Leap of Faith

Day Twenty-Five

*~*~* Cate *~*~*

I was woken from my blissful dream by something wet and warm licking my face- and it wasn’t the delicious Ryan Reynolds from my dream. I groan and turn my face away, trying to hide under the blankets, but Cooper paws at my comforter and digs his way under the covers until his cold nose settles against the back of my neck.

“Gerff,” I grumble. It was supposed to sound like ‘get off’ but on this side of midday, I was incapable of forming words. When Cooper starts chewing on my hair, I know it’s time to get out of bed. I smile down at the dog and ruffle behind his ears in the way that Cooper loves so much. “Come on, cutie. Let’s go find your idiotic owner.”

Cooper is the Golden Retriever puppy that Sawyer bought Anna on their anniversary last year. He’s ginormous considering he’s only eight months old, and he weighs roughly the same as an elephant calf, and he has this weird obsession with my hair, but Cooper is utterly adorable. Just one look at his face has your heart melting and he can do no wrong. I couldn’t even blame him for waking me up. No, that honor was reserved for Sawyer, who I was about to kill.

“Sawyer Thomas Eugene Lawson!” I yell as soon as I get downstairs. I bypass the kitchen and head for the family room. I’m briefly aware that Vivian is here and she can see me in my sleeping shorts and cami, but I’m on a mission. I spot Sawyer out on the terrace with my dad, and storm out there to give him a piece of my mind. “You must have a serious death wish, Sawyer. Two Sundays in a row you’ve woken me up so I can only imagine you want to die. Well, today is the day I will kill you.”

Sawyer laughs bemusedly. “Good afternoon to you too,” he says brightly in that tone that makes me want to rip out his voice box too. When he spots Cooper, Sawyer calls the dog forward and lets him jump on the chair with him. Patting his pet’s head, Sawyer starts too coo. “Oh, my little baby. Was Cate mean to you, boy? I know… she’s not a morning person, but that doesn’t mean she can get to be mean to daddy, does it?”

I watch as Cooper jumps up at Sawyer’s face and starts licking him, even at one point sticking his tongue into Sawyer’s ear. I gag and turn to storm away but the sight of my father sitting with TJ has me frozen at the door way.

“What are you doing here?” I say bluntly to TJ.

“Cate,” Dad warns me. “Be nice.”

“I am being nice,” I tell him gruffly. It’s not my fault I’m not much of a morning person. On Sundays I’m not much of an afternoon person, either, it seems. I place my hands on my hips and sigh before turning back to TJ and forcing out a smile which I’m sure looks pretty demonic. “Well?”

TJ tells me that he accompanied his mother over here this morning in the hopes that we could hang out. Vivian was busy talking about table centerpieces for the reception, and it was keeping Libby, Anna and Mom occupied while Dad and Sawyer did some ‘male bonding.’ At this, I couldn’t figure out where TJ fit in. I move towards TJ and pull him up from the chair by his hand, dragging him behind me as we walk back into the house and up to my room.

Luckily, I’m a neat freak when it comes to my own personal space so my room was always clean. As soon as the bedroom door was shut behind us, I walked over to my bed and climbed under the covers. TJ stared at me for a moment and then awkwardly made his way over to my desk chair. He rolled the chair over to the side of the bed and sat there, watching me carefully.

A smile spread across his lips. “You look beautiful in the morning.”

I laugh. Believe me, I’ve seen myself in the mirror as soon as I wake up and I am anything but beautiful. I look haggard and my hair is wild… I look like Eep from The Croods, and that was a nice comparison.