Taking both of the dogs out of the SUV in the condo car park, Demitri grabbed their things, and he gave me the bag from the store. After scanning the key card on the door, we headed up in the elevator. The dogs seemed a little nervous, but they didn’t act up. Marco had them muzzled, and their collars and harnesses on. Their leashes connected to their collars and their harnesses had a flat handle you could grab if you needed.
Hunt was slightly whining, pushing his head against Demitri’s side.
“We are almost there. You’re such a good boy, Hunt.” I cooed, rubbing his head.
Hunt was almost all black, while Hero was your standard colours. They were both large and well trained.
I let Demitri out of the elevator first, and then me and the dogs got out. We walked to the end of the hall, and I opened the door. Luca looked up from the couch and smiled. I frowned at him, keeping the dogs away as I held the door open for Demitri.
“You should have told me you’re allergic to animals.” I sighed.
He looked at Demitri, narrowing his eyes.
“Relax, he didn’t tell me. I’m just nosey and looked in the bag.” I said.
I let Hunt and Hero off the leash. Snapping my fingers to get their attention, I spoke.
“Sit, Lie down, and stay.”
They listened, and I brought Luca the medication. He looked grateful. He took two, swallowing them with the glass of water he had.
“I appreciate you for letting me take the medication before letting them near me, but you can let them up now.”
“Alright. You two, go play.”
They got up immediately and walked around the condo, checking things out. I was worried that they might maul Luca while his pills kicked in, so I kept an eye on him. Demitri had set down all the dog stuff by the door and was just watching.
Luca got up and walked to put some shoes on.
“Here, I’ll help you unload the rest of Theo’s things.”
“Alright, sounds good.”
They headed back out. I didn’t have a chance to ask if they wanted my help. Grabbing the dog stuff, I pulled the two dog beds out and set them on the living room floor. The dogs came racing back down the hall and stopped at the side of the couch.
“If you guys want to get up on the couch, have at it.” I said.
Hunt was the first one to get up on the couch, the one that Luca was on, and he was sniffing where Luca had been. Hero got up on the other couch and laid down. I looked in the stuff for their bowls and found them pretty easily. I filled them with the dog food that Marco had included.
I filled the two other bowls with water and set them on the raised stands. They watched my every move until I sat down on the same couch that Hero was sitting on. He inched closer and laid his head on my lap, and I fluffed his ears.
“I missed you, both of you.”
Hunt came over and jumped on me, completely knocking me over sideways on the couch. He licked at me through the muzzle. The door opened and Hunt lowered his body against me and started growling.
“Theo. Should I be worried about that?” Demitri said, not a hint of fear in his voice.
Shoving Hunt back off of me, I spoke.
“No, put the box down and I can solve that.”
Demitri set the box in his hands on the counter and got up and walked over to him. Telling the dogs to come. They came over and sniffed his feet before sniffing the rest of him.
“Demitri is safe. Be nice.”
They growled at Luca when he came in, too, but he didn’t even ask about it. He just kept walking. Hero followed him around the kitchen till he set the box down and then bumped his nose into the back of Luca’s leg.
“Hold on. I’ll give you attention in a minute.” Luca grumbled.
Hunt wasn’t having any bit of Luca, he was beside Demitri, growling at Luca.
“Enough.” I said, snapping my fingers.
Hunt looked up at Demitri, ignoring me. He stopped growling when Demitri took his hand and set it on top of Hunt’s head. On the other side of the kitchen, Luca was sitting down on the floor, ruffling Hero’s head.
“Are you ok to be doing that?” I asked.
“Yeah, the pill has kicked in. I’m good to love the dogs now.”
“I’m sorry, Luca. If I would have known I would have—--”
“It’s fine. I asked Demitri to pick up the pills so you wouldn’t feel bad. I love animals, but their dander doesn’t love me.”
“Still I’m sorry.”
“Nothing you can do about it. Besides, I’m not worried about it, so you shouldn’t be either.”
