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“Oh God, you really are a teenager, aren’t you?” Brax looked up at the sky for any kind of an answer. “Why me? She was so much fun and good up until now.”

He crouched down and looked over at Faith. “Come on, girl. Come.” He patted his knees. Faith started to run toward him and Brax sighed in relief. Then she ran past him and picked up the knotted rope ten feet behind him. She brought it back to him and dropped it in front of Brax. His puppy looked up expectantly.

“That’s fetch, Faith. Come on, for the last four months you’ve known the difference between fetch and come. What in the hell is up with you?”

She looked at him, then turned her head and literally gave him the side-eye. She ran back to her see-saw and started trying to balance on it. Every time she slid down one side, she’d climb up and try again. It was clear she was having a blast.

Yep, it was playtime, not training time. Typical teenager. She had no use for school.

Dammit . At this rate he was going to have to send her to military school. Brax huffed out a laugh.

BUD/S for teenage dogs. That would be something. At least she wasn’t into clothes and make-up. “Come on, girl. We’ve got to go. Time to go visit Hercules.”

Brax watched as Faith got off the see-saw in a shot and beat him to the back door of his recently purchased house. “So, was it me saying ‘come’ or me saying ‘Hercules’?”

Woof

“Come?”

Faith stared at Brax.

“Hercules?”

Woof

“So, you’re boy crazy. Figures.”

“Down.”

Brax watched in amazement as both black Russian Terrier pups plunked their asses on Mateo and Lainey’s tiled floor. Lainey hadn’t even offered Faith a treat, and she was calmly sitting, waiting for Lainey’s next command.

What the fuck?

“Good puppies,” Lainey crooned.

“Go lay down.” She pointed to the large doggie bed that took up a corner of her and Mateo’s living room. They both got up and trotted over to the bed where Xena rested. She looked up at them and gave a welcoming yip but she didn’t move. Faith and Hercules lay down on either side of her, and all three were soon fast asleep.

“How in the hell do you do that?” Brax demanded to know.

“That’s what I keep asking,” Mateo said as he gave Brax the smoothie he’d just made.

“Thanks.” Brax smiled.

“Do you want one?” Mateo asked Lainey.

“Does it have kale in it?”

“Absolutely.” Mateo grinned.

“Then absolutely not.”

“You didn’t answer the question. How did you get Faith to obey you? She’s not listening to any command I give her. Two months ago she had them all down pat. I’ve read up on all of this and apparently she’s a teenager now, but that can’t be right.”

Lainey laughed as she slid past him to go into the now vacant kitchen. Mateo came to stand beside Brax on the other side of the kitchen island, where they both watched the three sleeping dogs.

“Hercules pulls that same shit with me,” Mateo admitted. “But he’s right back to normal when Lainey tells him what to do. Granted, she uses a different voice. She calls it her mom voice.”

“So stuck-up and bitchy?” Brax asked right before he took another sip of his smoothie. Everybody on his and Mateo’s SEAL team knew that Lainey’s mother had belittled her for years, and they all felt very protective of Lainey.

“No, Brax,” Lainey sighed. “It’s my no-nonsense voice. Deep down, Mateo thinks the whole thing is kind of funny, and I bet you do too.”

“Lainey, that’s not the deal. I’m really frustrated. I’m thinking about enrolling her into a doggie training program for a couple of weeks, but that’s admitting defeat. I should be able to handle this on my own. So, tell me what this mom voice of yours is all about.”

“What different voices do you use with her?” Lainey asked.

“Huh?”

“Voices? Do you yell at her?”

“Nope. I know better than that. I try to stay calm, but sometimes she frustrates the hell out of me and I think she catches on.”

“She probably does.”

“Does Hercules catch on with me?” Mateo asked.

“Yep,” Lainey answered.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You told me that I was the one who was in charge of training him, remember?”

Mateo squeezed the back of his neck as he looked at his fiancée. “I did, didn’t I?”

She nodded, with a sparkle in her eye.

“Okay, teach us both,” Mateo half requested and half demanded.

“Oh, so now you want to learn,” she teased.

“Damn right I do. No telling where else that might come in handy.”

Lainey grinned. “Okay, here’s the deal. You both need to use different tones of voice so the dogs know what you’re trying to convey. They know your voice when you want to play, since you two always want to play.”

“You got that right,” Mateo winked.

“Pay attention,” Brax ordered his friend. “I want to understand this. Go ahead, Lainey.”

