Page 8 of Dad Next Door
“Bye.” Lydia turned to follow her nephew into the house.
When they were inside, I made my way through the trees to get back to my yard.
That wasn’t the most ideal way to meet the neighbors, but at least I had a story to tell my friends.
2
TRISTAN
The jingle of my keys in the lock set off the usual cacophony of noise that greeted me every time I came home. Carefully, I pushed the door open and slipped inside.
Koda, my elderly corgi/Akita mix, sat patiently in the middle of the foyer, the same way he had since the day I brought him home nine years ago.
The clatter of nails on the floors was right on schedule as Freddie, our rambunctious Great Dane/German shepherd/golden retriever mix, came barreling out of the pet room and raced across the foyer to greet me with his usual enthusiasm.
At the last second, Freddie put on the brakes and dropped his butt onto the floor. He slid to a stop right in front of me, his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth as he looked up at me proudly.
“Hey, Freddie.” I scratched behind his ear. “Did you make good choices today?”
A warm, furry body rubbed up against my pant leg. “Hi, Maple.” I greeted our silver tabby cat but didn’t reach down to pet her. She was particular about when she allowed pets, and door greetings weren’t one of those times.
“Come here, Koda.” I waved him over, knowing he’d sit there until I did.
The size difference between Koda and Freddie was significant, with Koda weighing in at forty pounds while Freddie was close to one-thirty. Poor Koda had learned the hard way that Freddie didn’t always remember how big he was and did his best to avoid being trampled or sat on.
Koda lumbered over to me on his short legs and accepted some head scratches.
“Dad!” The echo of footsteps thundered through the house. A moment later, Leo ran into the foyer with Jinx in his arms.
“Hey, kiddo.” I stood, brushing off my hands. “Okay, guys. You gotta let me come in.”
The animals at my feet wandered away.
“Dad!” Leo shifted from foot to foot, practically bouncing in his excitement. “We met Quinn, and he saved Jinx!”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Jinx escaped and got lost, and Quinn came and found him and crawled under the house and got hurt, but he saved Jinx.”
I glanced at my sister, hoping she could add some context. Who was Quinn?
“I left the back door open by accident, and Jinx slipped out.” Lydia looked pained. Knowing my sister, she was going to beat herself up over that for a long time. “Your new neighbor heard us looking for him, and he came over to help.”
“He figured out Jinx was under the deck, and he saved him,” Leo added. Jinx lifted his head and rubbed his face against Leo’s cheek. Leo giggled and nuzzled him back.
“And Quinn is our new neighbor?” I asked, trying to put the pieces of the disjointed conversation together.
“Yup.” Leo smiled patiently and rubbed Jinx’s back.
“His name is Quinn Reynolds,” Lydia filled in.
“So, Quinn, our new neighbor, found Jinx under the porch and got him out?” I asked, finally stitching the story together.
Getting bombarded with information as soon as I walked through the door wasn’t unusual, but today was supposed to have been my day off. I was exhausted, which made me a bit slow on the uptake. “That was nice of him.”
“Yup! He’s so nice. And smart,” Leo said, his voice filled with admiration.
A streak of black and beige raced across the entrance to the kitchen as Mili and Shadow, our other cats, started their evening zoomies.