by Marin Thomas
“Because you’re on Christmas break and your school is closed this week.” Red had switched Isi to the day shift at the bar and she planned to use her lunch hour to shop for Christmas toys.
“I don’t want to go to Mrs. Sneed’s, either.” Miguel joined his brother in the doorway.
“She said she’d bake cookies with you.”
“I don’t like cookies.” Miguel’s petulant expression tested Isi’s patience.
“Cheer up. Christmas Eve is three days away. Aren’t you excited?”
“No.” Miguel stomped off.
“What’s wrong with Mig, Javi?”
“He’s sad.”
“Why?”
“’Cause Conway’s gone.”
The boys had already forgotten and forgiven Conway after he’d turned down their invitation to be their dad. She wished she could rebound so quickly from life’s disappointments. “You two had a lot of fun with Conway, but he’s got his own life to live and...” He doesn’t want us to be a part of it. “We have our lives to live.”
“Mom.”
“What, Javi?”
“Can I change my Christmas wish list?”
She stopped applying her lipstick. “We already mailed your letter to Santa.”
“I don’t want a black Furby.”
Good thing she hadn’t bought the toy yet. “What do you want?”
“I want Conway to come back.”
She finished putting on her lipstick then knelt in front of her son. “Conway can’t watch you anymore.”
Javier leaned against her and she hugged him. If there truly was a Santa Claus, then she’d have put Conway on her wish list, too. Javier touched the star pendant she wore. “Can we wish for Santa to bring Conway back?”
“I’m afraid Santa only delivers toys to children, not wishes.”
“Conway said if we wished hard enough our wishes will come true,” he said.
Isi wasn’t a big fan of wish-making. After her father had disappeared, her mother had told her that if she wished hard enough for his return, one day he would come home. All those years of wishing had been for nothing. “Go play with Miguel. I’ll walk you over to Mrs. Sneed’s in a minute.”
After Javier left the bathroom, she closed her eyes and willed the tears not to fall. How long would it be, before her and the boys’ hearts finally let go of Conway?
* * *
“WHO DIED?”
Conway shifted his gaze to the barn doorway where his brother Johnny stood.
“No one died. Why?”
“You don’t normally grimace like that.” Johnny walked farther into the barn and stopped next to the tractor. “What are you doing?”
“Testing the fluids.”
“Did Dixie tell you that we’re all gathering at the Triple D for Christmas this year?”
“Nope.” His sister had left him a voicemail message last night, but he hadn’t listened to it, because he hadn’t been in the mood to talk to anyone.
“Shannon’s brothers will be there and Clive’s bringing Fiona Wilson.”
“Your father-in-law is still dating the town spinster?”
“He doesn’t talk about her and I don’t ask questions.” Johnny picked up a wrench from the toolbox and examined it.
“Shouldn’t you be out punching cows or training horses?” Conway asked.
“I needed a break.”
“Trouble in paradise?”
“Shannon’s been cranky lately.”
“Why?”
“I don’t have any idea. When I mention her mood, she bites my head off.”
Before he met Isi, Conway had believed himself an expert on women. Now, he didn’t have a clue.
“Speaking of women, why aren’t you watching Isi’s boys?”
“She graduated from the community college and starts a new job next month.” For a man who’d been dead set against having kids, not an hour in the day passed by when Javier and Miguel didn’t cross his mind. The boys had weaseled their way into his heart and the thought of never hanging out with them again left a hollow feeling in his chest.
“Good for Isi,” Johnny said. “I hope things work out for her.”
So did Conway.
Johnny turned to leave then stopped. “I almost forgot to tell you. Dixie and Gavin bought a house in Yuma. The closing is in January and she wants our help moving.”
“I’ll be here.” Where else did he have to go? After Johnny left, Conway sat in the barn a while longer and reflected on his life. He’d taken over the farm, and with the added responsibility he’d discovered that he enjoyed being the caretaker of his grandfather’s orchards. This year’s harvest had been a lot of work, but the bond he’d developed with the land fulfilled him in a way nothing else had—not even rodeo. He thought he’d miss riding the circuit, but the time he’d spent on the farm with Javier and Miguel had been his best days.
Maybe he should resume his mission to find “the one.” He waited for the rush of adrenaline that usually hit him when he made plans to prowl the honky tonks, but the blood pumping through his veins felt sluggish.
Calling it quits for the day he returned to the bunkhouse to shower and change. He decided to drive into town and shop. He didn’t exchange holiday gifts with his siblings, but he wanted to buy a toy for his nephew’s first Christmas.
An image of Javier and Miguel flashed through Conway’s mind. The boys were the perfect age to enjoy Christmas. They still believed in Santa Claus and he envisioned them tearing the wrapping paper from their gifts with lightning speed.
Not an hour of the day passed by when Conway didn’t regret how he’d handled the situation with Javier and Miguel when they’d asked him to be their father. He’d hurt them deeply and he wanted to make it up to the boys so they wouldn’t remember him in a bad light. There was no reason why he couldn’t buy them a couple of Christmas gifts, too.
