Page 6 of The Gift of the Maltipoo
“She’s a sweetheart.” Mom looked her over. “She’s hurt.”
“Yeah, but her leg is getting better. She isn’t supposed to jump down yet, so don’t let her.” He gathered up the dishes and took them to the kitchen before getting his mom one of her shakes. Tyler opened it for her, and she drank half, which was an even better sign. She must be feeling better. She hadn’t eaten that much in a long time. “When is your next appointment?”
“I had a treatment two days ago, and my last one is next week. Then I’m done. While I was there, they ran some more scans, and the doctor called an hour ago to say that everything is looking good, so I’ll be done and through this mess before Christmas.” She smiled and slowly petted Daisy, who watched Tyler like a hawk.
He sat on the far end of the sofa, and Daisy came over to him and settled on his lap with a sigh. “She’s really taken with you.”
“I guess so.” He scratched her ears and watched her. The little one was really worming her way into his heart. “I had thought to get her and then, when you were feeling better, she could live with you. But….”
Mom chuckled. “No. She’s your dog. This little girl has bonded with you, and she’s happy. I bet there’s a story locked behind those big puppy eyes.”
“She was in a car accident that her owner didn’t survive. Mitchell told me that, and he said that was how she hurt her leg. Apparently her owner adored her. Mitchell was Daisy’s vet for most of her life, so he knew her pretty well.” He leaned down, and Daisy got him with that Gene Simmons–length tongue. “Sometimes I swear she’s mostly tongue.”
“She likes you.” Mom sighed and leaned back. Soon she nodded off. Tyler hadn’t gotten a chance to tell her all his news, but there was no need to worry about it. He gently set Daisy aside and got a blanket, covering Mom with it before helping Daisy down to the floor. Then he quietly left the house to let Mom rest.
DAISY LAYon the bed, watching as Tyler stood in front of his closet, trying to figure out what to wear. “I know a suit is too much, and I’m not wearing jeans, so what else is there?”
He turned to Daisy, who blinked at him and put her head on her paws.
“You know, you’re not helping.”
Her tail thumped the bed a few times, and then she closed her eyes like she’d lost interest. Tyler continued looking and found a pair of dress pants. He set them on the bed and found a shirt that he hoped went with them.
Then he dressed and checked himself in the mirror. Daisy stood up on the bed, tail going a mile a minute. She seemed to approve, but that only proved that dogs were color-blind,because he looked terrible. The shirt was all wrong. He took it off and found a white one. At least it went with everything, even if it would be a challenge to keep from spilling on it.
“Is that better?” he asked.
Daisy huffed and lay down. Clearly the previous shirt looked better to a dog.
Tyler checked the time and slipped on his shoes before lifting Daisy into his arms and taking her downstairs. “You know that once your leg is better you’re going to have to do this yourself.” He set her down, and she ambled off to check her dish. Then he got his coat and set it near the door. “You need to be good while I’m gone.” He settled Daisy on the blanket on the sofa where she could see out if she wanted to. Then, when Anthony knocked, his heart skipped a beat, and he hurried to answer it.
“Are you ready?” Anthony asked.
“I just need to put on my coat.” He got it and shrugged it on as Anthony said hello to Daisy. Thankfully she stayed where she was and didn’t try to jump down. Still, she was about to, so he set her on the floor, and they left for the evening.
“Apparently her leg is feeling better,” Anthony said. Daisy looked out the front window, giving them sad eyes.
“It is, which is good, but I keep worrying she’ll reinjure it.” He got into the car, and Anthony closed the door before hurrying to the driver’s side. He slid into the warm car and started the engine, pulled out, and they were off toward town.
Café Belgie was full, and they were shown right to their table. “I haven’t been here before.”
“Really?” Anthony said. “I often call ahead and get something to go after I’ve had a long day at work. It’s always really good.” He smiled, and Tyler looked over the menu, his stomach growling. Apparently he had worked head-down through lunch and completely forgotten to eat since breakfast. “How was your day?”
“Really good. I made a lot of progress on the game and even went back and added a few hidden traps as well as a few Easter eggs and a wormhole or two just for fun. I’ve got the first nine levels completed, and the next eleven are designed. The basics of the game are set, and so is the overall goal, so now it’s just getting all the details filled in.” He loved this stage of game development. “And since it’s Christmas, I already added two levels that will only appear during December.” He leaned over the table. “And I’m not telling anyone. The game is supposed to release in August, so by doing this, I can get the die-hard fans to play again, just to experience these two levels where I make Santa a zombie fighter and the elves get turned into zombies with special powers. The player actually has to make Santa decide if he wants to kill the zombie, and if he doesn’t, then you must or you both die. But if they can find the ‘cure,’ then they can change the elves back and save Christmas.”
Anthony laughed as Tyler continued, “Except the evil elf Rachel, because she’s the one that turned the elves into zombies in the first place.”
Anthony’s eyes widened. “I love that. Zombie elves. But what about Mrs. Claus and the reindeer?” he added.
Tyler gasped. “I could make the second level harder by making the reindeer zombies too, and they are after Mrs. Claus. The player and Santa have to protect her, and to save all of Christmas, they have to find the reindeer cure as well. It can be a game within a game, and the option will only be available in December.” Tyler pulled out his phone and sent himself a reminder note. “That’s awesome.” This was so exciting.
“But what happens if they save Christmas? What do they get?” Anthony asked. “I mean, these games often give a reward like a special item, but what if they got a real-world gift?”
Tyler gasped. “I’d need to check with my producer, but we could make up Christmas action figures, and if they finish theChristmas levels, they get a unique code that they can use to get the special action figure. We’ve already put out limited-edition ones to go with the games, so we could make one specially for this, and the only way to get it is through the code. The fans will love it.” He made another note to run all this by his agent and Xavier at the game company to see what they thought. “How are things going for you with this big case?”
“I can’t go into any details, but it’s going well. I had my first meeting with my new client, and he told me his version of the events. Apparently he wasn’t even there at the time. The prosecution is saying that he’s an accessory, and believes he was still in the car.” He grinned. “What I think the South Middleton police are really angry about is that when they came calling, he refused to answer any of their questions and said he would only speak through his attorney. This is mostly good for us, but it puts him smack in the middle of an issue, because he potentially knew of a crime to be committed and simply went home.”
“But he didn’t know they were going to do actually do it. Knowledge is one thing, and he could be a witness, but extricating himself from a situation he wasn’t comfortable with or happy about is a good thing. It showed he wasn’t going to be pressured into doing wrong.”
