Page 65 of Good Time Boyfriend
But hell, all of our families were a little unusual, but it finally seemed as if we were learning how to become a huge family.
I was forever grateful that we were making it work.
“Anyway, after I screamed, the rest of the staff took care of her, I finished the examination of the puppies, and then I helped a sick turtle.”
“Do you ever help with large animals or just household ones?”
“When I was in school, we went out to a few of the ranches in eastern Oregon. But I’m not a large animal vet. I could be in a pinch, but that’s a whole other specialty. My lab partner in school actually is a large animal veterinarian. They help with breach cows, horses that work the ranch, the rodeo, and even Thoroughbred racehorses.”
“And you get the puppies and kittens,” August put in.
“I am fine with the puppies and kittens. If you guys are looking for some though, I can always find you a good match.”
“If they wouldn’t make me break out into hives, you know I would,” I commented.
“I know, still though, maybe we could try a parakeet?”
“You have a parakeet?” Devney asked.
“His name is Bob. He doesn’t like other birds.”
I shook my head and leaned back into the couch as Devney sank against me, and we listened to Luca and August tell stories about their jobs. I guess a vet and a high school science teacher sometimes had similar stories.
Everything just felt nice. Like we had been doing this forever. Like we hadn’t lost so much time together.
I was so damn happy.
The way Greer was with her men, how caring they were for her, and how easily she got along with them, I felt like maybe we could make this work. She was the example all of us needed.
Maybe Devney and I could do something like that. And wasn’t that a scary thought.
“Anyway, we made dessert, if you’re interested,” Greer put in.
“You made dessert? Or you brought it over from your bakery?” Luca asked, and then he ducked her fist.
“Greer, you’re getting better about not breaking your thumb as you hit,” August said.
“Like we’d let our girl punch awkwardly like that,” Ford said, shaking his head.
I set my beer down and whispered to my girl, “Having fun?”
“Yes. You guys are hilarious.”
“We try. You just let me know when you want to head out. I know you have an early morning tomorrow.”
“I’m fine. I’m just sad I couldn’t force Addison to come. She could have used the laughter.”
“Everything going okay over there?” I asked.
I was worried about Addison, too, though I wasn’t sure of the details.
“I don’t know. She’s not talking to me about it. She’s just so busy. I know she gets along with all of you, so it helps her relax.”
“Only she’s not relaxing.”
“Nope. And then of course there’s the other part of our trio, one I don’t want to name in this room.”
I nodded, grateful that August wasn’t paying attention to us. The growing friendship between Paisley and Devney might become an issue one day. Everybody seemed to be okay with it now, to either ignore the situation or just to move past it. But I had a feeling that things would come to a head at some point. I didn’t want Devney to get caught in the middle.
