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“Madison, it has to be something that is over-the-top. Please don’t show up with a wreath for my front door.”
A wreath is just what I was thinking, but I can’t say that now.
“Of course. I’ll come up with something cool. Who are you inviting?”
“A bunch of people. You can invite whoever you want, too. When we have an idea of the number of guests, we can work on planning the food. I have some tentative ideas on that.”
“Maybe we could just ask everyone to bring a Christmas dessert.”
“No, I don’t want to do that. Classy parties don’t require the guests to put work in first. The guests should just be able to show up without any prep work.”
“Just so that you get to do it all.”
“No,” Aurora smiles, “so you four get to do it all. Mia, which job did you sign up for again?”
“I’m working on creating the menu, and I’m definitely making a few different dessert recipes. I’ll share some with my guests too. I have an influx as we get closer to Christmas. I’m thinking?—”
All the dogs leap up at once and start barking. It’s so loud that I can’t even figure out why they’re barking. Maybe it’s the mailman. Or it could be a curious squirrel nearby. It’s just as likely to be one as the other.
Then, there’s a knock at the door. Samson ducks his head under the blinds beside the door and stops barking. His tail starts wagging. Is it Wesley?
Who’s coming over that…
But then I know exactly who it is. I remember the string of texts that Ethan and I exchanged half an hour ago.
I feel sick. It’s not like I can pretend no one is there. The dogs have made sure of that. Mia and Aurora are both looking at me, waiting for me to do something about all the noise.
I decide to deal with the dogs. “Bella! Stop! Enough! Bigfoot! You too!”
I grab Bella by her collar and lead her to her XXL cage. Mia gets the idea and helps with Bigfoot. Samson and my last dog are all put away, but one of them continues to bark.
“Are you expecting someone?” Aurora asks, standing up and heading toward the front door like she’s going to open it.
I jump in front of her. Maybe I can open the door and motion for Ethan to leave. Now isn’t a good time. But Mia and Aurora insist on standing just behind me as I head to the front door.
“No, not really expecting anyone. It’s probably just…um…hang on.”
I move toward the door, my steps hesitant. I can feel Aurora and Mia watching.
As I open the door just a crack, I see Ethan standing there. My heart races as I try to keep my face neutral.
I try to keep from opening the door all the way, but Aurora is nosy as hell. She appears behind me.
“Dad? What are you doing here?”
I scramble for an explanation, my mind racing. “Oh, um…Ethan, your dad, Mr. Taylor was just…helping me out with the dogs. You know, Bella and Bigfoot? They’ve been a bit of a handful, and I needed an extra pair of hands.”
I want to facepalm. This is the worst possible explanation I could have come up with. I sound like the world’s worst liar.
Aurora narrows her eyes, clearly not buying it. “Dad,youwere helping with the dogs? I thought you didn’t like doing anything that gets you dirty.”
Ethan’s face is unreadable, but there’s a slight smirk on his lips. I finally let the door swing open a little wider since I have nothing to hide. Aurora has already seen her dad, and Mia is trying to see what’s going on too. “That’s right. Madison mentioned she was struggling, so I offered to lend a hand. It’s a lot easier to exercise those dogs with a fenced-in yard.”
Ethan’s eyes fall on me briefly, but they’re impossible to read before they skate away.
The room falls into an awkward silence. There’s something unspoken between Ethan and me, and I just have to hope Aurora isn’t picking up on it.
Aurora crosses her arms, her gaze shifting between us. “Since when do you help out with dogs, Dad?”