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“I love you like I love Daddy and Unkkie Wefst.” I watched as my sweet man’s eyes widened, then tears started again, as he grabbed my niece and hugged her tight against him.

“I love you, too, Allison.” Over her shoulder, he caught my eye, and my heart fluttered, then skipped a beat. This was so much more than I had ever hoped for. I noticed Jamie and East were both looking glassy-eyed, too.

Chapter twenty-two

TYLER

Yogi and I stood near ticketing, obviously forlorn because I dreaded leaving for another two months. This time, we would be in a different facility, as I worked with Yogi and taught him how to best facilitate my needs. When I found out how much money West had spent to secure Yogi for me I had nearly passed out, but instead of losing my shit thinking he was trying to trick me by doing nice things I accepted he did it out of love. Yogi circled on his lead, sensing something was wrong, but not yet trained how to handle it.

I squatted down and pet his head, “You are right, Yogi, it will be okay, he isn’t sending me to a bad place. I am choosing to go somewhere to make myself better.”

When I left my loved ones, it would always be triggering, but I felt I could do it this one last time. I hoped that when I traveled in the future, I would do so with my partner. When I stood up, I slipped into West’s arms where he held me tight against him, then kissed me soundly. “You will be home before you know it.Everything will be ready for you to unpack, and you won’t ever have to leave alone again, but you and Yogi need this.”

I tried not to cry and curled into his chest again, as I nodded. “I know.”

West had asked me to move in with him right after Christmas. We agreed to move all my stuff, but officially, my first day would be when I got home. My house would be rented out since it was a good investment, and for the moment, I didn’t need the money from the sale, since I took West at his word, we were okay financially. We had discussed buying a house together, but agreed that the house he had was wonderful. There were a few remodeling bits, but it was perfect, especially with East and Allison next door. A massive gate had been installed in the fence between the two houses so Yogi could come and go when he wasn’t working. There was talk of creating a tunnel for the cats to pass through, but at the moment, Larry and Charlie were happy in our house. The knowledge that it was our home calmed me.

It was time to go, and I knew it, but it would be difficult to leave. Earl was on West’s shoulder, and looked around blissfully unaware that I was about to leave him for two months. We could bring him to the clinic if it got too difficult for him, but we thought this might be best. Earl loved West and the rest of the family, and because of that, I hoped the separation wouldn’t be too traumatic. We would allow him to see me on video calls, so maybe this would be okay.

After one more kiss, West pulled back. “I love you, now go.”

“I love you, too.” Then I turned and walked away. At least I wasn’t being threatened and dragged, but this was still hard. I could hear ‘chrp chrp’ repeatedly while I walked away. Earl had figured out I was leaving and didn’t like it. Before rounding the corner, I turned and waved.

The entire time I was at the clinic, I could feel myself change for the better. I started to trust, and when I wanted to hide, Yogi reminded me to change my thinking. I was glad to head home, but it had been totally worth leaving. As Yogi and I entered the baggage claim area, my heart skipped a few beats. I saw West standing there with a bouquet and balloons that said welcome home. West hadn’t brought Earl because he was afraid that the airport would be tough for him to reunite, plus there was apparently a surprise for me.

We got in the limo, unable to keep our hands to ourselves. I straddled his lap and kissed him hard. He was amazing at keeping in contact with me while I was away, but I missed the physical. Having forgotten to take off Yogi’s work vest, he pushed his paw against my thigh because my emotions were clearly off the charts.

West and I chuckled. “It is so good to have you home, Baby.” He said while he kissed down my neck. I reached over and pulled Yogi’s vest off. He knew now that he was free to play or nap because, without his vest, he was officially off duty.

“I missed you. I missed sex.” He laughed, and I reached for his zipper.

“God, I want that more than anything, but we are almost at our first stop.” I looked out the window, and we were downtown, about thirty minutes from home. I could easily get us both off in that amount of time.

“We have all kinds of time. I will blow your mind in the next thirty minutes.” The limo pulled into Flower Power’s parking lot. “You brought me to my shop?”

“Kind of?” West was being a little cagey, which made my heart skip. I started to worry about what he was hiding. Even off duty, Yogi put his foot on my thigh, which made me aware I was thinking things I shouldn’t. I needed to trust. West wouldn’t hurtme, and whatever was about to happen would be okay. “Can I blindfold you?” The question caught me off guard.

I’d had fantasies about him blindfolding me during sex, but this didn’t seem the appropriate place. “Yes?!”

“It will only be a few minutes, but I want to show you something.”

“Um. Okay. You’re not going to kill me, are you?”

He laughed. “Not tonight, love.”

“That was terrifying. Where’s my attack dog?” I reached out for Yogi while West covered my eyes with a scarf as soon as I stepped out of the limo.

“You know he isn’t that kind of doggo, right?”

I chuckled. “You don’t know what we learned.”

He handed me Yogi’s leash, then took the other hand and walked me away from Flower Power toward the other end of the strip mall. It made me question what he was up to.

“Okay. Stay here. Yourattack dogis right with you. I need two minutes. Standing in the middle of a parking lot with my eyes covered was a bit disconcerting, but I trusted West completely, even if my brain tried to test that sometimes. I heard the rattle of keys in a door, then even through the blindfold, I could tell it got brighter, like there was a flashlight in my face or some other light.

I heard footsteps come back toward me, and I hoped it was West or I was actually about to get murdered. “Okay, Baby. I got our family something.” He untied the blindfold.

It took me a second to register what I was looking at. The strip mall had six shops. Flower Power was on the corner, followed by the gift shop run by Mrs. Bea, who had to be eighty, the sandwich shop with the great coffee, and the last three shops were the furniture store. However, the furniture store wasn’t there any longer, the windows all had brown paper covering them, but there was a huge colorful sign that read:

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