Chapter 18 #2
Pope gave them a few minutes to interact before approaching the husky.
“It’s your turn,” Pope said, taking time to stroke his fur and rub his ears before carefully picking him up and depositing him in a tub full of freshly run water.
While he was the more skittish of the two, the husky clearly loved water and pranced around while Pope started pouring it over his fur.
“Weather alert woke me,” Danger said. “They’re saying gale-force winds and heavy rains that will make visibility near impossible.”
“Then it’s a good thing we have nowhere we’re supposed to be today,” Pope declared as he steadily drenched the husky’s fur, pausing every now and again to pluck more twigs, leaves, and bits of junk out of it.
“I need to take a piss,” Danger declared. “Want me to break out the hurricane lamps and set them up in the kitchen and den?”
“Better put one in the bathroom too,” Pope said. “Something tells me we’ll need it before the day is through.”
Just as Danger stood to get up, the phone Pope had placed on the counter buzzed.
“Wanna check that for me?” Pope asked.
Danger picked it up and tapped the screen before turning it to face Pope. “It’s locked.”
“Unlock it,” Pope said, never taking his hands off the dog. “The password is the same as it always was.”
“It’s from Mark,” Danger announced as he typed. “He wanted to make sure Roan and Ocean were with us, since no one had seen them since the car show. I’m letting him know they are and that we’ll be down to get their things, and mine, from our cabins once the storm blows through.”
“Good deal.”
“He was worried about us?” Roan asked, looking completely stunned by that revelation.
Ocean knew why, too, since Roan had told him that Mark had said on more than one occasion that Roan was a thorn in his ass.
Of course, that had been when Roan had been misbehaving, so maybe now that he’d stopped, the man was finally coming to think of him as a member of the club, even if it wouldn’t be official until he’d earned his full colors.
Pope chuckled. “Of course he was. You’re family.”
So simple and matter-of-fact, and yet, Ocean could see that to Roan it was everything in the world.
The car show was only two days ago, and yet people had noticed they weren’t around.
After the story he’d told about running away and being gone three days only to get home and discover that his absence had gone unnoticed, Ocean knew that revelation would have a positive impact on him.
“He could be mad enough to make you scrub every toilet on the compound and still care about where you are when a storm like this is about to roll in,” Danger said as the phone buzzed again, and he started cackling.
He turned it so they could see what was so funny. Below five laughing face emojis were the words You owe me another hundred.
“What’s that mean?” Ocean asked.
“That’ll have to wait until after I piss,” Danger said, putting the phone back on the counter and hurrying from the room while Pope chuckled, the husky covered in suds now.
When bubbles dropped on his nose, he sneezed, sending them flying into Pope’s face.
Roan slapped his hands over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
Ocean didn’t bother. Nor did Pope, who snickered as he wiped it off on his forearm and went right back to washing the dog.
Outside, Roan had made a comment about Pope’s house being the nicest one he’d ever been in.
Ocean hoped that Roan learned from the way he’d welcomed the dogs, the same way he’d welcomed Roan and Ocean and offered them a place in his life, that Pope was nothing like the people who’d raised him.
The night before, when Ocean had blurted yes to moving in without question or hesitation, Roan had asked, when they were alone in their bedroom, how Ocean could make the decision so easily. Hopefully he was beginning to understand.
Pope was almost finished rinsing the husky, while the yellow one, whose breed Ocean couldn’t begin to guess, had sprawled across him and Roan while they rubbed his fur with towels to help dry him faster, when Danger returned.
“Lanterns are set up and I closed the storm shutters,” Danger announced, “and spread the newspapers from this week’s recycling bin on the floor in the mudroom in case they need to use the bathroom during the storm.”
“I’m glad they won’t have to go outside and get wet to do their business,” Ocean said.
“Not in a million years,” Pope declared.
“These guys have had it rough enough as it is. Trying to force them out in a storm like that would be cruel. Danger, why don’t you light the fire in the fireplace too?
We need to get them completely dry, so they don’t get chilled, especially with the thick fur on this one. ”
“On it,” Danger said and hurried away again.
There was still the unanswered question hanging in the air about what Mark had meant when he’d said that Danger owed him another hundred dollars, but it could keep until they’d finished taking care of the dogs.
“Can we give them names, or do we have to wait until we’re certain they don’t belong to anyone?” Ocean asked.
“I don’t see where naming them will hurt anything,” Pope said. “Once we’ve got them in the den, I’m sure we can put our heads together and figure out what to call them.”
“Hear that, guys?” Ocean said as he leaned over to rub noses with their yellow boy. “You’re gonna get names.”
“Names, pillows to lay on for the den and the bedroom, as well as their own blankets, dishes, toys, and anything else they need too, including harnesses for walking,” Pope declared.
“Food and treats we’ll make ourselves. Once we can get them to the vet, we’ll get their shots updated and make sure they have full physicals.
They’ll need dewormer too, since I’m sure they’ve been scrounging in the garbage and probably eating roadkill.
They’ll get a thorough workup, including their teeth, because from what I saw, the yellow one’s need cleaning. ”
“I can chip in,” Ocean said. “I’ve got cash tucked away, plenty of it, between selling the house and placing at the top of the leaderboard in competitions.”
“Let me make one thing clear to both of you,” Pope said as he lifted the husky from the tub but was unable to back away before he shook what looked like a monsoon of water all over Pope.
This time, Roan didn’t cover his mouth when he snickered. Chuckling, Pope wiped his face only to get hit with a second wave when the husky decided that another good shake was in order. Pope waited for him to finish getting it all out of his system before addressing them again.
“Now, as I was saying,” Pope began, as the husky finally held still so Pope could rub a towel over him. “Taking care of the bills is my responsibility. One I take very seriously.”
“Doesn’t that make us freeloaders?” Roan asked.
“No, that makes you my boys and me your caretaker, or daddy, which goes for Danger too,” Pope said. “You keep your money where it’s at. Use it however you wish. It makes me feel good to know that I can take care of the things we need around here. Do you understand?”
“N-not completely,” Ocean admitted.
“Yeah, I’m not sure I fully understand either,” Roan said.