Page 77 of Dad Next Door
“Bye, Dad.” Leo waved to him but didn’t look up from the chessboard.
“Later, Doc.” I waved, then rubbed Jinx’s back. “We’re good.”
He looked torn for a moment, then hurried away.
Freddie jumped up and chased after him.
“Do you know how to swim?” Leo asked.
“I do.”
“Me too. My friend Betty has a pool. I’m going to her birthday party tomorrow, and we’re going to swim in it.”
“Betty?” I asked. “My grandmother’s name was Betty. Well, her name was Elizabeth, but everyone called her Betty.”
“I wonder if my Betty is Elizabeth too,” he said thoughtfully. “I’ll ask tomorrow and let you know. Is it your turn or mine?”
“Mine.” I moved another pawn. “So you’re going to a birthday pool party tomorrow?”
“Yup.” He moved another piece. “I asked Dad if we could get a pool, but he said it’s not safe with so many pets. Do you know a lot about space?”
“Not a ton, but some stuff. I read a lot of space books when I was younger.”
“I know soooo much space stuff,” he said proudly. “I wanna be an astronaut. Or a builder.”
“A builder?” I moved one of my pieces, not putting too much thought behind my strategy.
“Yup. I like building things. Do you want to see my Lego?” He jumped up, our game forgotten.
“Sure.” I stood too, making sure to keep Jinx steady so he didn’t slip.
He darted out of the room. I hurried behind him. I’d forgotten how energetic kids were—and how short their attention spans could be.
Today was going to be an adventure.
“See that guy?” Leo pointed to the TV. “The one with the purple shirt? I think he’s the one who snitched.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. He wasn’t there when they had their meeting.”
“That’s true.” I settled back on the couch. “What about the girl with the red hair? She wasn’t there either.”
“Maybe she’s working with him?”
“Maybe.”
After a busy day of playing games and moving from activity to activity while getting infodumps about space, Leo and I had eaten dinner and were now in the back living room watching YouTube videos while we waited for Tristan to get home.
He’d called a few hours ago and explained there was an emergency at the clinic, and he needed to stay until the patient was stable. Luckily he wasn’t the on-call vet that night, but he’d already put in a full week and had lost one of his days off. He needed a break.
Gently, I rubbed between Freddie’s ears. He was sprawled on my other side, his big head on my thigh. Shadow and Mili were sleeping on the back of the couch behind Leo, and Koda was curled up on his other side.
Jinx was fast asleep on my chest and snuggled under my sweater. Any time I sat down for more than a few minutes, he jumped on my lap and pawed at my hoodie, which was his way of saying he wanted to get under it so he could use me as a human pet bed.
I loved every second of it. Being surrounded by pets and watching videos with Leo was fun. It reminded me of when my stepbrothers and I all lived at home, and we’d have family movie night every Sunday evening.
“Hey.”