The Philocalist 〰 ♡ 〰 Volume Two

Hand-Off

"why are you looking at me like that?" Elle asks, when Rex just suddenly stops in the middle of the run.

Rex was four months old when Nolan adopted him and now he is six months old and about half the size he will be. He's a good dog, and every weekend Elle and Rex attend K9 training. He's one of the best dogs at the school. 

But he is also as stubborn as a mule and has this unfortunate ability on noticing what Tim does and copying Tim. 

"I don't need to take a five minute break, this isn't even a steep hike" Elle realizes why Rex stop, because when halfway through a run, Tim always stops and makes Elle take a five minute break.

Rex just makes a huffing noise and lays down.

Elle sends him a half hearted glare but sits down on the edge of the trail as well, letting her body relax a little bit. 

Rex smiles in the way only a dog can and lays his head on her lap. 

Elle sets a timer for five minutes and sits, letting her breathing even out. 

About three minutes into her five minute break, Tim appears, running the trail too.

"there you are" Tim says.

"Tim?" Elle asks, confused, standing up.

"it's your rest day, bullseye" Tim remarks.

"w-well, yeah, but I thought I would go on a run with Rex" Elle responds.

"on your rest day?" Tim raises an eyebrow.

"yeah" Elle responds. "w-what's wrong with-"

"your rest day is your rest day, I don't want you doing anything but resting" Tim responds.

"I-" Elle starts.

"I'm serious, no exercise beyond holding one of the twins, am I understood?" Tim lectures.

"yes, sir" Elle whispers.

"good, come on, let's get some food in you" Tim says, snapping his fingers which gets Rex to lead the way down the trail.

[Five Hours Later]

Elle is sitting next to Nolan on the couch, watching a movie. Grace was supposed to come over but there was an emergency at the hospital and she had to work overtime. 

"she's pretty" Elle murmurs when Ana de Armas' character appears on screen again.

"she is" Nolan responds. "she's also in the new James Bond-"

Nolan is cut off when Elle's phone starts to ring.

"sorry" Elle apologizes, standing up and taking the call.

"hi, this is Stuart Cooper from First America Bank, is this Eleonora Solokov?" A male's voice comes over the phone.

"this is she" Elle responds. 

"good evening, Ms. Solokov, there was an issue with the payment for your home loan" Stuart explains.

"um, it should be an automatic payment, I've already put in my money for the next five payments and I think Nolan has to" Elle frowns.

"that's the thing, Ms. Solokov, we have the money you put into the payment, but we don't have Mr. Nolan's" Stuart answers. "we were wanted to reach out to you before we called Mr. Nolan"

"I'll talk to him, but um, I can also go ahead and pay for the rest of the payment" Elle responds.

"do you want to do that now?" Stuart asks.

After another ten minutes on the phone, Elle has went ahead and paid off the entire payment of the loan for this month.

"hey, Nolan?" Elle says, walking over to him.