Hutch said this puppy freedom was for three reasons.
The first, that room was too small for five growing Corsos (truth).
The second, it meant he and I (yup, I got roped in as a matter of course, though, no complaints here) could do ongoing training by regularly reinforcing the basic commands they’d already learned.
The last, it meant they were socialized.
Unspoken: he was not going to put puppies, even if they were already the size of some medium-sized dogs, out in pens in the winter.
Also unspoken: he enjoyed this time with his babies before he had to get serious.
“Oh my God, we aresonot waiting until Halloween to dress up as the Sanderson sisters and scare kiddos,” Mona moaned in my ear.“You’ve sent pictures of the man.I need to see if this dude is for real.”
“I’ve also sent video.”And I did.Of Hutch singing.Also Hutch playing one-on-one with Stormy.Further, Hutch drilling Nike on her “sit” and “stay” commands.“And you saw the TikTok video.I can’t photoshop a whole video, much less four of them.”
“Okay, then you two come down in March or April, before it gets muggy, and Kacey and I will come up for Halloween.”
This might be doable, if Hutch was up for it.
“Let me discuss it with Hutch.”
He was at the stove making us breakfast.
Hearing his name, he turned to me and raised his brows.
I waved at him in alatergesture and went back to Mona.
“Listen, we have a packed day.I need to get on with it.So I gotta say love you, have a Merry Christmas, I’ll text tomorrow, and we’ll talk before the New Year.”
“Okay.Give those puppies, your kitty, the kiddos and your hot guy a snuggle for me,” she bid.
“I will.”
“Love you too, Ca…Mabel.”
We’d known each other a long time.It was tough for her to get used to me not being Callie.
She was getting there, though.
“Love you too, babe.Bye.”
“Bye.And Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.”
I rang off and grabbed the Tupperware that I was going to use to transport the Christmas tree cookie stacks I’d made for the party.
“What are you supposed to talk to me about?”Hutch asked.
“Mona wants to meet you sooner rather than later,” I told him.“So she’s asked us to come down in March or April.”
I could tell by the way his beard flattened around his lips, he was not at one with a trip to Orlando, in March or April, or ever.
“Maybe we can meet them there, spend a day or two, and we can all head down to the Keys.The good Keys, not the touristy Keys.So you can go out and fish or…whatever,” I suggested.
And now I could tell by the way his brown eyes lit, that was a consideration.
“We don’t have to make a decision immediately.We can think on it,” I said.