“Let’s go out to the backyard where they can’t hear us as well.”

They all trooped out to the big backyard and sat down at the picnic table.

“You need to have a voice that they can associate with positive reinforcement. When we’re still in a training phase give them a treat. If they’ve done really well, give them a better treat.”

“Makes sense,” Brax nodded. “What else?”

“Then there’s time-outs.”

“Like a kid?” Mateo asked.

“Exactly. First, if they’re acting out, doing things like misbehaving, jumping, or barking, just turn around and ignore it. Because they’re trying to get your attention through negative behavior. When they realize it can’t work, they should stop what they’re doing. If that isn’t working, then they need a brief time-out. Send them to a corner. Use a calm, firm voice. This voice is one you’re going to use again and again. After Faith or Hercules have calmed down, you can invite them to come out again.”

Brax really liked what he was hearing. He looked over at his friend, and he could see that Mateo was really into all the information that Lainey was giving him, too.

“Often all you need to do is redirect their energy toward a positive activity like playing with a toy, or practicing a command they know, like sit or heel.”

“Should you do that before putting them in time out?” Mateo asked.

“Judge their behavior and decide,” Lainey explained. “You’re the boss.”

“Just like a child?” Brax asked in a tentative voice.

“I wouldn’t know. I just read stuff off the internet and went into an on-line chat group. One man in there definitely said it was like handling his teenagers.” Lainey laughed.

“What else?” Mateo asked.

“Try to always keep it fun. Distraction is a great tool. If they’re doing something they shouldn’t, like chewing on your shoe like Hercules did.”

“Yeah, the bastard only stopped when you tempted him outside with the frisbee. I should have thought of that.”

“The website said the key is to always praise good behavior. End on a high note. Try to stay away from saying things like ‘bad dog.’ We’re supposed to always stay calm.”

Brax looked over at Mateo and snorted.

“Hey, I can do calm like a motherfucker.”

“Sure you can.” Brax smiled.

“I can.”

Lainey went over to her fiancé, wrapped her arm around his waist, and slid her hand up his chest. “Yes, you can. You’ve been calm with me when I’ve been out of sorts.”

Mateo smiled.

“See how she ends on a positive note with you?” Brax laughed.

“You’re just jealous,” Mateo smirked.

“And the last thing I learned is that you need to increase mental and physical exercise so your pups can burn off all that energy they have. Make sure they have mental and physical stimuli to keep them entertained. It’ll help reduce misbehavior.”

“See, I’ve got it all kinds of good,” Mateo crooned.

“Before I have to witness any physical stimulus between the two of you, I’m taking my dog and we’re out of here.” They went back inside and Brax got Faith’s leash. “Come on, girl, we’re going for a ride.”

Faith’s ears perked up, and she hustled on over to him.

“Yep, a car ride. We’re going to go see your aunt CiCi. What do you think about that?”

Woof.

Woof.

CiCi flung open the door.

“Brax!”

His baby sister threw herself into his arms. She weighed practically nothing, and he didn’t even have to take a step backward. Feeling the strength of her hug was the sweetest feeling in the world.

“CiCi, you look beautiful.”

“Bullshit.” She smiled as she looked up at him. “I look like a woman who has been cleaning house for the last four hours. Hardly my best look.” She peeked around him and squealed.

“You brought Faith.” His sister struggled to get out of his arms, but Brax held on.

“Oh, no you don’t. Faith is a handful these days, I’ll bring her in so you can play. Where’s dad? Why isn’t he helping you clean?”

“We’re past the point of me needing help to clean a toilet. I’ve been given the all clear. I’m gaining weight, and, and, and… Guess who’s been lifting weights? Guess who has actually discovered the joy of jogging? Not fast mind you, but still, I’m jogging.”

Her grin was incandescent.

“Are you sure you’re not confusing jogging with speed walking? You know, where you waddle? They do it in the malls in the morning.”

CiCi hit him in the chest. Harder than he anticipated. It made him happy.

“I’m sure. I’m not a waddler.”

“Is waddler a word?”

“Just shut the hell up and get Faith. I want to play with her. You, I’m not so sure about.”

“Do you have anything to eat? I’m hungry.”

“When aren’t you? Hurry and get your butt inside.”

“And when did you develop such a potty mouth?” Brax threw the question over his shoulder as he headed for the driveway.

