Torn [SHAWN MENDES]

~58~

"Daf!" Piper said as she walked over to the puppy and pointed. She liked to use her new words to identify things around the house.

"That's Daffy, alright, and she's sleeping, so please don't bother her right now," Shawn warned.

"Shhhhhh," the toddler held a finger up to her lips. "Daf seepy."

It was Rosie's day off and Yasmin was in Los Angeles for work, so Shawn had his hands full with his daughter and the puppy.

Piper walked over to her basket of toys. "Baby!" she exclaimed as she pulled out a doll. She put it in a stroller and pushed it around the living room. "Walk. We walk!"

"When Daffy wakes up, we can take your baby and the puppy for a short walk. Would you like that?"

She nodded her head vigorously before hurrying to the dog and petting her. "Up, Daf! Up!"

"I didn't mean for you to wake her," Shawn groused as he got up from the floor. "Are you unfamiliar with the phrase, 'Let sleeping dogs lie'?"

Daffy hopped off her bed and ran around Piper in a circle before squatting and peeing on the hardwood floor.

"Uh oh, Da!" Piper said as she pointed to the puddle. "Peepee!"

"Don't touch it, princess. I'm going to grab the paper towels."

He ran to the kitchen and got what he needed to clean the mess. Daffodil had gone two days without an accident, and he'd been hoping she was on her way to being house trained, so this setback was a little discouraging. After sopping up the pee, he sprayed some organic orange odor eliminator and then wiped that up, too. He threw the paper towels away, washed his hands, and got Daffy's yellow leash off the hook.

Shawn put Piper's sandals on and slipped into his Birkenstocks before helping the toddler's buckle her doll into the miniature stroller. After making sure he had his keys, he shut the front door and they started down the driveway, stopping at the grassy front yard so the puppy could poop.

"Yuck!" Piper declared when Daffy was done.

"Have you seen your diapers? Not much better," he said with a chuckle.

Sometimes it shocked him how much he loved this domesticated life. He enjoyed every aspect of parenthood, and even though having a puppy thrown into the mix was hard, he loved that, too. Sometimes he questioned whether staying with Yasmin was the right thing to do, like when Taryn unexpectedly popped into his thoughts, but then there were times like these that made it worth it. Even if he never loved Yaz as much as he loved Taryn, she'd built this life with him and had given him so much.

"We should do something nice for your mama," he said to Piper as they slowly walked down the sidewalk.

"Mama nice."

"Yes, she is, so we should show her our appreciation."

As they strolled, he remembered that Aaliyah once made his parents a piece of artwork with her kids' handprints. It was still hanging up in their kitchen, so clearly they loved it. Rosie bought some crafting supplies which were kept and used in the garage since the white furniture would be at risk otherwise. Hopefully there was some paint.

After the walk, he and Piper ate lunch before she went down for her nap. The puppy collapsed on its bed, exhausted from the excursion, so he had a chance to look at the art stuff. On one side of the large garage there was a little table with two chairs and some shelves above it. Sure enough there were some bottles of tempera paint in the primary colors.

An hour and a half later, Piper was up. He took the puppy outside and then put her in the crate so that they could focus on their craft. He got the little girl down to just her diaper so that her clothes wouldn't get ruined, though he suspected Rosie bought the kind of paint that washed out.