Page 12 of Sweet Love From Saturn

“Honestly, I’d like to date and see where it goes. I just don’t wanna rush anything.”

“Okay. I can live with that answer. Do you close the shop for lunch?”

“Yes. If I’m working alone, I close it for thirty minutes starting at noon,” she responded.

“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow at noon then. Have a good night and I’ll call you in the morning ’round nine if that’s okay with you.”

“Call whenever you’d like. Text me when you make it home. I know where you live so I’ll be expecting a text within the next ten minutes,” she teased.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Not able to help myself, I pulled Saturn in for a hug and left her with a kiss to the forehead then one on the cheek. Shewatched from the doorway as I got in my truck and backed out of her driveway. I was missing her company already.

“The crib looks nice.When will you officially move in?” I asked Justin as I paced around the living room of his new home.

When he said he’d be moving soon, I assumed he meant before the year was up. Here we were only a couple weeks after having the conversation and he’d closed on a house. Getting a house on the same block as me was Justin’s initial plan, but someone else got to it before he had a chance to make an offer. He ended up going with a house about ten minutes away from me, which I thought was still close. The layout of his home was slightly different from mine and I felt like the walls were thicker. We’d been standing in his living room for quite some time now and I could barely hear the cars driving past.

“Thanks, man. I told you it was decent. I got some loose ends to tie up in Gwendal, but the movers are set to drop my shit off in two weeks. My condo is packed for the most part, but I’m trying to figure out if I’m gon’ order new furniture and shit,” Justin explained.

“You may not need to order shit. Unless you gon’ take the old furniture and put it in your mancave.”

“That’s what I was thinking about doing. I’m not sure yet though. I really don’t wanna wait months for no damn couch to be delivered. I won’t be sitting on the shit until Thanksgiving,” he joked.

“Real shit. I’m sure there’s places where you can get everything quicker. I’ll ask my friend and see what’s up.”

“Your friend?” he quizzed with a brow hiked.

“Yeah. The one I was telling you about from the flower shop.”

“Bruh, yo’ ass was supposed to apologize and pay for the roses. How the hell is she yourfriendnow?”

After catching Justin up on what was going on between me and Saturn, I left his house and made my way to the local pet store. For a while now, I’d been thinking about getting a dog. Now that I was fully self-employed, I had more time on my hands to properly care for one. Back when I was consulting, I chose not to get any pets because of my work hours. Getting a dog and leaving him home for most of the time wasn’t something that made sense to me.

“Hello, welcome to Tia’s Pets. Can I help you with anything?” a short, middle-aged woman greeted me when I walked through the door.

The green apron she wore reminded me of Saturn, causing me to smile. There were a handful of other customers looking around and some of the pets were even out their cages, being held by small children.

“Hello. I’m just taking a look around for now,” I answered.

I had every intention of leaving here with a dog, but only if I found what I was looking for. From the outside, I didn’t think the store would be this spacious. Slowly, I walked around and passed several different breeds. I stopped in front of a kennel with an all-white Jack Russell Terrier but decided against it. Those dogs were known to be hyper as fuck and bark at anything. Just as I was about to give up, I walked past a large cage with an all-black Great Dane in it. From the way he stared at me, I knew I had to inquire about him. It almost felt like he’d been waiting on me.

“Would you like me to let him out?” a voice asked from behind me.

I expected to come face to face with the lady I saw when I arrived, but it was another lady. This one was younger but stillheld the same genuine smile as the first lady. The name tag she wore said Tia, letting me know she was the owner of the store.

“Please,” I responded.

When the door was opened, the dog walked up to me and familiarized himself with my scent.

“Oh, wow. It’s like he already knows you.”

“I know, it’s crazy.”

“Well, his name is Sparky and he just turned two a couple weeks ago. He’s a little over three feet, but he should be done growing. He’s a hundred and forty pounds and we’ve had him for quite some time now. He was a rescue dog and one of the sweetest boys I’ve ever met,” she explained.

Sparky being a rescue dog gave me some pause, but I felt like he’d be fine. When I was younger, my mother had gotten a rescue dog and it took a while for him to warm up to all of us when she brought him home. I wasn’t getting that vibe from Sparky, but I wanted to be certain. Honestly, I was surprised he’d gone this long without being sold. I assumed it had a lot to do with his size.

Without wasting any more time, I asked Tia for his price and started the process to take him home. About two hours later, Sparky was officially mine. I grabbed a few toys and a bag of his favorite food to hold him over until tomorrow. There was a Petco in the next city over, but I didn’t feel like making that trip today. On the car ride home, Sparky sat in the back seat with his head out the window. He seemed to be enjoying the fresh air and I felt a little more complete now that I had him. Pausing my music, I hit Saturn’s name and listened as the phone rang. I’d learned through our conversations that she loved pets.

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