“Every bad word I use, I’ve learned from you,” she yelled after him.

Brax grunted.

He let Faith out of the truck, and before he could get a leash on her, she was bounding her way up to the door to greet CiCi. The one good thing was that she stopped and waited to be petted. She always went in gentle with his little sister. At least she remembered something. Brax sighed. He followed his two girls into his dad’s house. He could smell lemon wax, but there was something else. Was that chocolate?

“Did you know I was coming?”

“It’s the weekend. I had a good idea.” CiCi grinned at him as she led him into the sparkling kitchen. He saw the chocolate cake on the covered cake stand. There wasn’t even a piece taken out of it. He’d be the first person to get a slice.

“Do you have?—”

“Of course I have cherry sauce to go with it,” she said with an indulgent smile.

She turned to the refrigerator as Brax took the top off the glass plate and inhaled.

“I’m forever in Mrs. Baumgartner’s debt for teaching you how to cook.”

“I miss her,” CiCi said with a sad smile. “She was good to all of us.”

Brax nodded. He watched as his sister cut him a large slice, then drizzled cherry sauce on top. She cut a much smaller slice for herself, but it was still much bigger than it used to be, and that warmed his heart. That experimental treatment had been the best thing that had ever happened to their family.

“Where’s Dad?” Brax asked after he swallowed two bites of heaven.

“He’s with Jerry and John. They’re playing pool.”

“Oh yeah, he was pretty pissed he lost two dollars the last time they played,” Brax remembered.

“That was three weekends ago. Now he’s up four dollars.”

“Still can’t buy a mocha.”

“Like he’d ever step foot in a fancy coffee shop,” CiCi countered.

They both laughed. The idea of Henry Walker buying anything other than a black coffee at some diner or gas station was unthinkable.

“I’m glad you stopped by. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Brax didn’t like hearing the hesitation in his sister’s voice. Anything other than happy and positive always scared him. It reminded him too much of all those times she’d been in and out of hospitals. Those times when he and his dad were holding out for the next miracle.

“Stop it.” CiCi hit him on his chest, and he grabbed her hand.

“Tell me.”

“Seriously, stop it. I can’t stand it when you immediately go to the dark side. That’s why I’m coming to you first. Dad is even worse. I need to be able to have a normal conversation with you without the specter of my death hanging over us. I’m good. I’m well. The doctors all think that the cancer isn’t coming back. Now let’s all move on.”

He wished he heard just exasperation in his sister’s voice. But underneath it, he could hear her pleading to be treated normally. Who could blame her? Who in the world could fucking blame her? She’d been living life on the edge for as long as he could remember. Goddamn right it was time for him to be treating her normally.

“Hit me with it.” He grinned.

“You mean it?”

“Absolutely. Anything you want to talk about, aside from feminine products, I’m up for.”

CiCi giggled. “How about my sex life?”

“Shit, Dad hasn’t had the ‘talk’ with you? I suppose if you need to know what’s what, I can tell you what Ryker was like before meeting Amy and you’ll know that you need to stay a virgin until you get married at the ripe old age of forty-five.”

CiCi lifted an eyebrow. “What makes you think I’m still a virgin?”

Brax stopped mid-thought.

What?

“Well, of course you’re a virgin. I mean?—”

“Yes?”

He stared at his baby sister.

“Ummm. What did you want to talk about?” he asked cautiously.

“I want to move out. I’ve sent in my application to Virginia Peninsula Community College in Hampton and I’ve found the cutest little place to rent. This older couple has converted their old carriage garage into an apartment. The rent isn’t all that much because I’ll be looking in on them some of the time.”

“College and caretaking?” He frowned.

“Brax!”

He held out his palms face up. “Sorry. It just seems like a lot to take on for anybody, that’s all.”

“It’s a really easy job, and it means the rent is hardly anything.”

“CiCi, you’ve only been out of the hospital for a couple of months,” he protested.

“I’ve been out of the hospital for over a year,” she sighed. “You sound just like Dad. If I don’t get accepted, I still want to move out. It’s time. The Vickers said they would hold the place for me, and in the meantime, I would continue to build up my endurance. The jogging and weight training have been really helping, and I’m going to continue that.”

He looked down at the fierce little warrior in front of him. How had she turned out to be such a fighter when she’d been so sick and abandoned? She was more than a miracle.

“What can I do to help?” he asked.

“Be here when I break the news to Dad.”

“You’ve got it.”