Groaning to myself, I walk over to the counter where I store the special dog-friendly peanut butter fudge that’s not really fudge at all and is just a dog treat that I’ve named fudge.
I take a piece down and Gunner gobbles it up, and I pat him on the head. Just touching him helps relieve some of my stress, and I bend down and give him a big kiss on his forehead between his eyes.
“Love you, buddy,” I say.
He gives me a doggy grin, his breath smelling like beef broth and peanut butter and all the things that I use to make that special recipe.
“I love you too,” he says, licking my hand for good measure.
No sooner have we decided to head home when the doorbell over the front of the store jingles and I hear a sharp intake of breath.
“What in the world?”
Rose’s voice echoes through the otherwise quiet store, loud enough to be heard over the stereo playing softly in the background.
“Ivy? Gunner? What the hell is going on?”
“Shit,” I say, racing toward the front of the store where the octopi are still cleaning like the world’s strangest post-storm cleanup crew.
“Hey,” I say, dragging out the word. “Hey, Rose. Hey, Posey. Didn’t you guys lock the door behind you?”
I say it in that strange high-pitched voice that always seems to come out when I’m feeling overwhelmed and uncomfortable.
“What is going on?” Rose says. “I thought your magic was only for, like, baking and food.”
Her eyes are stuck on the absolute union of octopi scattered around the store, scrubbing furiously, eight tentacles going at a time.
“Did you stumble on some kind of animal magic that we didn’t know about? This is pretty damn cool. I could have, like, an underwater band if this is a new thing you’re doing. Live my Little Mermaid dreams.” Rose does her best Ariel impression, and Posey gives me a long-suffering look only siblings cursed with a musical prodigy sister could understand.
One of the octopus slides its tentacle over Rose’s ankle and she goes still, her eyes huge, and I know the cephalopod is talking to her the same way it spoke to me in my mind.
“Yeah, um, come on down anytime,” Rose says out loud. “I would totally do a jam sesh with an octopus. You like the drums? Guitar? Cool.”
Her attention turns back to me, her eyes slightly wild.
Posey, however, has her arms crossed and is leaning against the wall, completely bemused.
“I mean, I could use an octopus to help. Can you imagine how cool it would be to get an octopus under the hood of a car? Oh man, that would really change things.”
Oatmeal pops out of her top pocket and chatters angrily. “You don’t need any help besides me.”
“I’m not saying that you’re not great,” Posey tells her. “But an octopus would be really handy for some of those tight situations, am I right?”
The ferret nods but doesn’t look pleased with having to admit the truth.
“I don’t know that you can just hire out octopuses,” I say.
“Octopi,” Caleb corrects.
“Hey, Caleb,” Rose says. “You’re adjusting to all of this pretty well.”
Caleb snorts. “Are you kidding? This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced. Well, besides being your sister’s boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend,” Rose repeats. “Wow. When’s the wedding?”
Posey steps forward and elbows her in the ribs.
“Oof,” Rose says.