An hour later, Conway had showered and left the farm. As he mulled over options for gifts, his truck sped past a parked van that had pulled off the road ten miles outside of Yuma. A sign next to the vehicle read Black Labs 4-Sale.
The boys would love a dog.
Giving no thought to how Isi might feel about owning a dog, Conway made a U-turn and drove back to the van.
“How much?” he asked, studying the five puppies inside a makeshift pen.
“A hundred dollars. They’re American labs, not English,” the woman said.
“What’s the difference?” Conway didn’t know a thing about the breed.
“American labs have a longer nose and thinner body but they’re more energetic.”
Energetic was good. The dog would be able to keep up with the boys. Conway watched the puppies interact—four of them attempted to climb out of the pen and one hung back, watching the others. The shy puppy made Conway think of Javier. He pulled his wallet from his pocket and shelled out the money. “I’ll take the one in the corner.”
“That’s a male.”
The woman set the puppy inside a cardboard box with an old towel at the bottom before taking Conway’s cash. “Be sure he sees a vet soon for a physical and his vaccinations.”
“Thanks.” Back on the road, Conway pushed the speed limit into Yuma—he couldn’t wait to see the expressions on the boys’ faces when he handed them their Christmas present.
* * *
“HOW COME YOU came to get us?” Miguel followed Conway across Mrs. Sneed’s yard, Javier trailing him.
“I have an early Christmas present for you.” Mrs. Sneed had gladly handed over the boys and their booster seats for the afternoon after Conway promised to return them to her before Isi got off work at six.
“What kind of surprise?” Javier grasped Conway’s hand. His small fingers felt fragile an
d Conway’s chest tightened with an unexpected need to protect the kid.
“This kind of surprise.” He stopped at the truck and opened the door. The boys gasped when they saw the puppy’s face peeking over the edge of the box.
“Is he ours?” Miguel asked.
“Yep.” Conway carried the box to the middle of the yard and sat on the ground. When he set the puppy free, the lab tried to climb the boys’ legs. The twins took turns holding the dog and giggling when it licked their faces.
“What’s his name?” Javier asked.
“He doesn’t have one. You two need to come up with a name for him.”
“How come you gave us a dog?” Miguel squealed when the puppy pawed at his hair.
“Because all little boys should grow up with a dog.” And because the dog would be there for the boys for the rest of its life—unlike Conway.
“Missy has a dog named Pringles,” Miguel said.
“Who’s Missy?”
“She lives with her grandma across the street,” Javi said.
Miguel petted the dog. “We can call him Captain America.”
“That’s dumb.” Javier shoved his brother’s shoulder.
Miguel shoved back. “You’re dumb.”
“No fighting. You can think of names while we run errands.” Conway put the dog in the box.
“Where are we going?” Miguel asked.
“The puppy needs to see a doctor to make sure he’s healthy.” Conway knew of one pet store that had a veterinary clinic inside it. He’d gone there once with a girlfriend whose cat had become sick.
After the boys were belted in, Conway drove across town. The vet appointment took an hour and the puppy passed inspection. A vet tech talked Conway into purchasing pet insurance to cover neutering, yearly vaccinations and dental care.
Puppy supplies were next on the list. The boys selected a red collar and leash. Conway tossed an extra collar into the basket, warning the boys that the dog would outgrow the smaller one in a few months. The boys asked how big the dog would get and Conway found a book with pictures of full-grown labs.
“He’s gonna be big,” Javier said.
“Big enough to handle you two.” Conway put the book into the cart, in case Isi had questions on training the dog. “Next, we need food and chew toys.”
By the time he rolled the shopping cart up to the counter, the basket was overflowing. He’d purchased enough food to last three months, because he didn’t want the dog to be a financial burden on Isi.
He and the boys hauled their stash to the truck then returned to the trailer where Conway laid Isi’s ironing board across the floor in front of the bathroom and told the boys that the puppy would have to remain in the room until he was trained to do his business outside. Javier spread the piddle pads across the floor and Miguel filled the water bowl, then Conway set the puppy on his towel and he curled into a ball and went to sleep.
“Make sure you tell your mom that the vet said to feed the dog twice a day—once in the morning and once at suppertime. And you need to take him outside to do his job right after he eats, okay?”
“What’s his job?” Javier asked.
“Poop. You don’t want the dog to do that on the floor or on top of your bed.”
“Eew!” Javier pinched his nose. “Yuck!”
“C’mon. Time to go to Mrs. Sneed’s.”
The boys didn’t want to leave the puppy and spent ten more minutes saying goodbye before they followed Conway outside. After placing the house key in the potted plant on the porch, both Miguel and Javier hugged Conway’s leg and thanked him for the puppy.
“Be good to your new best friend, okay?” Conway crouched in front of the boys. “Never hit the dog and never throw anything at him or tug on his legs or ears, okay?”
“We won’t.”
“You treat him kindly, and he’ll be your friend for life.” Conway stood.
“Are you gonna come back and see the puppy?” Javier asked.
“Probably not for a while.” They walked in silence to the neighbor’s trailer.
