Chapter 19
GINA
“She’s telling me it’s time to come out now.” My hands are up, and rainbow lasers shoot all around us from the disco ball. “Her voice is not squeaky like in a cartoon. It’s like a regular voice.”
“Whose voice?” Heather’s blue eyes are wide, and she holds my arm, looking all around the room.
“Can’t you see her?” I point to the fluffy white Bichon Frisé sitting on the rug watching us. “She’s wagging her tail and telling me it’s time to be born.”
Heather moves her hands in an arc in front of my face. “You’re the lady with the dog.”
“I am.” I reach up to hold her hand in mine. “I’m the dog lady.”
“My sister.” Her eyes flutter closed, and she squeezes our hands together. “I dreamed about you. I told him it was you before we even met. I saw you through the mist holding a dog. You will heal him, and he will heal you.”
The Bichon Frisé shakes its ears and rises up on its back legs before running down the hall.
“I have to follow this dog. This dog is my spirit animal!” I take off running after it, leaving Heather dancing under the rainbow lasers.
We run upstairs and down, and then we go outside, where I slow to a stop.
Looking up, I see a sky full of stars. They swirl together like that painting by Van Gogh, and I sit down to watch them curl like waves then uncurl and slide apart.
“It’s so beautiful,” I tell the dog sitting beside me also watching.
Then the stars swirl to form a heart, and I see a man and a little girl. I reach out my hands, and they reach back. The circle is complete, and we’re so happy. We dance around the heart holding hands like it’s “Ring Around the Rosie.”
My eyes close, and I’m stars now, too. I’m light and fizzy, smiling so big as we release hands, all drifting down together.
The next thing I know, a large hand strokes the top of my head, moving my hair off my cheek. My lips are stuck together, and I have the worst cottonmouth.
“You okay?” Owen’s voice is soft, and he pats my shoulder gently. “Need a sip of water?”
Nodding, I sit up slowly. My eyes are still closed, but I reach for the water. I’m desperate for it.
“Here,” he says. “Let me help you.”
Both of my hands clasp the glass, and I manage to pry my lips apart, drinking big gulps. Finally, I can open my eyes, and he’s sitting in front of me, watching me with a peculiar grin on his face, like he’s seeing me in a new way.
He’s never looked at me like this before, and I try to remember what happened last night.
Oh, yeah. Mushrooms.
“Feeling better?” he asks, and I nod. “I’ve got to get on the road, but I wanted to be sure you were okay before I left.”
“I’m okay. Are you?”
“Yeah.” He huffs a laugh. “A little shook up. I hope you weren’t barfing the whole time.”
“I wasn’t.” I lower the glass, looking at the delicious water. “I followed a dog around. I think it was the dog that made my mom go into labor.”
He chuckles deeply, and my stomach squeezes.
“How do you know?” His deep voice is so lovely, and I remember holding hands and dancing around the stars with him.
“It told me to come out now.” That makes him laugh more, and I squeeze my eyes together before breaking into laughter as well. “Can you believe that was my mushroom trip? Aren’t they supposed to be spiritual and help you find answers or whatever?”
“You’ll have to ask Heather. She’s the expert.”
“She was standing under rainbow lasers the last time I saw her.”
He reaches up and slides a loose piece of hair behind my ear, still looking at me like I’m something precious and delicate. It makes my skin prickly and my cheeks flush.
“What happened to you?” I ask softly, reaching for his large hand, and holding it in mine.
“I’ll tell you about it tomorrow on our date.” He lifts my hand, kissing the back of it. “I’ve got to go now. Mav’s waiting for me.”
I smile up at him. “Hit the ice and rock it.”
“Right.” He hesitates, then leans closer and kisses my lips before starting for the door.
My eyes slide from his broad shoulders to his perfectly tight ass, and I exhale a happy sigh before falling back on the bed again.
Staring up at the ceiling, I try to remember everything from last night, chasing the dog up and down the stairs and out into the yard.
The dog part was silly, but the part that warms me most was lying on the grass watching the stars align in patterns that symbolized love and family.
Holding hands with a man and a little girl, forming a circle around a beating heart. The only thing missing was two dogs who knew before we did what was coming.
If mind-altering drugs can be trusted at all, which it’s possible they can’t, that’s a really great dream.
Shaking my head, I climb off the bed and start collecting my things. Dreams or drugs, I have to get Maddie from my cousin’s house, and Haddy texted me about some important hockey business we need to discuss.
“How do you feel about Pucks for Pups?” Haddy holds up her hands, spreading them like she’s unrolling a banner in the air.
My brow furrows. “What is it?”
“The calendar was such a huge hit, we thought it would be fun to do a corresponding dog show!” She loops her arm through mine. “You were the inspiration for it actually.”
