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The puppy scrambles to her feet and runs straight for me, tail wagging furiously.

I drop to my knees, arms wide, and she leaps right into them.

I’m crying before I even realize it, holding her against my chest as she wriggles and licks at my face.

“I remembered you said you always wanted a dog,” Eddie says quietly from behind me. “Now you’ve got company while I’m gone.”

I turn, still on my knees, pup in my arms, and look up at him. “Eddie…”

His face is soft, full of so much love I feel like I might drown in it.

“What’s her name?” I ask, voice shaking.

“That’s up to you.”

I look down at the sweet, squirmy little thing in my lap. “Thank you,” I whisper. “I love her.”

He kneels beside me, pulls me in—puppy and all—and holds me close, his lips brushing my temple.

“I just wanted you to have someone here who can make you smile.”

“You already gave me that,” I whisper into his shirt.

He kisses me again—slow, lingering, desperate. We stay like that until he finally pulls back, brushing the last of the tears from my cheeks. “Time to go.”

I nod, but my heart feels like it’s breaking in a thousand places.

Slowly, as if on leaden feet, we walk back to the house and I hold my new pup in my arms as he gathers his stuff. Most of it is already with the tour manager but these are the things he wants close to him personally, including one of my t-shirts, which I covered in my perfume after he requested it. I know this is only a six-month tour, that he’ll be back and at least he isn’t headed into danger like a military spouse or partner, but I can’t escape the sense of doom. It feels like our bubble is bursting and it frightens me that we won’t survive outside it. I trust Eddie. I know he loves me, but am I enough?

We share one final kiss filled with so many unsaid words, but then maybe everything has already been said.

“I love you.” He swipes his thumb over my bottom lip, and I feel his words in my soul.

“I love you too, Eddie. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I can never repay you.”

He shakes his head. “Don’t need repaying darlin’, just need you with me.”

“You got it.”

With one final, hard brief kiss he picks up his bags. He walks back across the yard toward the driveway, duffel slung over his shoulder, moving slowly like he doesn’t want to reach the car.

I stand at the edge of the porch, the puppy nestled in my arms, blinking fast.

Right before he gets to the door, he stops. Turns.

And blows me a kiss.

I blow one back, tears slipping down my cheeks again.

He smiles.

Then turns and disappears behind the driver’s side door.

The moment I hear the engine start, I bury my face in the puppy’s fur. “Oh, sweetheart,” I whisper, “what are we going to do without him?”

She lets out a tiny bark and starts licking my tears. I laugh—really laugh—and she wriggles closer.

“Okay. You’re magic.”