Page 26 of Love ’em or Liam

He pauses. Looks at Wren, who gives him a soft nod.

“I’ll be right here the whole time,” she tells him.

Then he walks in, slow and unsure, but moving.

Banjo ambles over first, fluffy tail wagging gently. She sniffs Keller’s knee and sits.

Keller’s eyes go wide. “I think she’s waiting for me to pet her. Do you think so?”

“Yeah. She’s really polite like that. And she loves attention.”

“Watch,” I tell him. I get down on one knee and scratch Banjo between the ears. “If you pet her here,” I point to her chest, “she smiles.” So I demonstrate, scratching the golden retriever’s soft fur on her chest. Her mouth opens in what looks like a smile.

Tentatively, Keller reaches out, and when Banjo leans into his touch, Keller’s face splits into a grin. The kind of grin you make a mental snapshot of because you want to remember it forever.

Blue joins a moment later, curling up in a patch of sun. Franny trots over and drops a slobbery tennis ball at Keller’s feet.

“Franny likes to play,” I tell him. “She wants you to throw the ball.”

Keller looks at the ball and shakes his head.

I laugh. “I don’t blame you. They’re slimy sometimes.” I pick up the dirt and slobber- covered tennis ball and toss it. Franny happily runs after it.

We stay in that pen for a while, letting Keller get comfortable. Wren’s got her arms folded over the fence, watching with a look that’s all soft affection.

When Keller kneels to scratch under Blue’s chin, I clear my throat. “Got a big question for you, bud.”

He glances up.

“You want to bring one of these pups home?”

His brow furrows. “Home?”

“Yeah. You can pick one to come live with us.”

He looks genuinely confused. “But... they live here.”

I crouch beside him. “They do, for now. But this isn’t forever. It’s just a place where we keep them safe and loved until their real family comes.”

He blinks at me. “So we’d be their real family?”

“Exactly.”

He glances at the three dogs. Franny’s chewing the tennis ball to shreds, Blue’s still snoozing, and Banjo is staring up at him like he hung the moon.

“I think... I think maybe we’re Banjo’s real family. Can we take her home?” he asks.

I wrap an arm around his small shoulders and pull him close. “I think you’re right. I think she belongs with us.” I glance over at my wife to see her wiping her cheeks. “What do you think, Songbird?”

She gives me a watery laugh and shrugs. “I think we might be a real family.”

chapter

thirteen

Wren

We’re driving back to the house, Keller in the backseat with our new dog. I glance over at my husband. The man who made me climax no fewer than four times last night.