Page 26 of A Little Christmas! Johnny
all I'm asking is to watch a few dogs while we’re gone
it’s not like you have anything else to do
it’s no wonder no one wants to be with you
God why are you so selfish
Our flight is at eight so we will be leaving the house at five
I glance at the clock above the doorway to see it’s 4:45 and get an evil idea. I mean it’s not evil exactly, but enough to put a big ole damper on the start of the Gander family vacation. Pulling out my own phone, I scroll down to Trent Reynolds’s number and shoot off a text.
Me:
u like my boy, right?
Trent:
not in the way you do, but he’s a good kid. Y?
Me:
wanna fuck with his shithead family?
Trent:
what did you have in mind?
Me:
do u still do the humane visits for dogs?
21
JOHNNY
I don’t really notice how long I’m in my happy place, cuddling next to Daddy Dexter when my phone vibrates on the table where Daddy set it down earlier before he started to snore. I’m not mad that he fell asleep in our cuddle session because those crazy people at the store really wear him out. And then I went and scared him with the police being here, so he’s earned a nap.
Hardly anyone calls me and I pay extra for that spam blocker stuff on my phone, so I answer right away. Something could be wrong with Jess or Jamie or it could be one of the guys stuck outside because of the messed up door.
“Hello?”
There’s half a second of silence before at least three different voices are screaming at me from the other end of the call.
“How dare you call the cops on us!”
“We are going to miss our flight because of you!”
“Who the fuck is going to watch my dogs?”
Typically, I have a bit more processing power in my brain for this time of the morning, but I’m also not usually just coming out of Little Space when getting cussed out by my family. Glancing up at my wonderful new clock, I can see that it’s just after sixthirty in the morning. Jackson should be getting in within the next half hour, so I need to get up and moving anyways to start the sludge – otherwise known as coffee – for downstairs.
“I told you I’m picking up Peanut when I get done with work. I am in fact still at work and therefore haven’t gone over to get him yet.”
Daddy grunts when I climb over him to get up but doesn’t wake. He’s so cute. Fuck, I could get used to this. I tuck my blankie around him and give him a kiss on the cheek, fighting back the giggle that his morning scruff always brings out of me.
“There are five dogs at the house, not just Peanut,” my sister yells at me while the other voices move farther away. “We got stopped at airport security because the cops are looking for us for animal neglect.”
I know for a fact that I didn’t actually report them, and I probably never would have. As much as I talked a big game to Dexter, I had a backup plan if they tried to saddle me with the dogs. I was going to put them in boarding at the vet and make them pay the fee when they came back. That way, the dogs would be cared for by someone else and they would still have to face consequences. I never told him about that plan because... Well, because I was feeling all squishy and not in a good way while he was pushing me to stand up to them. I didn’t want to let him down, but I also couldn’t call the cops on my family just for being selfish.
