Page 19 of Digging Deeper

I pass him the papers, then grab a pen from a nearby counter, and Drix looks over everything before signing. When he passes me back the paper, I squeal a little and throw my arms around his neck, saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

He awkwardly pats my upper back before I pull away and he says, “No problem.”

For the rest of his session, Drix keeps giving me strange looks I can’t interpret, but I’m so excited and distracted by thoughts of picking up my new babies, I don’t read into it too much.

* * *

“I still can’t believehe’s letting you take home both,” Holden says beside me.

“Your brother is awesome!” I say way louder than necessary. I seem to have left my volume control at home today.

Holds blinks dramatically and leans away from me like my yell was the loudest thing he’s ever heard, then he pats my shoulder and says, “I’m glad you’re getting along with him.”

I grin. “Me too. He was being such a pain in the ass, but he’s been really trying lately. You’ll be happy when you see him.” I don’t say any more than that because of patient confidentiality. Yeah, Holds is Drix’s brother, but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s possible Drix doesn’t want Holds to know certain things, and if that’s the case, it’s not my place to tell him.

“He texted me a few times today, which was nice since he hasn’t been doing that very much.”

From the other side of Holden, Jameson adds, “He’s been texting me, too.”

I smile at them both. “He’s doing really well.” Their returning smiles make me happy.

The door to the back of the rescue opens and the smile on my face is so big it’s surprising it fits. Nana and Brutus come out, and I laugh as I watch Brutus’s goofy waddle next to Nana’s excited hopping around. Squatting down, I say, “Hi there, sweethearts. Are you ready to go home?”

Brutus waddles right into my embrace while Nana licks the crap out of my face, her whole butt wagging in excitement. My laughter is one of pure joy. I’m so damn excited to take them home with me.

After several minutes of the three of us greeting each other, I glance over at Holds and Jameson and see Holden with his phone out and pointed at me, so I ask, “Whatcha doing?”

“Recording this. It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

I snort out a laugh, then wave them over. “Send me that video, and come over here to meet my babies.”

Holds technically knows them already since he came with me and he volunteers here, so he greets them like old friends, but Jameson gets the full Nana and Brutus greeting. Both dogs look like they’re trying to become one with him, and Holds and I wind up laughing so hard, we can’t even help him, we just fall on our butts and watch.

Eventually, the three of us untangle ourselves from the dog pile, and after thanking the rescue owner, we head out to my car. Jameson volunteers to drive so I can sit in the back with my new babies.

We get back to my place—or I should say Drix’s place, but since I’m living here, it’s home—and let my dogs settle in and sniff everything. They both keep exploring, then coming back to check on us even though I’m following their every step to make sure they don’t get into anything I may have missed.

Holds takes a thousand pictures of me and the dogs, so I ask him to send them to me, and after we eat dinner, the two of them leave, so I take my babies into my bedroom. Once Nana and Brutus are settled on either side of me, I look through the pictures and pick out the best ones. Then I send them all to Drix, including the video of me picking them up.

Me: Look how happy they are! Thank you for this. I can’t wait for you to meet them.

To my surprise, a text comes through a few minutes later.

Annoying Dude: They look like they love you already.

That makes me smile, so does the name I have him listed as.

Me: I hope so because I love them. They’re both asleep in bed with me, so I guess they like me at least.

Annoying Dude: It doesn’t surprise me at all that you let them in your bed.

Annoying Dude: You’re as bad as my brother.

I send a picture of each dog asleep, then type out another text.

Me: How could you ask that cuteness to sleep on the floor?

Annoying Dude: That’s fair.

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