HARRY
I never wanted a pet, much less the responsibility, but my loneliness brought me to the pound seven months ago. I reached thirty-nine a month prior to that, an age I'm only resenting because I'm on my own. No relationships have ever lasted long enough to become something permanent in the ways that have started to count. Everyone eventually leaves. Or cheats. Or breaks up because I want something serious too soon. But waiting is tiring when I want to settle down, so when I made my decision to bring home a pet—one that needed to be loved as much as me—it was because I decided I was done with men and relationships and one-night-stands that never turned into marriage proposals.
I wanted a cat because those are easy when they're not vicious or unpleasant. But I choose a dog instead, one I named Blue because my niece begged me to when I called Gemma. I never wanted a dog because I was always more keen on puppies despite knowing they grow into the dogs I never wanted. But then Blue looked up at me with her pleading eyes, making my too-easy-to-break heart ache as I crouched down to scratch her behind her ears. I brought her home immediately, then introduced her to her new home with a tour. And we've been inseparable ever since—meeting someone has completely slipped my mind—but as much as I never wanted a pet, I wanted to visit the vet even less.
"Harry."
I look up when Dr. Tomlinson—Louis—sits down next to me in the waiting room. "Is she okay?"
He puts a hand on my knee to stop its bouncing. "It's cancer."
"It's... cancer?"
"I know it's hard to hear, but we can operate as soon as tomorrow."
I tear up in response. "Is that what you're recommending?"
"I can't promise you we can remove everything. And I can't promise you it won't come back. But removing what we can is going to help immensely."
"But...?"
"But in case you want us to put—"
"No," I interrupt. "No, I... I can't."
"Harry—"
"Fix her," I say, wrapping a hand around his wrist. "Please."
He puts a hand over mine. "Okay."
"You have to make her good again."
"Okay."
"Okay."
"You can bring her home now," he says. "And then I just need you to come back in the morning."
It hurts my heart that Blue isn't okay anymore, but I need to trust Louis when he says he can help. I spend the next morning in the waiting area, waiting and waiting and waiting as Louis and Liam work on Blue, wondering how I'm going to survive losing her in case the unthinkable happens. It's not that I thought she was going to outlive me, but I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready to lose her when she has become the only one I can count on, when I'm merely going to be lonely and depressed without her.
"Louis," I say, standing up when he comes out in his scrubs—he looks inconveniently sexy. "Tell me."
"It went well."
"Really?"
"Really," he says. "But removing everything wasn't an option, so we've removed what we could. It's going to help, but you're gonna have to take extra care of her during her recovery."
He makes a surprised sound when I bring him into my arms, but he hugs me back and relaxes against my body as though this is something that happens regularly.
