You Call It Chaos, We Call It Family

Chapter 7

The sound of a metallic tag clinging from one side to the other was heard through the hallway in Claire's apartment. There was a black and white morkie puppy following Owen with a toy in her mouth.

"Shh, Molly!" He kept trying to have the puppy to leave him alone, he had a piece of newspaper in his hands and was looking for the last condom pack he had gotten months ago.

The dog kept whining while trying to make him take her toy so they could play. Owen and the puppy were the only ones home. Claire had taken Lizzie shopping for her birthday outfit like she had promised a couple of months ago on their camping trip, and Mason was at a friend's house working on a school project.

Molly had been Owen's birthday gift to Lizzie. Her real birthday had been on Tuesday but they were celebrating it on Sunday. The man had gotten the pet without consulting with Brenda beforehand, and this time around even Claire had teamed up with her; it wasn't cool to just bring a dog to someone else's house without previously agreeing it was okay.

So, after Brenda had refused to accept the puppy in her house, Owen had decided to keep her and convince Lizzie this way was better, so that meant she would have an excuse to visit him more often. Claire was now the one not too happy with his decision. From the moment Brenda had demanded for the puppy to stay with Owen, the redhead knew that meant she'd end up being the one dealing with it; that, if she wanted Owen to stay over.

He grabbed Molly after getting enough of her high-pitched barking and set her in the sink. The puppy was about the size of the palm of his hand.

He finally found the box deep into the sink cabinet drawer and pulled it out. He sat on the toilet lid and started to look for the batch number. The piece of newspaper he had in his hands was a recall from the brand he always used. His pack was Batch Number ‪1000438054‬, its Expiration Date was Jan 2021, which he eventually found on the list.

Owen opened the brand new box and took one of the condoms out of the wrapper. He started to carefully stretch it, trying to see if he could spot any visible malfunction. He and Claire hadn't used condoms since the first time they had slept together, as she was effectively on the pill now. They had kept that box just in case, so Owen brushed the red flag off. He folded the piece of paper and slipped it into the box before he left it in the drawer.

He threw the opened condom in the basket along with the wrapper, and picking Molly up, he headed back to the living room so he could finish reading the sports section in the newspaper.

****

Claire was holding Lizzie's hand while they went up the escalator in the mall. The eight-year-old girl was excited. This was the first time she was doing some actual shopping.

"Can we try dresses and shoes and hats and tops and make-up samples?" She started listing while they headed to Crazy 8 on the second floor.

"We can try whatever you want!" Claire assured her before they ran to the store to find the perfect outfit to go with her party theme this year. Owen, with Claire's help, had managed to put together the candy bar and the beauty parlor Lizzie had confessed to the redhead she wanted. Claire was positive she was going to love it.

"This is definitely more fun than buying sheets and towels which is what my mom calls shopping." The blonde girl thought out loud, making Claire chuckle.

"You know we can window shop any time you want." Claire suggested.

"Window shop? That sounds boring, like the kind of boring shopping my step dad does at Home Depot!" Lizzie shook her head.

"No." Claire shook her head. "That means you come to the mall and you have fun looking at stuff and even try something on, but you don't really buy them."