“Serious note, though. I do not know where Marco thinks I’m going to stick all this shit. Should have just let me have the house.” I sighed.
“Forget about the house, Theo. You have other problems as it is before your dream home. Your father’s debt and—-”
“Ugh, I know Demitri. Thank you for the mood killing reminder.”
“That wasn’t my intention.”
“I figured that, but still.”
“Hey, at least you will have more space once Demitri and I are back at the complex in a day or two.”
“Oh, you’re going back already? Maddox is cool with that?”
“Maddox is the one who told us we could return in a day or two back to our normal jobs.”
“Right. I’ll still get to bother you both, because we have a housing project to work on. I have about a hundred papers to prove it.”
“Luca and I will offer our help any way that we can with the project, but we also have our regular jobs as well, so we will have to work around those.”
“Right, understandable.”
Neither really said anything more, and I felt like there was more to this that they weren’t telling me, but I didn’t want them to feel like they were forced to tell me. That didn’t feel fair for me to do to them. Not in the slightest.
Sighing, I got Hunt’s attention, who whimpered at me.
“Luca, if you want to remove Hero’s muzzle so they can get some dog food, I would be much appreciative.”
He did it just a few seconds later, and Hero showered him with kisses. He accepted Hero’s love. Hunt was less accepting of me taking off his muzzle. He growled at me while I pulled the muzzle off.
“Oh, relax, you grump.”
Demitri went to the couch and sat down, with Hunt following alongside him the whole time. Getting up on the couch, Hunt laid his head on Demitri’s lap.
“First, he doesn’t like me, now he does.” Demitri said, rubbing his ears.
“Hunt has always been like that. I can’t say what he’s been like in the last six or seven months, but he is like a grumpy old man.”
“Right. He seems friendly enough now.” Demitri said, rubbing Hunt’s head and back.
Luca got up off the floor finally and Hero was right with him again every step of the way.
“I see each of you has your respectable dog companion.” I said, watching Luca.
I started going through some of the boxes and finding my kitchen stuff from the summerhouse. The box I was going through had my pan set from when we got married. It had been a gift from one of the people who had attended. They were all cast iron, and I had forgotten all about them right up until now. Stacking them on top of the counter, I made sure I had them all before, feeling at least a little happier about it.
Digging around in the rest of the boxes, it felt like Christmas finding all my things again. Even before the divorce, I hadn’t been at the summerhouse in a few months, so it had easily been eight or nine months since I had seen any of these things.
Luca and Demitri were working, the dogs clearly getting in the way of that, but they didn’t complain or even try to move them. They just seemed pretty content with their furry friends.
After checking the freezer to see what I had for meat and vegetables, I pulled out some chicken breasts and frozen carrots, and I opened the wooden box for potatoes and onions. Grabbing out a bunch of potatoes and onions, which I was happy to see were still intact and not gross.
Grabbing the largest of my cast-iron pans, I oiled it. Washing my hands quickly. I pulled out the cutting board and a knife. I popped the chicken breast in the microwave in a glass dish and set it to defrost. Turning my attention to peeling the potatoes, dicing them, and tossing them in the oiled pan. Opening the bag of carrots, I dumped a handful in and checked the chicken.
Washing my hands again, I set the oven and started to dice the onions, stopping every few minutes to leave the kitchen and wiping my eyes. Tossing the onions in the pan, I added a cup of water, a few bay leaves and some other spices.
I added the chicken breasts, and salt and pepper. Washing my hands again, I covered the top of the pan in aluminum foil, and opened the oven. Sliding that pan inside.
“What are you making in here?” Luca said, coming around to look. Hero was missing from his side.
“Lost your companion, huh?” I teased.
“Yes, Demitri has stolen my dog friend.” Luca laughed.
“Lies. I did not steal the dog. The dog stole the only free space I had.” Demitri said, defending himself.
Looking towards the couch, he had abandoned his laptop and was just petting both of the dogs. He looked pretty comfortable if you asked me. More relaxed than he had been before, that was for sure.
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