Mason laughed. “Just keep doing what you’re doing with my brother, and I’ll consider that payment enough. I’ve never seen him happier. When he was home on leave, he was always a grumpy-ass, raining on everyone’s parade. None of us could wait for him to get back to his ship.”
“Really?” Bobbie was shocked.
That didn’t sound like the Buck she knew, at all.
“Nah. Just pulling your chain,” Mason snickered. “Notabout him currently being the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time, though. He really is smiling a bunch more since he started being around you again. Everlee says he has a spring in his step.”
Bobbie grinned. She’d take that.
She snapped her fingers, even though Mason couldn’t see. “Hey. Speaking of Everlee, did she name your little dachshund, yet?”
“Yup. You’re probably going to love it. I’m still on the fence, but…”
“Spit it out, Mase,” Bobbie urged.
“Fine. She’s calling him Mr. Izzy A. Weiner.”
Bobbie cracked up.Oh my.She could see where big, bad, Mason might not like the playful moniker, but it was totally Everlee, and Bobbie loved it.
“Are you kidding me? That’s awesome. You can make so many nicknames out of that.” She wasn’t going to go into the list that sprang into her head, now, but it was tempting. Mason was saved from her stream of consciousness however, because she had to get back to work.
She almost missed his ongoing demurrals.
“Uh, uh. I agreed to go along with the name if we just call him Izzy. Period. And it’s all Reilly says now, all day. It’s actually pretty cute.”
Right.Mason thought everything his daughter did was very cute.
“Okay. Izzy,” Bobbie snickered. “How is he adjusting?”
Mason huffed out a breath, this time almost giddily. “Are you kidding? He’s already got all three of us wrapped around his little paw, and for such a tiny guy, let me tell you, he takes up a shitload of space on our bed.”
Bobbie swallowed her spit the wrong way, and coughed convulsively. When she could finally speak again, it was with raspy astonishment. “You… You let him sleep on the bed with you? No crate?”
Mason hummed, as if he knew he’d been caught out. “Umm, okay. So now you know we’re not the most disciplined of dog-parents. We had good intentions, but… Izzy cried for an hour the first time we put him in his crate, and Everlee couldn’t stand it, so we let him come up on the bed with us, and now he’s decided that that’s where he belongs.”
Sure.As if Bobbie believed that it was Everlee’s tender heart that had caved. She just knew it was Mason who’d surrendered his authority.
Mason continued to defend their decision, even when Bobbie didn’t say another word. “Luckily, we don’t think the crate will be necessary at all. Izzy’s so smart, he hasn’t made a single mistake in the house. He knows to ask when he has to go out. It’s like he came to us already trained.”
“That’s great for you,” Bobbie enthused, then her face screwed up in concern. “Oh, shit. I guess I’m going to have to Google how dogs go potty on a boat. My mind has been so busy with everything else going on, I hadn’t even thought about it.”
Duh.Bobbie felt so dumb. As far as she knew, dogs consisted of four things. Eating, pooping, playing, and love-cuddling. Maybe she shouldn’t beat herself up too much. Three of those, at least, had been fully on her radar. When she’d sent Buck a list of items she needed, food and toys were numbers one and two. Maybe, however,Buckhad thought of something for Reyghan’s potty needs.
She was going to have to text him.
“Good luck with that,” Mason chuckled. “Your particular problem is outside my area of expertise. But back to your brothers, thatrequest happens to be my jam. Even if dickheads one and two expect to hinder you tonight, it’s not going to be achievable.”
Bobbie was relieved. “Thanks again, Mason. I mean it.”
“I know you do,” he responded gruffly. “I’m just happy you and Buck are working things out. Talk to you later.”
“Later, Mase.” Bobbie hung up and immediately searched “dogs on boats bathroom”.
It gave her several good ideas, but at this point, she didn’t have time to pick up the proper supplies. Should she bother Buck again?
Hesitating only a second, she texted him.
I forgot about Reyghan’s potty needs. I’m thinking maybe a piece of soft, washable astroturf, and a big, flat box that will accommodate it.
