“Well, you see, baby, when two people love each other very much—” I start, and she throws her spoon at me on purpose this time, which makes me laugh even harder.
“So you have jokes now, huh, old man?” She playfully glares at me, and I shrug, winking at her over my shoulder. I catch her watching my ass as I walk away.
I quickly shower before making my way to my two crazies on the couch.
“Mmm, much better,” I mutter, lying down on the couch, my arms wrapping around her middle as I lay my head down on her stomach.
“You’re home super early,” she points out, and I nod. She rests her laptop on my back, using me as a desk, but I don’t really mind.
“Yeah, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, and it was very distracting,” I mumble into her stomach.
“You need to do whatever you were just doing more often,” She says, and I make an incoherent noise.
“Why’s that?”
“I like it when you’re all happy and snuggly. It makes me happy.”
“Youmake me happy.”
“You’re also very sappy,” she teases, kissing the top of my head.
I tip my head back so I can look at her properly. “I ran, and then I ran some more, and then I just kept running.”
“How do you feel?” She brushes her hand through my hair.
“Everything hurts, and I will be feeling it tomorrow. But I do feel better. Lighter…I don’t know how to explain it. It just gets stuffy in my office sometimes, and I guess I just needed to do something that didn’t require thinking for a little bit.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re better. Do you want me to make some food?”
“Not yet, I just want to lie here. Maybe take a nap for a few minutes. Then we can make dinner together.”
“That sounds perfect.”
I nod, laying my head back against her stomach. It doesn’t take long—just listening to the soft music she plays in the background, the comfort of holding her, and the steady beat of her heart, I do get lulled into a soft, dreamless sleep.
24
SLOANE
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been doing my research on shelters and shelter animals.
Mocha came into my life like a flurry of brown hair and craziness, but I love him. I want other animals like him to be able to find their forever families, and while they are at shelters, I want them to be able to be provided for, to help, and to give back to them.
So I found a few places around my area that are privately owned, people just saving animals out of the goodness of their hearts. I’ve reached out to them to see what I can do to help out.
I’m calling itThe Lost Bean Project.I haven’t announced it on social media or anything yet, but I think I’ve found my purpose.
I created a website with links to each of the shelters that I’ve reached out to, and a place for people to recommend shelters so that I can reach out and maybe add them to my list. I want to be able to provide stuff for shelters all over the nation.
The links go straight to the shelters’ websites. I get none of the profits; everything goes to the animals.
I don’t need to gain anything from this; I just want to help more babies like the one that is lying on my lap.
My summer has already gotten really busy because of this. I want to be able to volunteer at the shelters, help take pictures of the animals, and help them find their families by posting, and maybe even help run the social media.
It’s a lot of work, but I want to make a difference. And this is the way I know how to right now.
Sammy, the owner of Happy Paws, was telling me about some of the stories of how she got some of the pups and other animals that she houses. To say they are heartbreaking doesn’t even do it justice.
