But by the Grace of Dog by A.F. Henley

Author:A.F. Henley [Henley, A.F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Published: 2019-11-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7: The Neighbour, Part 3

It wasn’t five minutes later, it wasn’t even ten, and on further consideration, Thom decided he should probably stop telling people how long he was going to be for anything. He’d never been able to get ready for anything in five minutes and there was a good chance he never would. While the whole “see you in five” thing was usually just a vague replacement for “see you soon,” it was one of those statements that he readily agreed to, be it at work or at his parents’ or just now, that ended up making him extremely uncomfortable. As if he should be ashamed of being late or needing more time. The last thing he needed was another reason to feel ashamed of himself.

He did what he always did when he needed more time—he convinced himself that he “had to” do something first. With the sweeping quickly and easily out of the way, he decided he needed to wet mop just in case he’d missed a chard or two with the broom; really, a fair and logical distraction, considering he walked around the house in bare feet and had a dog walking around as well. Then he decided they were going to need a little something to snack on. They couldn’t just drink. He’d look like a terrible host. That led to chopping up an al fresco salsa after finding the right-sized and -styled bowl to put in it, followed by an internal debate between blue tortilla chips or plain ones.

Finally, with the snack in hand, he took a deep breath and went downstairs to the den. It was a walk of shame. It always was when he had left someone waiting—a client, family member, or mental health professional. So, he braced for the inevitable, “Where have you been?” or the “It took you long enough!” or the “Did you get lost? Ha ha!”

Instead, Justin grinned when he saw Thom walk into the den. He gently nudged Dog off the couch. “Sorry, I didn’t know if he was allowed up here or not, but I couldn’t say ‘no.’”

Thom snorted. “Dog tends to do whatever Dog wants.” He set the bowls on the coffee table and Dog immediately tried to push his nose into the chips. “Case in point.” He shoved Dog to the side, ignoring the pitiful but-I’ve-never-eaten-in-my-whole-life look Dog gave them.

“Oh,” Justin said, clapping his hands and peering into the salsa. “It looks like you literally just made that. Is it fresh or does it just look like it? Because if you bought it off the shelf like that, you have to tell me where you got it.”

“Yeah…sorry about that. I um, didn’t mean to be that long, but—”

“No, no, don’t you dare.” Justin snagged a chip and began to dig in. “I freaking love fresh salsa. Thank you for doing it!”

Justin sat right at the end of the couch, while Tom chose the chair beside it instead, still close enough that they could brush knees, but also giving Thom enough room to breathe.

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.