Pretend You're Mine(55)

“Harper, why is there a fucking dog in my lap?”

The dog grumbled in its sleep and stretched.

“What the hell kind of dog is this?”

“She’s some kind of pit-bull-lab-something. She was a neglect case and just because she has this skin condition and needs heart meds, the shelter was going to put her down.”

“That still doesn’t answer why there’s a dog. In my lap.” His voice was loud enough to wake the beast this time. A bloodshot eye opened lazily and stared at him.

“I stopped at the grocery store and this woman was walking out of the pet store with her. Her name’s Lola, by the way.”

“The woman?”

“No! The dog.”

Hearing her name, the dog turned her massive head towards Harper. Her tail thumped twice.

“Anyway, the rescue in town took her, but they needed a place for her to stay until they can find a foster home — a week tops — and she looked at me with those big sappy eyes. And before I knew it, I was putting her in the car. And I’m so sorry. Please don’t hate me. Or Lola.”

The dog’s tail thumped again.

“Harper, you can’t just bring a dog home.”

“I know! I think she hypnotized me. I’m so sorry.”

Lola swung her head back to Luke. “Why are her eyes funny?”

“It’s just a little infection. We put drops in three times a day.”

Lola’s tongue lolled out of her mouth. “Harper. She’s huge. She could swallow you whole.”

“She’s a sweetheart. There’s not a mean bone in her body.” Harper was wringing her hands together.

Lola rolled over on Luke’s lap, baring her belly.

“A week?”

“Tops.”

***

Lola had them trained in a matter of days. She gently reminded them when it was meal time and potty time. Luke’s dog-free house soon included a large inventory of squeaky toys and bones that Lola perused hourly. And every night, she snored at the foot of the bed with her huge head resting on Harper’s feet.

Harper did her best to make sure she took on the majority of dog care. Walks, meals, medicine, she even tackled the poor dog’s overgrown toenails.

She tried to keep Luke’s inconvenience to a minimum, but still felt the sting of his sighs whenever Lola made her presence known.

Every day, she reminded herself how generous Luke had been to open his home to her and now Lola. Guilt and gratitude had her stocking the refrigerator with all his favorites and bending over backwards around the house to be helpful.

She tried to make it home before Luke in the evenings so she could let Lola out, but he was always there first. One night, she came home to find Luke and the boys trying to teach Lola to fetch. Lola wasn’t into it, but Henry was a good sport about chasing all the balls that Robbie threw.

Later, when they walked the boys home, Lola didn’t even flinch when little Ava toddled over and sat on her. She just yawned and allowed herself to be squished and stroked by sticky fingers.

For the first few mornings post-Lola, Luke asked Harper if she had heard from the rescue on a permanent foster home yet.

When he stopped asking and Lola started disappearing downstairs with Luke in the mornings, Harper got suspicious.

The next morning, she waited in bed until Luke headed downstairs with Lola. When she heard the front door close behind him, Harper threw the covers off and hurried down.

There was food in her bowl, but no sign of Lola in the kitchen. Harper snooped through the rest of the first floor and checked the back yard. No Lola.

She grabbed a cup of coffee and sat on the front porch to wait.

Her patience was rewarded ten minutes later by the sight of Luke and Lola bounding around the corner side-by-side. Lola’s muscled legs ate up the sidewalk while her tongue lolled to the side. Luke’s mile-wide grin matched his running buddy’s. They were happiness in motion.

She saw the slight stutter in his step the second he noticed her. He carefully rearranged his features to an impassive expression by the time they hit the walkway to the house.

Harper tried to hide her grin behind her coffee. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” Luke said, oozing nonchalance. He handed her Lola’s leash. “She, uh, had to go out so I took her.”

“Around the block?” Harper asked innocently, petting Lola’s heaving sides. She was rewarded by a huge slurp from Lola’s tongue.

“Uh, yeah. The block.”

Lola sat next to Harper on the step and leaned into her arm.

“You are such a liar!”

Luke put his hands up. “Hey, we did go around the block. Kind of.”

“You’ve been taking her on your runs, which is why she’s totally exhausted when I take her for a walk an hour later!”