S E E K I N G
I'd do anything for you.
• • •
O M N I S C I E N T
"There's no way a bag of kale is this expensive." Audra mumbles to herself as she scans over her receipt. She stuffs it in her purse; pushing her cart out of Whole Foods. It was Christmas Eve, and despite her not wanting to leave the house at all, she still found herself needing some last-minute ingredients for their meal tomorrow. She quickly secures the items into the trunk— the crowd was coming, and she didn't want to get caught up in maneuvering around careless parkers. As she pushes the cart back into the corral, she sees a cardboard box. Under normal circumstances, she would mind her business; but not today, because this random cardboard box was moving: quite swiftly actually. Curiosity gets the best of her, and she inches her way closer to it before peeking inside. And instead of some terrifying creature, she's met with a mini liter of three brown puppies. They weren't newborn, but the size let's her know that the Labradors were still pretty young" maybe five weeks. She looks around to see if anyone else was seeing what she was. But everyone seemed to be caught up in their own world. She looks back to the active puppies; who, almost on cue, begin to whimper. And if Audra wasn't already a sucker, now she was. Without thinking, she tentatively reaches for the box; dragging it from between the parking stoppers. She finds one of their old beach towels in the trunk, and lays that against the seat, before sliding the box atop of it. As far as a plan was concerned, she didn't really have any. But one thing was for certain; and it's that those puppies weren't spending the night in the parking lot.
• • •
"Alright, no more grapes for you." Calum says, as he secures a new diaper on Nova. He had changed her at least three times within the hour. He hears the chime of the front door; and rests her in her playpen.
"It's just me." Audra's voice comes out after as she carries the bags to the kitchen.
"Hey, I would've come to help, but I was changing Nov'." He comes down the stairs "Another grape situation."
"I told you to only feed her like, three. Any more than that, and she's a poop monster."
"Can finally say I experienced it now. You got everything you needed?"
"Yeah, thankfully." She kisses his cheek, then steps back to look at him. "You love me, don't you?"
"Is that a trick question?" He chuckles.
"No, more like a 'I did something impulsive, and want to know if you will still love me after you found out' question."
His amusement turns into curiosity. "What'd you do?"
She doesn't immediately respond, only nodding towards their front porch. And under their Christmas lights, he sees the heads of three dark brown puppies moving around in the box. "This is what I did."
"Where did...?" He starts.
"I found them in the parking lot at Whole Foods. I was about to drop them to a shelter...but somehow found my way here with them."
"So do you want us to keep all three of these puppies?" He raises his eyebrows.
"Just for the holidays." She clarifies. "They deserve a nice home for Christmas, right?"
She sees the skepticism on his face. "I don't know, Audr'."
"Why?"
"Because you say just for the holidays, but when you bond with them, it's gonna be sad to see them go."
"You think I'm gonna form an emotional bond with them that fast?"
"It took you one night to develop a bond with Duke." He says matter of factly. He's right, and she knows it too. But against all better judgment, he sighs. "But I guess we can take them in for the holidays. You've gotta explain this to Duke though."
"I plan to. So, what do we do with them first?"
"I reckon we give them a bath. Maybe feed them after."
And that's what they spend the next half an hour doing. First, washing the trio—during which Calum subtly judges Audra for buying the new dogs some puppy bubble bath. Then, moving on to feeding time—during which he also judges her for her bowl selection. Duke was a better sport than each of them thought he'd be.
"Alright, everyone's settled in." Calum says looking at the puppies before him that were lying on one of Duke's beds.
"You look like a proud father." She jokes.
And he only smiles. Because maybe, just maybe, he was forming an emotional bond quicker than he expected.
• • •
"Glen!" Calum complains, when he sees the small puddle in the foyer.
"That's actually Coco, babe." Audra laughs. "She's looking like the rebellious one."
"Sorry, Glen." He pets the other puppy's fur, before going over to Coco. "Alright girl", he says sternly, "I need you to relax." And she only barks at him. "Yup, she's definitely the rebellious one."
"On the bright side, at least you're wearing sandals." Audra tries, as she goes to clean up the mess.
"Yeah, merry Christmas to me." He mumbles.
"Hey, don't be such a grinch. It's Christmas."
"I'm not being a grinch."
"Yes, you are." And he doesn't say anything because maybe he was. He had inexplicably woken up with a headache; Then after agreeing to make them breakfast, ended up burning the pancakes; and the last straw was Coco's surprise, she left just for him as it seemed. She rests the wet jet down, and pulls him further into the foyer. She looks up, and he does so too; seeing the mistletoe they were standing under. His annoyed resolve softens, and he smiles.
"Isn't this something I would do, and you'd chastise me for it?"
"I guess the tables have turned."
And he kisses her; because what else was he supposed to do? It was a mistletoe, right? But also, he loved her. So much. And if he got no present this Christmas, he'd consider her to be the greatest present ever. Despite all that they went through, just having her there was a gift. And he'd do everything in his power to keep his gift forever.
"Do you wanna get Nov' now and open up presents?"
"I thought we were gonna wait until noon?"
"Yeah, well I can't wait." She says excitedly.
And because he's sure he'd do anything for her, he says. "Okay."
