Page 18 of Their Little House Tristan (Five Little Roommates #2)
James
Quite the birthday party my littles had planned for me. We had cake and ice cream and games, coffee and tea for the bigs and chocolate milk or lemonade for the littles. Finger sandwiches, which the littles made to look like real fingers, lots of fresh fruit to dip in chocolate fondue, and dishes brought by all our friends from Chained. It was wonderful and fun and messy and not a single piece of glitter was used in any of the party games and crafts.
“Because it’s our favorite but not yours,” Tristan told me. “And there’s a big glitter project next Tuesday at the club.” My mood went up and down very fast on that one.
“He’s teasing, Daddy,” Bell said with a severe glare at the other little.
“Oh, okay.”
“The glitter project is in two weeks.”
But even that couldn’t stop me from having a wonderful time sitting with my daddy friends and watching the littles have a blast. Even the City GoldenDoodle owners came, and turned out, while they were not club people, they really enjoyed the playdate vibe of the birthday party.
Was it a surprise? I’d never tell, but I made sure to act like it was, and they were so gleeful when they led me blindfolded into the playroom where all our friends were waiting that it was worth anything in the world to maybe pretend.
Balloons and streamers galore, all held up with big triangles of blue painter’s tape leftover from painting the playroom. So many decorations. Bridger, sipping a cup of jasmine tea, took another stitch in his crochet and pointed to the ball pit I’d added in the corner. “You know I’m going to have to get one of those for Hudson, now.”
I laughed. “Or you can just come over here for playdates anytime you like.” In the past several months, I’d gone from starting to think I didn’t have it in me to want a little of my own again, to realizing it was because I only wanted these littles. They brightened my days and nights with their laughter and their need for macaroni and cheese and when we curled up on the couch with King, we all shared the popcorn.
I looked around at all of them and noticed Ray and Georgie were nowhere in sight. “Did you see where the GoldenDoodle people went?”
Mark shrugged and Bridger shook his head. “They were just here,” he said. “Maybe the restroom.”
“Probably.” I settled back in to watch the fun, but suddenly everyone stopped and faced the doorway and the question of where the rescuers had gone was answered. Ray entered first, and said, “Recently, we have found homes for so many of our residents, and we give the people of Chained much of the credit.” He smiled. “And all the funds raised upgraded our facilities so much, but we also had something happen we hadn’t anticipated. You see, since a certain dog was rescued, his mother gave birth to one more pup we didn’t know about. He wasn’t hurt or neglected, but he did come into our care, and we thought, that is if you want…”
Georgie pushed past him with an armload of fluff and thrust him into my lap.
Ray cleared his throat. “If you want him, this is Duke, and we thought he’d be nice company for King.”
My eyes filled and my throat tightened as I cuddled the puppy close.
“It’s not just me that has to decide now,” I said. “A puppy is a big responsibility, and there are three of us in this home. Two who might not be big enough to care for him.” Like there was the slightest chance this puppy was leaving!
“Four.” Tristan called King over. “What do you think, boy? Can your brother come to stay?”
My wonderful dog, the one who kept me company when I was lonelier than I wanted to admit, nuzzled his brother and whuffed .
“You’d almost think he knows him already,” I mused. “But I’ve never seen Duke when I am volunteering.”
Tristan and Bell exchanged a guilty look.
“Fess up, boys,” I ordered, wondering what they were keeping from me. It wouldn’t be bad. My boys were never that.
“You know how you had to work two Saturdays ago?” Bell asked, wringing his hands in front of him.
“Yes. I remember.”
“Well, we’ve been volunteering with you lately,” Tristan added, as if it was new information.
“Uh-huh?”
“So we went on our own, and we might have seen Duke there…”
“Can we keep him?” Tristan asked, hope in his eyes and lower lip thrust out. “I’ll feed him and Bell will pick up the poop.”
“Me? I thought we agreed that you would do that.” My littles weren’t all that little at the moment, but their bickering was adorable nonetheless, and once we’d established that they would take turns with all the puppy jobs, they crawled over to the train set and joined their friends.
Big or little, I loved these men more than the whole world combined. This playroom would see so many fun playdates with friends or just us, the dogs would take up any empty space on the sofa, and my heart was full unto bursting.
I couldn’t imagine a happier birthday.