When Mrs. Sneed opened the door, Javier said, “Conway bought us a new puppy for Christmas.”
After the boys went inside, Conway said, “The puppy’s penned in the bathroom right now.”
“Okay.” Mrs. Sneed smiled and shut the door in his face, no doubt eager to get back to whatever TV program she was watching.
Conway considered waiting for Isi to return to warn her about the dog but he chickened out. After letting her and the boys down, there was no telling what he’d do or how far he’d go to make amends.
Chapter Fourteen
“Mom, you’re gonna be excited about the present Conway got us for Christmas,” Miguel said as he and his brother followed Isi to their trailer.
When she’d arrived at Mrs. Sneed’s to pick up her sons, her neighbor informed her that Conway had spent the afternoon with the boys. Isi didn’t know what to make of his visit or his buying her sons Christmas gifts.
As soon as she opened the door and stepped into the trailer, a tiny bark stopped her in her tracks.
Oh, no.
The boys raced down the hallway to the bathroom.
“It’s a black lab,” Javier said.
“I see.” The puppy’s tail wagged so hard his back end danced.
“Conway bought us a dog for Christmas and food and toys and bones.” Javier went into the kitchen and returned with a folder of paperwork. “Our dog gets to go to the vet for free.”
Conway had thought of everything, except who would take the dog outside during the middle of the day when she was at work and the boys were in school.
Miguel cuddled the puppy against his chest. The poignant picture tugged at her heart. The dog would go a long way in helping her sons cope with Conway’s absence, but like her graduation necklace, the dog would always remind her of Conway. Emotions aside, this wasn’t the right time in their lives to own a pet, not with her starting a new job.
“Maybe you should take him outside and see if he has to go to the bathroom.”
“Conway said we have to feed him dinner first,” Miguel said. “Then we take him outside so he doesn’t poop in the house.”
“Does he have a name?” she asked.
Javier spoke up. “We wanna name him Bandit.”
“Why Bandit?”
“’Cause that’s the name of Mr. Mighty’s dog.”
Mr. Mighty was a cartoon show the boys watched on Saturday mornings. Isi scratched the puppy behind his ears. “I guess you do look like a Bandit.”
A half hour later the puppy had eaten and done his job and now slept between the boys on the floor while they played with their building blocks. Isi got out the camera and snapped a few photos for the infamous scrapbooks then paced the kitchen floor, debating how to handle the situation. They couldn’t keep the dog. She didn’t have the money to pay for food and treats and bones and then after a year she’d have to pay for vet bills. If she had to spend her savings on a dog, how was she supposed to buy a new car or move her and the boys into a nice apartment?
A lump formed in her throat as she watched the boys cuddle Bandit. She didn’t want to be the bad guy and tell her sons that they couldn’t keep the dog. Tomorrow, after she dropped them off at Mrs. Sneed’s, she’d ask Conway to come get the dog.
* * *
CONWAY PULLED UP to Isi’s trailer at three-thirty. She’d asked him to meet her at four. He got out of the truck and sat on the stoop to wait. He knew what this was about—the dog.
The strain in her voice when she’d left a message telling him she couldn’t keep Bandit had been obvious. He’d overstepped his bounds. If he was honest, he’d admit that he’d only been thinking of himself when he’d gotten the dog for the boys. He’d felt bad tha
t he’d walked out on the twins and had wanted to appease his guilt.
He worried about Javier and Miguel’s reaction when they found out their mother wasn’t going to let them keep Bandit. Everything he did only seemed to make things worse. He heard the clunking sound of Isi’s car engine before she pulled beneath the carport. The boys hopped out of the backseat, wearing huge grins.
“Conway’s here!” Javier scrambled up the porch steps and sat next to him.
“Did you come to see Bandit?” Miguel sat on the other side of Conway.
“We named him Bandit,” Javier said.
Isi’s brown eyes clouded with concern. She didn’t say a word as she stepped past Javier and went into the trailer. He deserved her silence.
“He’s getting bigger?” Miguel said.
Right then Isi opened the door and handed over the puppy then returned inside the trailer as if she couldn’t stand to see her sons’ faces when Conway broke the bad news.
The boys played with Bandit in the yard, their love for the dog obvious. Conway felt worse by the second. “Hey, guys. Bring Bandit over here and sit down.”
Once they were settled on the steps and Bandit happily chewed on a bone, Conway said, “I have bad news.”
The twins frowned.
“Bandit can’t live at the trailer.”
“Why not?” Miguel asked.
“It’s my fault. I should have asked your mother if it was okay to give you guys a dog.”
“But our mom likes Bandit,” Javier said.
“Of course she does, but she works long hours and you two are in school during the day. Bandit’s going to grow into a big dog and he needs more space to run around than this small yard.”
Javier picked up the puppy and hugged him to his chest. “But he’s ours. We don’t want you to take him back.”
Conway struggled to draw air into his lungs. “I’m not going to take him back.”
“Where’s he gonna go?” Miguel asked.
“He’s going to live at the pecan farm. You guys can visit him anytime you want.” For a man who was trying to break ties with this small family, he was failing miserably.