Five
Calix
Of course my apartment wasn’t clean when my crush needed to come over. Of course it wasn’t. It was inevitable that when a hot guy was in my vicinity, I did not have my shit together. Probably why I was still single. If I was lucky, I could handle the worst of it before he actually breached my doorway.
I told Rhett to just come up the stairs over the phone, then I threw a Be Back Soon sign on my store door, raced upstairs, and abruptly remembered I had a Brownie to deal with.
“Uh, dammit, hi. I swear I didn’t forget you, it’s just that my neighbor has a dirty dog that he’s bringing up for a quick bath and can you hide somewhere?”
Brownie gave me a thumbs-up, hopped off the couch, and dove into the nest of blankets on the window seat.
“Perfect. Sorry for this, really. As soon as he’s gone, I’ll get you better settled.”
Brownie waved from under its nest of blankets and seemed wholly unbothered. I really had to get a name and better clothes for my new friend, but one emergency at a time.
I heard a commotion at the door, raced that way, and found Rhett there with both dog and cat in tow. Not that he’d carried the cat up here, but apparently cat went where Rhett went.
I’d thought this when I’d first met the cat, but now seeing how she was shadowing Rhett, I felt it even stronger. I’d bet you anything that cat was a familiar. Why she’d chosen Rhett I did not get, as from what I could tell, Rhett wasn’t an active magic user. Although that aura of his did make me question my assumption. I was very, very curious on why the cat adopted him.
Also not sure if it was my business to poke my nose into, but curious regardless.
“Thank you so much for this.” Rhett looked fit to be tied and as if he wasn’t sure what to do next.
“No problem, no problem. Hi, puppy.” I extended a hand in greeting.
I got a tail wag in response, with the dog pushing his nose into my hand for scratches. Which I gingerly gave because he was really filthy. I’d never seen a dog this bad off. “Uh, wow, you really need a bath. Rhett, bathroom’s this way.”
“Lead on.”
I could see Rhett take a look around my apartment as he walked through. It wasn’t large, about nine hundred square feet in total, with two bedrooms and one bathroom. I used one of the rooms for my “making” room, where I crafted all my spells and specialty items. Hydroponic planters were everywhere I could make a surface, growing all sorts of herbs that I used both for the shop and myself. In between all the plants I had knickknacks, open books on witchcraft and candle spells, and bohemian style furniture with thick pillows and blankets for comfort. It was very lived-in.
I preferred the term lived-in over messy.
The bathroom, at least, was suitable for guests over. Also roomy, which was good, as this was not a small dog. I pulled out a wide tooth shampoo comb first, handing that to Rhett. “Try to get those tangles out first. I’ll run next door and grab supplies.”
“Thank you.” Rhett gave me his blinding smile that did very unfair things to my heart. “I’ll pay you back, just tell me what the total is.”
“Sure, no problem.” I’d be this man’s sugar daddy in a heartbeat but probably shouldn’t say that out loud, huh? “Be back in a jiffy.”
I sped my way out of the apartment, hitting up the pet store. We all had shops in a little strip mall, including a nail salon and local restaurant, but I’d never been in the pet store before. I’d never needed to before now.
I beelined for items as much as I could. Grabbed a bone—dog would need a treat after bath—shampoo, collar, and leash, then on a whim grabbed two bowls and some wet dog food. Poor thing looked half starved, so food was probably a good idea. I was in and out of the store in five minutes flat.
I hadn’t expected much to happen in five minutes, but once I was back in my apartment, I stalled right inside the door.
Uh.
Why was…I couldn’t be seeing that right. I blinked, looked again. No, I was. Rhett’s black cat was on the window bench, where she had one paw curled around the Brownie and was giving it a tongue bath. The Brownie did not look the least bit alarmed about this, but rather was leaning shamelessly into the cat with their eyes at half mast, like it was some kind of wet massage.
Um, okay? I whispered, “You all right?”
Brownie waved me away. Shoo, you’re interrupting the moment.
Right, so, cat was DEFINITELY a familiar because otherwise that whole scene would not be happening.
You know what? I’d deal with that later. Yup, that became a Later Me problem. Right Now Me didn’t have the bandwidth. As long as those two were having a good time, who was I to interfere?
“Calix, you back?” Rhett called from the bathroom.
“Yup!” Right. Priorities. I had a hot man and a dirty dog who needed my attention.
I dropped everything but the shampoo next to the door, then went into the bathroom. Rhett sat on the bathroom rug, working on tangles. He’d made good progress while I was gone. Dog didn’t look quite so matted. There was also dirt absolutely everywhere on the floor.
“Sorry for the mess,” Rhett apologized. “I’ll clean up later.”
“Naw, don’t worry about it.” I had a Brownie. Dirty bathrooms no longer scared me. “Here, I’ll start water going. I picked up bowls and a can of wet dog food, too.”
“Thank god. All I had to feed him was beef jerky, which probably wasn’t the best thing.”
“Yeah, he’ll feel better with real food in his stomach. Not that he probably had an issue with jerky, did you, bud?”
Dog wagged his tail at me. I swear, this dog was smarter than some people I knew. Then again, if the cat had brought the dog in, odds were good the dog wasn’t a normal dog either.
Seriously. Rhett was more special than I gave him credit for if he had two familiars. I really had to figure him out better. Because unless I was mistaken, his aura had gotten a little stronger?
I shook the thought off and got the water running in the shower.
Rhett got the worst of the tangles out, but honestly, the dog needed a professional groomer. Best we could do was get him mostly clean. He wasn’t too keen on getting into the shower, but then, most dogs weren’t fans of baths. Still, he went, and we gave him lots of praise while soaping him up.
