Chapter 17
GINA
“What if we host a Día De Los Muertos party for foster dogs?” I lean back against the couch cushions, looking over the still-decorated living room. “We can include the shelter, too. Extend the holiday, and do some good.”
“I think that’s a great idea!” Haddy paces back and forth behind me, bouncing Lucy on her shoulder. “Were any of the calendar hounds fosters? I’ll let the team know.”
“What’s a foster dog?” Maddie flops onto the couch beside me holding Peepee.
“It’s a dog that needs a home for a little while.” A frown pulls her lips, and I try to explain better. “Like maybe its owner can’t keep it anymore or the owner passed away, and the shelter needs to place it with some nice people until they find a permanent home. Peepee was a foster dog.”
Maddie looks down at the teacup poodle, stroking it with her finger.
She blinks up at me, wrinkling her nose. “I’m like a foster dog.”
Haddy does a spit-take behind me, and I put my arm around Maddie, pulling her close. “No, you’re not. You have your daddy and your aunt Heather.”
“My mom passed away.” Her voice is quiet, and I glance up at Haddy before answering.
“I know, honey.” I rub my hand up and down her little arm. “Does that make you feel sad?”
“Not really. I never met her, but my daddy said she was real nice and she loved me a lot. My grammy Britt said her heart grew so big with love for me, she had to go on up to heaven and be an angel watching over me.”
My throat aches, and I lean my cheek against her little head. “People who love us that much make the very best angels.”
“You’re real nice, and I’m staying with you until we find a home.” She looks up at me. “I’m a foster dog, too!”
“I mean…”
Haddy jumps in to save me. “Do you think it’s a good thing to be a foster dog?”
Maddie’s lips twist, and she pauses. Then she smiles, nodding and blinking up at us. “Peepee’s cute, and she’s your real dog now. Maybe someone nice could be my mom one day, too.”
“Know what? I think you are a foster dog.” Haddy smiles, reaching down to boop Maddie’s nose with the tip of her finger. “And I bet one day, you’ll have a very nice mom, who’ll love you very much.”
I’m not sure if this is okay, but at the same time, my heart is so full of affection for this little girl.
I think about all the things Owen and I have said to each other. They are here temporarily, but what if our situation became permanent?
Things are changing between us, and while it’s way too soon to say anything certain, maybe one day… who knows what the future holds?
The door opens, and the guys come bustling in. Gavin immediately takes Lucy out of Haddy’s arms. Owen walks over to where Maddie and I are sitting on the sofa, and Mav extends his arms wide.
“Great news!” he announces. “The Schillingers are selling their house.”
“What?” Haddy turns to him, pulling one of his arms. “Where are they going?”
“Moving to Malibu, just like all the other old people in this ‘hood.”
“What does that mean?” I look from my cousin to Owen, who’s now sitting on the other side of his daughter wearing a satisfied expression.
“It means, we’re going to make them an offer they can’t refuse,” Mav says. “And the Stones will be our new neighbors a block to the north!”
He’s so confident, and I turn to Owen. “Is this what you want to do?”
Even though we love our secluded little neighborhood, it’s a bit of a drive to the arena where they practice every single day and where many of their games are held every week.
“I mean, if I were coming here alone, with no attachments or needs, I’d probably look for something closer to downtown.” He shrugs. “As it is, I’ve got a daughter and a sister… and I want to be close to the people I care about.”
The warmth in his voice, the way his eyes fix on mine, puts a knot in my throat. His meaning is clear. If the people he cares about were only Madison and Heather, they could easily move with him downtown, closer to the arena.
“Well, I think that’s perfect!” Haddy skips over to hug Owen’s shoulders, moving quickly to Maddie’s. “We’ll be great neighbors, and Lucy can grow up with family close by…”
I don’t correct her use of the word family. I know they’re all lobbying hard for Owen and me to be a couple, but the truth is, you can’t hurry love. It’s a song, but it’s also a fact.
As strong as my feelings are for him, he’s dealing with so much on his own. His grief, his feelings about commitment.
The things he shared with me are important, and I would never rush him or me into a decision like that.
“I’m going to call my realtor and see if she can help me get an offer on the table this week.” He stands, taking out his phone. “I’ll see how quickly we can close, and maybe we can be out of your hair before Thanksgiving.”
“You’re not really in our hair,” I say quietly, glancing up at him.
He looks down at me, and the smile on his face warms my insides. “It’ll be good for me to have my own place. For many reasons.”
I’m pretty sure I know what those reasons might be, and I hope I’m right. I hope one of them is me.
