“Oh, come on. Let’s go outside and go potty,” she says, letting go of me and taking Mocha outside.
They come back in a few minutes later, and Mocha is snuggled safely in her arms. I can’t fight the smile that overtakes my face when I see how cute the two of them are together.
“I flipped the steaks over,” she says.
“Thanks,” I say, frying some bacon on the stove.
“You didn’t have to start dinner. You could have woke me up, and I would have done it,” she says, gently taking my hand, pulling me towards her, wrapping an arm around me.
“It’s ok, I know that you stayed up late with this little guy,” I say as Mocha licks Sloane’s chin.
“Yeah, but you had work today. I stayed home and did nothing,” she says, giving me big puppy eyes.
I know that she didn’t actually do nothing. A lot of people see it that way. That she just has to take ten seconds to take a picture or post a video, and that’s all it is. What they don’t see is the hours she spends making sure every video, caption, and hashtag is perfect. That she spends hours researching and looking at the data to figure out what everyone wants to see more of.
There is a lot of work that goes into what she does. I know that even I fell into the trap of thinking that she didn’t do much once. But on top of all she does for her business, she also keeps my house in near-perfect shape.
“Don’t play that card with me. I know that you probably didn’t just stay home and do nothing all day. You took Mocha to the vet, you went shopping, and I bet you did whatever you have to do to make sure your people on social media know that you are still alive.”
“Yeah, but you were out saving lives.”
“You were saving his life,” I point out, taking Mocha from her when she pushes me out of the way to continue the bacon.
“Hey buddy, how are you feeling?” I ask, noticing the little bandage on his arm. He nuzzles me, and I run my fingers through his soft fur.
It actually surprises me that his fur is as soft as it is, considering that he was homeless for an unknown amount of time.
“Good, I think. He’s been sleeping most of the day. But the tech said that that’s pretty normal because of all the medicines that they gave to him.”
I nod and continue to love on him. I’ve always been a dog person. I’m never home to be able to take care of one, so I never got another one after Myrtle. With Sloane home all thetime, it might be nice for her to have someone here to keep her company.
I take a step back from her, and look at her when a thought that has been plaguing my mind for days makes an appearance.If only you were mine, Sloane Monroe,I’d love you just like you do all those around you.I’m trying not to think about it or to get my hopes up or anything. Even though I think it’s already too late.
18
SLOANE
I’m sitting at the counter, looking at decoration ideas for tomorrow. I want to make the house look all cute since my family is coming over to celebrate the Fourth of July, just like every other year; a tradition of sorts that’s been happening for as long as I can remember.
I’m scrolling through Pinterest when there’s a knock at the front door. I look at Mocha, who looks at me just as confused, his lip getting caught above his tooth, making me giggle.
I pocket my phone, getting off the chair before taping the Ring camera screen to see who is here.
“Kaden, what are you doing here?” I ask, opening the door and pulling him into a hug. He hugs me back for a second before letting go and pointing at me. I’m super excited to see him after not having seen him in so long, despite my feelings of hurt over the draft.
“I have a bone to pick with you,” he says, as I shut the door behind him.
“Ok, and what would that be?” I question as Mocha runs up and jumps on him.
“Oh, who’s this little guy?” he asks, picking him up into his arms as Mocha nuzzles the shit out of him.
“Mocha. I found him on the side of the road the other day. We haven’t found his family yet, but I think that I’m just going to keep him.”
“He’s so cute,” he coos, picking him up and nuzzling his fur with his face as Mocha attacks Kaden with kisses. “Oh my God, I love you. If you go missing this week, it wasn’t me,” he whispers.
Kaden always had pets growing up; cats, dogs, rabbits, turtles, even a snake and a tarantula at one point. Most of which he caught out in the wild, and somehow managed to tame. He took care of them surprisingly well. To my knowledge, Monica even has Pickles, his cat, since he couldn’t take him to college. It was a sad day in the house for both of them.
“Ok, I’m going to put you down… ok… yes, I know,” he coos as Mocha just loves on him some more. “We have to go in the other room, I can’t get mad at his mother with him sitting there watching me with those big eyes,” Kaden says, grabbing my wrist and pulling me upstairs into ‘my’ room.
