Page 106 of Sit, Stay, Love
Ethan: Maybe things will clear up?
Sera: I hope so. See you in thirty.
Fat drops of rain began to fall the instant they stepped out from the car.
‘Typical,’ Sera muttered.
Ethan pulled up the hood of his windcheater. ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’
‘It’s just a little rain.’ She zipped up her parka and let Fleur the poodle out of the back of her van.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
Her bad mood was obviously leaking out. ‘Fine. I had dinner with my parents last night and it got a bit tense.’
‘Tense how?’
She clenched her jaw and gave herself an invisible kick. Why was she blurting everything out these days? Had she lost control of her mouth?
‘I told them about your offer.’ She decided to brush over Toby being there.
‘What did they say?’
‘I’m going to do some obedience work with Fleur and you’re going to watch. Then you’ll go through the commands with her. It’ll be basic stuff – sit, stay, that kind of thing. Like you did with Buffy.’
‘So we’re not going to talk about your dinner?’
‘There’s nothing to talk about. They were just a little surprised. Same reaction as me, really.’ She forced a chuckle. ‘Anyway, enough of you trying to get out of doing this.’
‘I’m not trying to get out of anything. I was just making sure you were okay. You seem… off.’
‘I’m sorry I’m not Little Miss Sunshine,’ she retorted. ‘I have a lot on my mind.’
He put his hands up in surrender. ‘Whoa. Are you mad at me?’
She let out a deep breath. ‘No. Not at all. I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. I’m just a little… overwhelmed.’
‘And here I am adding to that. If I can do anything to help—’
‘It’s fine. I’m fine.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘I couldn’t sleep last night, and I have a writing deadline and the fundraiser looming.’And Toby kissed me.‘It’s a lot all at once. But I shouldn’t be snapping at you.’
‘You can snap at me. Snap all you need to. I can take it.’
‘Okay, tough guy.’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘Let’s put you and this dog to work.’
Sera ran Fleur and Ethan through the commands, telling Ethan when to give treats and when to give praise. Fleur did surprisingly well for a dog that appeared to have zero obedience training and very few social skills. She was a quick learner and eager to please. Everyone looked at poodles as the bimbos of the dog world, but Sera knew they were incredibly smart.
Ethan listened, asked questions and was the excellent student that Sera had come to expect. When they first met, he’d told her he’d work hard and take it seriously, and he had. Now, after only a few weeks, if you weren’t aware that he was nervous around dogs, you could never tell. He’d learned to control at least the outward appearance of his fear, and was slowly understanding that not all dogs wanted to kill him.
‘Your turn,’ Sera said, handing him the leash.
He nodded to himself and sucked a breath through his teeth. ‘I can do this.’
‘Yes, you can.’
She watched on as he carefully took Fleur through the training they’d both just learned, beaming at Sera every time the dog did what she was told.
‘Let’s try walking her to heel,’ Sera said after about twenty minutes of sit, stay and lie down. ‘I’ll talk you through it.’