“I’m a foster dog, Daddy!” Maddie pops up between us, hugging Haddy’s dog against her chest.
“What?” He laughs, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“It’s like an orphan,” Maddie tells him. “But Aunt Haddy said one day, I might have a nice lady to live with me and be a real mom… like she did with Peepee!”
"That’s basically what I said…” Haddy chuckles.
“You’re much sweeter than a foster dog.” I reach out to tweak her chin.
“I’m so lost.” Mav shakes his head. “How is Maddie like a dog?”
Haddy steps forward, grabbing the reins on the conversation. “We were thinking it would be fun to host a party for the animal shelter. The house is all decorated, and maybe some of the guys might want to adopt their calendar pets!”
“Were those dogs up for adoption?” Owen looks at me.
“A few were from the shelter, but most of them have owners.”
“Let’s do it!” Mav leans forward onto the couch. “I don’t mind foster pets… as long as they’re not humping the couch cushions like there’s no tomorrow.”
“What’s humping?” Maddie frowns, and Haddy glares at him.
“It means working real hard,” Mav says, giving her the thumbs-up.
“Stop.” I push his hands down. “Just… Stop.”
Maddie’s little brow is still furrowed, and she looks at me.
“It’s an adult word that doesn’t mean what it used to mean.” I slide her hair behind her ear. “Only really, really old people say it now.”
“Oh, like Uncle Mav is old,” she nods slowly, like she gets it.
“Exactly.” I cut my eyes up at him. “Really old, like Uncle Mav.”
“Dude, I’m not even thirty!” Mav holds out his hands. “That’s just mean.”
Gav shakes his head, cuddling Lucy. “Let us know what you need for the adoption party. We’ll get the guys to come over and help out.”
I look around. “I’ll text Carla now.”
Taking out my phone, I send a quick text to my friend. It doesn’t take her long to reply, saying she’ll bring every pet they have.
“They’ll be here first thing in the morning.” I read my phone to the group.
“Text me all the details, and I’ll share them with the team,” Haddy says.
“On it.” I send it to her, then I text the neighborhood news what’s happening.
By tomorrow, I expect we’ll have a house full of people ready to give a dog a good home.
“And Clyde is now officially part of your family.” Carla stands to shake the tall hockey player’s hand.
He thanks her and leads the small Beagle back to his waiting family. I grin, clasping my hands under my chin as I watch the children excitedly hugging their cute new dog.
“You are so good at matching dogs with their owners.” I turn to her, pulling her into a hug. “How do you do it?”
“I’m a pet psychic!” She holds her hands up, waggling her fingers in a jazzy way.
My eyes widen. “You are not…”
“No.” Carla deadpans, and we both snort a laugh. “Not that I’m saying it can’t be done. I’m not convinced it can’t!”
“I don’t know.” I shake my head. “The jury is still out as far as I’m concerned.”
“Want to come and look at the house with me?” Owen’s large hand covers mine, and my breath catches.
“Yes…” But I hold up a finger, turning to my friend. “Would you be okay if I disappeared for a few minutes?”
“Of course!” She waves her hands at me, chuckling. “Please go with the handsome, rising hockey star and look at a future home.”
“It’s not like that,” I start to argue, but when I look up at Owen… the way he’s looking down at me… I’m not so sure.
We head down the steps to the sidewalk, then past a few houses to the now-empty one on the same side of the street as mine.
“Since the Schillingers have already moved out, we’re closing this week.” Owen holds the door, and we step into a big, open floorplan with two bedrooms and three full bathrooms on the first floor. “We can start moving in on the fifteenth.”
The floors are split brick, and the living room has a gorgeous, vaulted ceiling made of yellow-pine planks. Yellow pine stairs at the back wall lead to the upstairs floor, which has two more bedroom suites.
“Come look at this.” Owen clasps my hand, leading me to the master suite on the first floor.
The bedroom is beautiful with pine floors, beige walls, ceiling fans, bronze fixtures. It has a wall of windows looking out over a garden of flowering bushes, but Owen doesn’t stop for any of it.
Holding my hand, he leads me to a small door off the side, which opens to a path leading down to a cute little cottage in the backyard.
The door opens, and my breath catches. “It’s a she-shed!”
The walls are painted pink, and a flower box is in the window.
“It has electricity and wireless.” He steps inside the gingerbread workspace. “It doesn’t have plumbing, but we can run a line out here. I don’t know how much it costs to have a bathroom installed…”
I stop in the middle of the room, turning to face him. “What are you saying?”
He looks down, rubbing a hand over his chin. “I’m just saying it has a lot of potential.”
My lips press into a smile. “I think it does.”