Page 66 of Love It or List It
He opened the treat bag and Pepa hobbled in, tail wagging and tongue lolling.
Austin greeted her with affectionate coos and knelt next to her.Joe sat down and gave her a treat, as directed, then gripped her collar to help hold her still.
Austin fitted one end of the thing over her amputation stump and—
“You got her a prosthetic?”Emotions warred within Joe.Affection toward Austin for doing such a sweet thing, guilt for not having thought of this himself, worry that it wouldn’t work.
Austin didn’t answer at first, too busy buckling the straps around her rump and waist.“Made it, actually,” he said distractedly.
“You made her a leg,” Joe repeated.His heart and stomach did a weird flipping, growing, shrinking thing.How much research had been involved in that?How much trial and error?
Austin grunted and tested the fit of the straps.He tightened them and checked again.Joe kept feeding Pepa treats to keep her occupied, which worked beautifully.Finally satisfied, Austin leaned back and encouraged Joe to do the same.
Joe released her collar.Pepa sniffed the floor and took a step forward in search of more cookies.Since she hadn’t yet gotten accustomed to her lack of hind leg, she tended to move it as if it still bore weight, so she moved the prosthetic and accidentally dragged it forward.Pepa froze and turned back to look at her stump.She took a hesitant, limping step forward, testing it out, letting it bear some of her weight.Then she took several exploratory steps.Suddenly she was running about the room, whining at a happy, delighted pitch.
She stopped to press into Austin, crying and licking his face, then tore off to spin around the room.
When she galumphed in the direction of the three curious kittens who had arrived to see what the fuss was about, Walker naturally was happy to join in on the zoomies, and Dallas tried to get a better look at Pepa’s new leg.Meanwhile, Ozzy hissed in alarm and jumped up onto the couch so he could watch from safety.
“I think she likes it,” Austin said in an impressive understatement, like Pepa wasn’t losing her mind with joy.
Joe kind of wanted to kiss the dumbass.And also maybe punch his shoulder for being so ridiculous.
Austin had built Pepa a prosthetic.Joe couldn’t even guess how much work had been involved, and he’d done it without help—or at least without Joe’s help.
Pepa finally calmed down enough to beg for more cuddles, which she did now, pressing her body so hard into Austin’s that she toppled him from his crouch.He went down laughing and rubbed her ears and called her a good girl as her tail whipped everything within range.She settled down with her head in his lap, but the tail kept going.
Austin’s cheeks were pink with pleasure, and he kept crooning and petting her, going for her belly when she turned onto her side.“Sweet girl, you deserve it, don’t you.”When he stroked his fingers through the ruffled fur on her tummy, she kicked the prosthetic out, the way dogs sometimes did by reflex if they had an itchy spot.
It hit Joe then.Austin was a mechanic, but that wasn’t just his job.It was who he was, it was what he did.They’d inherited a dilapidated home and Austin wanted to fix it, make it into something homey and functional, something with purpose.He’d fixed up the record player too, sold that off to finance their ongoing renovations once Joe took the two hours to replace the bubbled wood veneer.Now he’d apparently moved on to healing living, breathing things.
Joe’s heart was doing something dumb and treacherous in his chest—something it hadn’t done in months or maybe years, something he’d thought it might never do again.It felt like it was beating too fast, suddenly, like it had run around the breezeway with Pepa wagging its tail.And now, he realized in horror, it was lying with its head in Austin’s lap.
If Joe had realized Austin building Pepa a prosthetic would heal Joe’s dumb broken heart too, he could’ve braced for it.But how could he have anticipated this?Jesus.
He sank to the floor, because a whole half of Pepa’s belly was going unrubbed while Joe had a crisis, and that was just not acceptable.
He cleared his throat and kept his eyes on Pepa’s fur.“Where’d you learn to…?”
Except then Austin answered, and Joe had to look up, didn’t he?His eyes were deep and soft and fond.He shook his head knowingly.“I told you.You can learn anything on YouTube.”
Joe swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat.“Think there might be more soul in this than there is in my cooking.”
Austin flushed at the compliment.Joe wanted to throw himself off the roof.His heart might have given the green light, God knew his dick had been revving the engine, but his head was still in the driver’s seat, screaming and pumping the brakes.But, “I don’t know,” Austin said.The words came out bolder than Joe expected, though he couldn’t have said why he thought Austin would be shy about the compliment.“Pretty sure that celebratory dinner you made was as close as I’ve come to a religious experience.”
Joe did not have the slightest suspicion that Austin was talking about the risotto.His ears burned.“Um.”Jesus Christ.He swallowed again.He needed… space.Room to breathe.A pillow to scream into.Starling, maybe, to talk him off the ledge he’d sleepwalked onto.“I actually forgot I need to, um.Call Starling about—the wiring.I better—yep.”
Joe didn’t run away.That would be undignified and also highly suspicious.
He did lock himself in his bedroom and settle himself as far away from the door as he could, so as to avoid being overheard, and pulled out his phone.
“Hey, Joe,” Starling greeted casually.
“I’m going to fall in love with him,” Joe blurted out.
“Oh-kay,” Starling said slowly.
“Not okay,” Joe whisper-shouted, cognisant of Austin still in the house.“Starling, he built Pepa a prosthetic leg.”It came out something like a wail.
