Page 67 of Pour Decisions
The husky mix breaks the calm by shriek-howling in a way that sends a chill down my spine. It literally sounds like a woman screaming.
“Duke just does that,” Waylon says to me before I ask, putting an arm around Bianca.
“Waylon warned me before Duke ever did that, but it was still eerie when I heard it for the first time,” Bianca adds with a slight smile.
“Imagine hearing that in the middle of the night,” I say with a laugh.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Delia says, poking her head out. “Waylon, does Jeremiah like green bean casserole? I can’t remember.”
“He does,” Waylon says.
“Okay good.” Delia sighs. “I’m packing up their food for you to bring over later.”
Delia disappears back into the kitchen.
“They aren’t coming this year?” JD asks. When I give him a questioning look, he adds, “Jeremiah and Jada are family friends—Waylon’s closest friends. Usually their family stops by to have dessert with us.”
“No. Their grandmother passed away last week,” Waylon says, running his fingers through Sadie’s fur.
“Didn’t their grandfather just pass away a month or two ago?” JD asks with a frown.
“Yeah, it’s sad. But everyone kind of knew it would happen that way.” Waylon shrugs, taking Bianca’s hand when she offers it. “They were that kind of couple—they never wanted to be without each other. Her grandmother said that she was waiting to go with him.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” JD says. “Please send them my condolences.”
Bubba, Duke, and Murphy come sprinting up the steps, completely unaware of the tone. Another chocolate lab who looks like a smaller version of Bubba comes up last, trotting over to sniff me. Her tag says her name is Lady.
“What a sweet girl,” I coo, petting her. She turns her butt toward me the way Bubba does and I give her some scratches.
“She’s Bubba’s littermate,” JD says.
“Do you have pets?” Waylon asks.
“It feels like you’re going to pull a bunch of kittens out of your pockets and give them to her,” Ash says with a smirk.
“Black-market kitten dealer isn’t on my resume.” Waylon laughs. “But I just like to know.”
“I’m not in the position to adopt a pet right now, but I donated to the new shelter at Bubba’s birthday event,” I say. “It was a great time. I’d say I’m surprised that many people showed up for Bubba, but I’m not.”
“Bubba reminds people of how loving pets can be.” Waylon pats Bubba’s side and puts Sadie down next to him. Bubba dwarfs her and carefully sniffs her head. “He’s a good mascot.”
“Oh, you mean brand ambassador?” I say, keeping my tone sincere despite knowing it’s a joke.
To my surprise, JD snorts into his drink, coughing, before he quickly regains his composure.
Wes looks between the two of us, his eyes narrowing. “Wait…are you trolling us with the brand ambassador thing?”
“No,” JD says, his tone as impassive as always. But it’s too late.
“Oh my god. Youhavebeen trolling us. You can joke about things?” Wes sits back in his seat, like he’s genuinely shocked. “This is turning my life upside down.”
“I can’t believe this.” Rose shakes her head. “Here I was, trying to wrap my head around you genuinely believing Bubba was a brand ambassador when you were messing with us the whole time.”
“I didn’t think you were capable of it,” Ash says.
JD takes my hand and lightly squeezes it, a ghost of a smile on his face. The conversation shifts to what’s going on at the shelter, then onto other things. It flows so easily that I forget I was nervous about coming here at all.
“Okay, food is ready,” Delia says with a smile. “Let’s go eat.”