Now, anyone who’s had a big dog knows, a bath involves the whole family. No one escapes unscathed. I promptly got wet, shrugged, and ditched my shirt because there was no point in having that on.
When I turned back from tossing it into the hamper, I realized Rhett was checking me out while pretending he wasn’t checking me out. The blush kind of gave him away. Now, I take pride in my physique, as I do work out to maintain it, but it wasn’t so much pride as interest when I realized he liked what he saw. Oh yeah? You gay, honey? Because I can work with that.
“Feel free to ditch your shirt too,” I encouraged with a wink. “It’s see-through anyway now.”
He glanced down at his shirt, which was wet and plastered to him, and grimaced. “Um, yeah, might as well.”
“You can borrow something of mine.” It’ll give me an excuse to flirt with you again later.
“You’re seriously helping me out, Calix.”
“My pleasure.” Could be both our pleasures if he’d agree. Must work on that.
I slid in closer to him, pulling the hem of his shirt up, and he allowed me to take it completely off. I made sure to do so with fingers grazing his chest. The tinge of pink on his cheeks deepened, and he couldn’t quite seem to meet my eyes.
Oh honey, if you keep looking at me like that, you’re going to end up in my bed very, very soon.
Focus, me, got a wet dog to deal with.
I took one side of the dog, he took the other, working water and soap into the thick fur. I maaaay have let my hands bump into Rhett’s every now and then, fingers overlapping, and I got a shy smile every time it happened. Oh yeah, he was interested. Not sure why he wasn’t taking a hint. Maybe I should hint harder. I had to get this man on a date somehow.
The dog turned his head and gave my chin a kiss.
“Aww, aren’t you a sweetheart?” I booped snoots back, still lathering away. “What are you going to name him, Rhett?”
“Honestly, I suck at names. My brother had to come up with Lucy’s name.”
“Lucy?”
“The cat. Full name: Lucy Fur.”
I cackled, hands coming to a standstill for a second. “Oh my god, I love that name.”
“Me too. She likes it, already answers to it, so I’m set there. I’m taking all name suggestions.”
“I’ll ponder.”
We rinsed, but it was obvious the dog could use a Round Two, so we dove right back in. Round Two would have to do, as there was no more shampoo left in the bottle. Dog definitely looked and smelled better, though.
Rhett worked his way to the dog’s head, then paused there, looking him over this way and that. “Does he look white to you?”
“Except a few grey patches, yeah. Who’d have thought there was a white dog under all that dirt?”
“Seriously. You’re handsome, did you know that?”
Dog’s whole body wagged. You couldn’t tell me dogs don’t speak English—this one certainly did.
But if he was white, then… “How about Myst? Short for Mystique. Since it’s a mystery where he came from.”
“Myst. Yeah, that has a good ring to it. How about it, boy? Myst a good name?”
Myst barked, which sounded incredibly loud in a tiled bathroom. That was my ear.
“I’m taking that as a yes.” Rhett grinned and continued scrubbing. “You’re such a good boy, Myst. You are being so good for us. We’ve almost got you cleaned.”
We really did. I fortunately had a detachable shower head, so we were able to rinse him off without too much trouble. Of course he escaped the shower the second he could and gave a mighty shake, sending water everywhere. Dogs, man.
“I don’t have a hairdryer,” I apologized, “so we’ll have to work with towels.”
“It’s fine, he’ll airdry. It’s a warm in my shop anyway.”
“Fortunately.”
I could feel time ticking away, but we still grabbed towels and dried him off as best we could. I grabbed a fresh shirt Rhett could wear, too, which he pulled on after drying himself off. Loved the look of that man in my clothes. I needed it to happen more often.
Then I fetched the collar, got it on Myst, and I could tell Rhett was relieved he could put a leash on the dog.
I was relieved my Brownie had disappeared under the blankets again by the time we made it out of the bathroom. That would have been so, so awkward to explain. Assuming my brain could come up with an explanation when it was fixated on trying to get Rhett on a date.
Rhett gathered up the bag full of dog goodies, leash in the other hand. He paused near the door, giving me his bone-melting smile. “Thank you so, so much. I’d have been lost without your help. I’m serious about coming back and cleaning the bathroom.”
“Rather than the bathroom”—I sidled up closer, easily within touching range, giving him my best bedroom eyes—“how about dinner tomorrow as thanks?”
I saw my offer hit home by the pleased little grin he wore, his breath hitching for a second. Score. I had him.
“Dinner sounds great. Text you later?”
“Sure.”
He still had that little grin on his face when he called, “Lucy, come on. We got to get back to the shop.”
Lucy hopped down from her window perch and sauntered toward her human, which was decidedly not cat behavior. I’d never seen a cat come when called. Me, she ignored, and rubbed up against her dog before proceeding toward the door.
“That’s apparently our cue. Think of where you want to go, okay?”
“I will.” With dessert afterward. I was totally the type to put out on the first date.
I shut the door behind him, then punched the air in victory. Yes! Finally, finally I had a date with that man. Hopefully this didn’t blow up in my face later.
Brownie peeked out from the blanket and gave me a wave.
“Yeah, you’re good. Thanks for hiding. Uh, we need to get you sorted before I go back down.” I should probably put on a fresh shirt too. Not that the ladies, gents, and gentlefolk coming into my store wouldn’t appreciate the view, but still.
Come to think of it, clothes for Brownies were not something they made in stores. How the hell was I going to rectify this?
I whipped my phone out and texted my sister. Clothes for Brownie ?
Took her two seconds to answer. Doll clothes .
My sister was a genius.