Page 22 of All I Need

Brutus greets me when I walk through the door, his tongue hanging out as he wags his short tail.

“Hey, buddy, how was your day?”

He licks my face so I’m pretty sure that’s his way of saying he had a great day of sleeping on the couch and looking out the window. I let him outside to do his business and decide to follow him, grabbing his favorite tennis ball from the bucket of toys I keep by the door.

We play fetch until he’s worn out, proving it by laying down on the grass at my feet, all four legs spread out as he pants. I sit down next to him, stretching out my own legs in front of me. He moves his body so his head is resting on my thigh and I scratch behind his ear.

Brutus moans and looks at me with a happy puppy face.

“Ready for some dinner, Brutus?”

His ears perk up but he doesn’t move. I chuckle and lean down, cupping his chin as I kiss the top of his nose.

We go back inside and I take a quick shower, sliding on a pair of boxers and black basketball shorts. I fill Brutus’s bowl and make myself a BLT before throwing some chips on a plate and grabbing a beer out of the fridge then settling in on the couch.

As soon as Brutus is done eating, he joins me in the living room. I glance down at his hopeful face, begging for a taste of the bacon I fried up.

Our home is quiet. Aside from the sounds of his breathing and the TV, with Grayson not here it almost feels… lonely. Unless Grayson is here, I don’t have anyone to share meals with. To tell about my day or ask about theirs. Most of my friends are now married with children and it has never bothered me before. Dedicating my life to the clinic and Grayson has left me with very little time, or desire, for bringing anyone else in my life. Now, though, I feel like I’ve been missing out on something. Which is weird. I’ve never felt that before.

Damn Polly and her meddling ways.

She’s brilliant in the way she interjects her opinions so that I don’t even realize I’m listening until it’s too late. With her soft words and quiet sniffles… now all I can think about is Ellie and her not having a family waiting for her to come back home. My parents might not be around and we aren’t incredibly close but I know they’d welcome me in their home if I had nowhere else to go.

I lean back on the couch, not really watching the show that’s on the screen before me and lift my bare feet to the coffee table.

I’m used to my thoughts revolving around the vet clinic and making sure Grayson was taken care of. Now all I can think about is a sad woman with bright blue eyes and dark blonde hair.

“Dammit,” I growl.

Abruptly I stand, Brutus glaring at me from his comfortable position on the couch, and grab some socks and tennis shoes. I just need to burn off some of this energy so I head into my garage where I have weights set up. For the next few hours I lift and curl and crunch my way to forgetting the girl who I can’t seem to get out of my head.

Too bad it doesn’t work.

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