Mom and Elizabeth grasped each other’s hands, and I realized they thought I was going to tell them Daisy and I were getting married. I should have thought this through. “Daisy is going to move to Chapel Hill with me!”
The room erupted in cheers, except from Aunt Tilley, who, when the room quieted down, said, “No. Absolutely not. Daisy is my best friend, and you can’t take her away from me!”
I couldn’t tell if she was kidding, but then George put his arm around her and said, “I thoughtIwas your best friend.”
“It’s atier,” Tilley said.
Amelia gasped and grabbed Daisy’s hand. “Are you serious? You’re going to move?”
Greer ran over and threw her arms around Daisy’s legs. Daisy picked her up and kissed her cheek. “Aunt Daisy, you’re leaving?” she asked, her lower lip quivering.
“We’re going to be back all the time!” I said cheerfully. “Tons and tons. You won’t even know we’ve left.”
Greer reached her arms out to me, and when I took her, she buried her head in my neck. I could feel her tears, and I felt terrible. “And you’re going to get to wear your Tar Heel cheerleading outfit and come see me coach.”
She pulled her head back quickly, her tears drying in an instant. “I get to wear my cheerleading outfit?”
“Well, I don’t see why not. If Cape Carolina High has baseball cheerleaders, why not UNC?”
She clapped and wriggled down and fled off to her dad, I assume to try to weasel a new costume out of him. He would say yes. And if he did not, I would say yes. Greer had it made.
Amelia clapped and said, “Well, I think this news makes our surprise even better.”
“Surprise?” I asked.
Greer and Little George disappeared behind the swinging door that led to the kitchen, and, when they returned, it took a minute for my eyes to focus on what they were holding.
Daisy gasped. “No! No way!”
Amelia said, “Since you guys aren’t staying up with a baby all night anymore, we didn’t want you to get too much sleep.”
I knelt down, and Little George handed me a tiny yellow mutt with a big white patch of fur.
Daisy knelt down beside me and laughed, as Greer said, “Her name is Dolly!” She was wagging her tail so much her whole body shook as she licked my face.
“Well, hello, Dolly,” I said, the entire room erupting in laughter over the pun I hadn’t even meant to make.
“She came into the shelter yesterday when the kids and I were volunteering,” Amelia explained. “I couldn’t handle a puppy right now, but we love her, and we couldn’t just leave her there.”
“And we wanted to cheer you up!” Greer exclaimed, kissing me.
I handed the puppy to Daisy, and the look on her face said this little bundle was cheering her up too.
“She’ll be perfect for your new place,” Parker said. “She should be somewhere between eighteen and ninety-two pounds.”
Daisy and I looked at each other and laughed.
“Wow, Park. That’s super-helpful information.”
Robbie, Trina, and the boys filed in, immediately surrounding the puppy and taking turns holding her. I wondered then if one day Daisy and I would have more than just a puppy, but a child of our own who would get to grow up in this dining room too. If he or she would run through Dogwood and this land with these cousins.
I knew that we had a long way to go; we were just beginning to uncover what we could actually be. But right now, I had to feel like the future was all but written for us.
I thought back to that night with Daisy lying in the grass, the way she smiled, the same way she smiled now as Dolly ran around the dining room table. And I realized that maybe we didn’t need to rearrange the stars. Tonight, it felt like they’d been shining for us all along.
DAISYCovert Mission
Are you sure we should be doing this?” I whispered as Mason killed the lights on his truck and parked on the street. I snuggled my face into Dolly’s soft fur. She was pooped out and snoring contentedly in my arms. And while, no, this didn’t make up for having to let Maisy go, a precious puppy certainly didn’thurt.
