The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Lizzie Shane

Author:Lizzie Shane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2020-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

Two hours later, Ben shushed Mac again as he slung his friend’s arm over his shoulder and heaved him up the basement steps. Astrid had arrived home at five minutes to nine, gushing about the newborn puppies, and was currently two stories above them—hopefully soundly asleep in her bed, since tomorrow was a school day. But she wouldn’t stay that way for long if Mac kept singing.

“I’m s’glad we did this,” Mac slurred happily as they staggered upward. “I love you guys. You know that?” He twisted in Ben’s grip, trying to see behind him where Connor and Levi were ready to catch him if he started to take a header downward. “I love you guys,” he bellowed. They all shushed him, and he nodded sagely, shout-whispering, “I love you guys!”

“We love you, too,” Ben assured him.

“How does anyone get that drunk off three beers?” Connor marveled.

“I used to think he was faking it,” Levi commented from his position taking up the rear. “But if so, he’s been conning us consistently for fifteen years, and I don’t think Mac has that kind of endurance.”

“You should date the dog lady,” Mac blurted, swaying as Ben opened the door at the top of the stairs and tried to shove him through. “We can all see that you like her. It’s okay to like somebody. You just gotta say, ‘Dog lady, I like you.’ And maybe she likes you, too.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ben promised. Now that they were on the main floor they had a little more room to maneuver, and Connor appeared at Mac’s other side, taking half his weight.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Connor chimed in helpfully. “Though you might want to consider calling her Ally rather than Dog Lady. Just a thought.”

“I’m not going to call her anything. We’re friends.”

“Uh-huh,” Connor agreed skeptically.

“I like friends,” Mac declared with drunken sincerity.

“Does it bother anyone else that he doesn’t even get hungover when he’s like this?” Connor asked. “How is that fair? All the fun of being slap-happy-drunk and none of the morning-after consequences? Where is the cosmic justice?”

“Yeah,” Levi drawled. “That’s one of the real injustices of the universe that’s going to keep me up nights.”

“Hey. Fair is fair.”

“We really should do this more often,” Ben said dryly—but he actually meant the words.

Levi seemed to sense the truth behind his comment, meeting his eyes and giving a wry twist of his lips. “Yeah. I’ve missed you assholes.”

“Language!” Connor gasped with mock horror. “The little ears might still be awake.”

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten the time you tried to teach her to swear,” Ben growled.

Connor shrugged. “It was British swearing. Bloody bollocksed isn’t even really a thing in this country.” Ben glared at him and Connor grinned. “You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it first. Or you would be if you loosened up on the reins a little bit. She’s a good kid, Ben.”

“She is,” Levi confirmed. “And you know you can call us, right? Anytime you need anything?”

“Yeah. Of course.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.