Page 81 of This Love
“Thank you, Isadora,” I said. “We’re going to show Rosie around the house.”
“You two take care,” she said, reaching for her gloves. “I’ll text you for a good night to have dinner.”
“Sounds good. Come, Rosie,” I said. Rosie fell into step beside me, watching my every move. She really was unmovable.
We followed the instructions Glenda had left for us, first showing Rosie her automatic food dispenser and water bowl, then the back door, which she easily unlocked and pulled open with the newly installed curved lever and a tug rope.
Then to the refrigerator, where another tug rope was ready for her to open and extract a water bottle.
“Medicine bottle,” I told her, tapping a bottle on the counter near the microwave.
Rosie rose onto her hind legs, assessing the situation, and decided she could move the bottle closer and snag it with her mouth rather than jump up.
“Good dog, Rosie!” I said, rubbing her head. “Let’s find the telephone.”
The new landline was in the living room near the front door. We showed it to her.
“Call 911, Rosie,” I said. “Call 911.”
Rosie pushed the biggest call button and returned to sit at my feet. We had purposefully left the cord out of the wall so it wouldn’t call as we tested.
I sat on the floor. “Call button one,” I said. “Call button one.”
Rosie raced back to the phone and pushed the smaller button on the bottom right. Then she returned to me.
I held on to both of her soft ears. “What a good dog you are, Rosie. Good dog.”
“We should practice you collapsing later,” Tucker said. “But right now, you probably really do want to collapse.”
He wasn’t wrong. “We need to show her the dog bed, and then I’ll lie down.”
We all walked to the bedroom, where a low trampoline-style bed waited at the end of ours. Rosie recognized it as hers and sat beside it, waiting for our command.
“Go to bed, Rosie,” I said. “Go to bed.”
Rosie climbed onto the spring surface, shifting the soft blanket around to her liking. Then she lowered her head.
“What a good dog,” I said, leaning down to pet her.
“She’s going to be the perfect addition to our home,” Tucker said.
I couldn’t agree more.
Chapter 31
Tucker
The countdown to Tad’s arrival was particularly nerve-racking for me.
Even with Rosie around, and Isadora checking in on Ava, probably more than Ava wanted, my anxiety was high.
I started having to brace myself when I opened the front door, trying to withstand the terrifying moment between when I announced I was home and when I heard Ava return the greeting.
But the next two months passed uneventfully. Ava moved into more headshot gigs, which she could handle more easily than the families or weddings. Overall, she worked less. Things got a little tighter financially, but we were all right. We were getting by.
Tad was growing at the right rate.
At the eight-month mark, while we waited for Ava’s nonstress test to conclude, we spoke to Dr. Chancellor, our OB/GYN, about waiting for labor or to prevent the risk of a huffing-induced seizure Dr. Simmons warned us about.