“In what way?”
“I saw you teaching Maddie how to walk with Ladybird, and I thought people would pay money to see the guys walking their dogs from the calendar. Maybe they could be shirtless or in tight jeans… Or they can just wear those suits, because…” My cousin’s nose crinkles, and she shivers.
“Who are you? Buck Laughlin?”
I’m referencing the inappropriate color commentator in the mockumentary Best in Show, of course.
“You know, he had some pretty good ideas.” She has her phone out, busily tapping on the screen and ignoring my tease. “A calendar of ladies washing dogs in wet T-shirts would be a big hit with the guys… and some of the ladies, too, I’d wager.”
“It’s also highly inappropriate and sexist.”
“That’s the joke, Gigi, but you know as well as I do something like that would fly off the shelves. And how is it any more sexist than our calendar?”
Waving my hand, I’m not getting into a discussion of gender-based power dynamics today. I’m still floating on memories of my blissful doggy-family mushroom trip, and I don’t want to kill my vibe.
“So you want to have a dog show where the hockey players walk their dogs in either tight jeans or designer suits?”
Her lips pinch, and she gives me a not-so-innocent grin. “The designer suits would be better… and hotter.”
“It sounds more like a fashion show.”
“Isn’t that basically what a dog show is?”
I shake my head. “Not at all. Handlers have a specific way of walking the dogs. It’s called gaiting, and it’s used to evaluate whether the dog conforms to breed standards.”
“Can the guys learn to do it?”
“I don’t see why not.” I shrug. “They just have to practice walking their dog at the correct speed to showcase its natural gait.”
“Yay! I’ll spread the word and see how many tickets we can sell.” Her thumbs continue flying over her phone screen. “Oh, and could you recruit some judges for us? Hopefully ones who’ll work for free? It’s for charity.”
“Oh, sure. I’m not doing anything.”
“Geeegeeeee!” she yells as she walks down the hall to Lucy’s room.
I shake my head. She knows I’m going to help her.
I walk over to where Owen’s daughter is on the sofa hugging Zander and watching The Fox & The Hound, Part 2 with Spanky and Ladybird on the rug beside her.
“I loved this movie when I was your age.” I lean on the back of the couch near her. “It’s not as sad as the first one.”
“I like Granny Rose!” Maddie rocks, bopping her feet as the dogs start to sing a country-folk song. “Do you think Ladybird could sing like Copper?”
“Hmm…” I watch the group of cartoon dogs harmonizing. “I think Ladybird has her own special way of singing.”
The dogs break into a chant, and Maddie says it with them. “Like a bird in a tree, we’re meant to be…”
Haddy returns to the room holding Lucy. She starts singing the song as well in her perfect, pageant voice as she bounces the baby.
Maddie climbs onto her knees. “Can I hold baby Lucy?”
“Let’s see.” Haddy walks around to sit on the couch, and Maddie scoots closer to her. “Have you ever held a little baby before?”
“No.” Maddie’s brown eyes are wide, and I walk around to sit on her other side.
“I’ll help you then.” Haddy turns her five-month-old around, laying her across Maddie’s lap. “Put your arm under her head like this, and hold her waist with your arm.”
Maddie cuddles the baby, and Lucy blinks up at her.
“She’s so cute,” Maddie coos. “Hey, baby Lucy, I’m your friend Maddie.”
My heart melts, and I put my hand on Maddie’s back. “I can tell she likes you already.”
“You can?” The little girl’s eyebrows shoot up, and she looks up at me. “How can you tell?”
“Well, she’s not crying.”
Maddie looks down, shaking her head and leaning down. Lucy blinks several times. Her little brow crinkles, and I hold my breath… Then she breaks into a big baby-laugh that shakes her whole body.
“Oh, she really likes you.” Haddy smiles, giving Maddie a squeeze. “Let’s put her in her bouncy seat, and you can sit in front of her. I bet that will make her laugh even more.”
“Okay!” Maddie looks up at her.
My cousin takes the baby and secures her in her blue chair. Maddie hops down in front of her, leaning forward and shaking her head again, and again, Lucy breaks into a full-body laugh, this time adding a loud squeal.
“She likes me!” Maddie looks up at us, and I’m in love.
“Play with her for a minute while I get something from the kitchen.” Haddy stands, walking around the couch.
“Look, Lucy! This is Zander the Zebra. He’s my best friend next to Ladybird… and Spanky, I guess.”
I’m still watching the little girls, when I notice a hissing sound. I look behind me, and my cousin’s eyes are wide. She tilts her head in the direction of the kitchen for me to follow, and I lean down to hug Maddie.
“I’ll be right back.”
She nods, completely absorbed in making Lucy laugh.