let Grace out of the RV. He made the dog wait until the music was off, then gave her permission to go search the yard.
She waddled a bit nowadays, which was endearing as hell.
He was about to go sit on the porch stairs with Leaf when his cell vibrated in his pocket. He tossed the treat bag back at Leaf and dug out his phone.
“Hey, Mom,” he said, surprised by her call.
“Hello, sweetie.” Seth could hear the fondness and smile in her tone. “How are you doing?”
“We’re fine. Just watching as Grace searches for treats in the backyard,” Seth replied, smiling as he sat down next to Leaf.
“Are the dogs all fine?”
“Oh yes. Grace is getting older, but otherwise they’re fine.” Then, because it was glaringly obvious in her voice, Seth asked, “What’s up, Mom?”
The thing with Seth’s mother, Kathleen Pritchett-Kent, was that she wasn’t good with emotions. She held them inside most of the time and used them for her art. She’d never been the most conventional of mothers, and Seth’s relationship with her was complex.
“I… uh…. Do you think it would be possible for you to get a few days off work if there was a good enough reason?” she asked, sounding hesitant and somehow off.
“I think so. My TA is reliable and knows her stuff. What’s going on, Mom? You’re worrying me.”
Leaf reached to take his free hand and moved to sit closer so their sides were touching.
“I know this is very last-minute, but I have to go to the hospital next week for an operation. It’s—”
“What?” Seth snapped. “You’re ill enough to need an operation and I just hear about this now?” He couldn’t keep his rushing emotions out of his tone, but he didn’t care.
Leaf wrangled his phone out of his hand and put her on speaker. “Hi, Kathleen. Can you tell us everything from the beginning?”
“Hello, Leaf. Yes, o-of course.” She took a deep breath. “A while ago I found a lump on my breast. I’m having it removed. It’s not a big deal. I’ll be home the next day, but… but I’d really like if Seth could be there. See, Michael is traveling that day—he wasn’t supposed to be, but it’s something he can’t get out of and….”
“Kathleen? We’ll be there. Just let us know when you need us, and we’ll both come, okay?” Leaf spoke in an even, calming tone, and Seth hated how easily it affected him too.
His mother took another deep breath, and Seth could hear it ended in a sob.
“Mom, we’ll be there,” he promised.
“It’s a w-week from now. Next Tuesday. I should be back home on Wednesday morning.”
“We’ll try to be there on Monday. Let us figure this out, and we’ll let you know when we’ll be in, okay?” Seth took over the talking, now that he felt calmer.
