Five Shadows

Chapter Twenty-One

The next day Little Cut threw me off my game when he walked by in jeans. I followed him into his office and pointed at his legs. "Are those jeans?"

"These? Yes. These are jeans."

"I've never seen you wear jeans before. What's the casual occasion?"

"No reason." I stared him down until he broke. "Marnie. She said I need to loosen up. I told her I'm perfectly loosened up and she bet me I wouldn't even wear jeans into the office. So, here I am."

They looked really, really good on him. Like. Really. "Family," I said. "I have a meddling sister myself."

"Yeah? Does she force you to do horribly unprofessional things just to prove you don't have a stick up your butt?"

"Worse. She gives her opinion on my hair, wardrobe, life choices... you know, just nitpicks the very essence of who I am."

"Ah, she sounds lovely."

"The worse part is? She is. Lovely, I mean."

"Yeah, Marnie too. Darn it. Do you have other siblings?" He put his elbows to his knees when he asked, like they were huddled up, conspiring together.

"A brother. He's not as bossy, thank goodness." He was so cute in his jeans, and his face was so ridiculously intrigued by my family that I forgot to be nervous that he'd keep asking about my family. Mistake.

"What about your parents? Are they inclined to comment on your life choices? Because mine can never find out about my new tattoo, by the way."

I made a quick square in the space between us, before dodging the question. "They have a problem with Narnia?" I said just as casual as jeans on Friday.

He laughed. "No, it's lampposts they take real issue with." I giggled. Crises averted. For now. Before he could remember his original question, I took a leap of faith.

"Speaking of your sister, I think she talked me into it."

"That's her M.O. What did she talk you into?"

"The puppy."

Little Cut threw his whole body back when he laughed. "I knew it! I knew you were getting that puppy the second Marnie put it in your hands. Do you see what I'm dealing with? She always gets her way!"

"Yeah, yeah. I didn't stand a chance. I mean did you see that thing?" I'd been making excuses to myself since the day I met that dog about why I should not be a pet owner. But maybe Pa was right. Maybe I was always waiting for perfect conditions to get on with things and just maybe, things didn't have to be just right before I took a leap. This seemed like a good place to start. Plus, thinking of others? I hope that lesson extended to animals too. All I could do was think about that little dog and his stubby little tail and soul-searching eyes.

"Let's go after work," Little Cut's excitement brought my mind back to his office. "We'll need to get supplies first. They'll give you some things, but you'll obviously need a leash with some personality. I'll tell you the best dog parks too and give you the name of my vet." He was flipping through his phone, presumably for his vet. His excitement was contagious. And I had to admit I was pleasantly surprised that he wanted to come with me. I was excited, in a 'ohmygosh this is really happening, I'm going to barf' kind of way. It would be nice to have some back-up.

"Okay, well, I'm going to get back to work. This day is going to drag!" I cringed. I probably shouldn't say that to my boss.

But he nodded, "No kidding. Maybe we cut out a couple minutes early." Then he cringed. "Or not. I think these jeans are having a very unprofessional effect on me," he grinned. "On the other hand, it is Friday. And we don't want someone else to adopt him before you get there."

I froze. I hadn't thought of that. "They can't!"

Little Cut smiled and held his phone up. "Just texted Marnie and told her that he's spoken for. She'll put him on hold."

It was weird to think of a living being "on hold." I smiled at the memory of the shadows. Slowly, I was starting to get what they were trying to tell me. Even if their techniques sucked sometimes, I was definitely starting to get it.

I still had my argument with Abby hanging over my head. She and I had argued before, even that same argument, but I couldn't shake it off like I normally do. A bumptious tug on my heart seemed to believe I should make things right with her. In between calls I picked up my phone and shot her a quick text: "So fun hanging with Morgan last night. Good to see you too. You two free later? I want to show Morgan something." I added a heart emoji at the end and clicked send before I remembered how made I still was.

Two calls later she texted back. "She had fun too. We can't tonight. Tomorrow? P.S. Since when do you use emojis?"

"Tomorrow works! That was my first one. How did I do?"

She replied immediately, "Nailed it." I smiledat my phone. We were going to be okay. Even if she was a bossy control freak.