Oliver, Cake, Mint and Chip.

For once, it was my turn to stay at the house. I woke up early like usual and made breakfast for mom before she went to work. Isabelle, surprisingly, came down an hour later saying she had plans. Or mumbling she had plans.

“Have a date?” I asked her.

“Nah. Seeing some friends,” Isabelle said, munching on toast as I kept her company in the kitchen. “I told you, I don’t want dates or boyfriends.”

“It’s been a while since you said that. I thought you had changed your mind.”

“Haven’t. Look, maybe grandma was right about this curse thing, maybe she isn’t. All I know is that, in the same way that a relationship has done wonders for you, being single has done wonders for me.”

Didn’t feel any sort of resentment or hidden emotions from her, so I had to believe her. “Coming back for lunch or not?” I asked her.

“I’ll be back in the afternoon, so don’t worry about me. You make dinner, though.”

“Sure.”

“And watch the dogs, please.”

“Of course.”

Isabelle left and mom was at work, meaning it was just four of us in the house: Mint the female husky puppy, Chip the male husky puppy, Cake the internet superstar, and lil ol’ me.

I went to my room and quickly came back to the living room with my ocarina in hand. I sat on the couch and watched the puppies play for a while with Cake sitting next to me. She was switching between eyeing the ocarina in my hand and staring at me as if waiting.

I chuckled. “You’re way too smart, you know that?” I told her, scratching her neck. She happily raised her chin and purred.

I brought the ocarina to my lips and played a couple of notes. Horrible idea, really. Mint and Chip looked up at me, their ears pointing up. Then they raised their chins to the ceiling and let out short, very high pitch howls in response.

“Oh no…”

I played another note and they howled. I played three more notes and the puppies answered with more howling. Had to admit I found it pretty funny, but Cake didn’t agree. She jumped down from the couch and bopped them both on their noses. That was actually even funnier.

“So long as you keep your claws inside, Cake,” I warned her.

Before I could resume playing, as Cake no doubt wanted me to, I heard my phone ring. It was a call from Diana, surprisingly. I answered quickly.

“Hello? To what do I owe the honor this early morning?”

“To an unexpected free day,” she said. “I’m starting late night shifts soon, so Luke gave me a couple of days to prepare for the new schedule.”

“When you say late night…”

“08:00 pm to 2:00 am,” she said. “And you’ll be working that shift with me some days.”

“I see…”

“Look, I’m free right now, so… Why don’t you come to my place and we can talk about it?”

“I’m trapped at home with a cat and two puppies she’ll likely **** if I don’t watch them,” I told her. “But… Why don’t you come over? Isabelle is out…”

“I’ll be there in an hour. Thankfully my dog has no one to **** if left alone for a while.”

“...”

Okay, look, I realize this isn’t the wisest choice, but… Much like I’d done before on other occasions, I listened to my gut more than my common sense.

“Hey, why don’t you bring Red over? We’ve been having him and Cake get used to each other’s scents, and I get the feeling he’ll behave with the puppies.”

“Mmm. I don’t know, dear. I think we should take some more steps before we introduce them.”

“I know, but… Look, Cake is shockingly smart and the puppies are awfully social. You have a muzzle for Red, don’t you?”

“I do.” I heard Diana sigh over the phone. “Okay, alright. Let’s give it a shot. If it doesn’t work…”

“We’ll separate them in different rooms.”

“Okay. See you in an hour.”

And if you remember right, one of the many (many many) reasons I love Diana is because of how punctual she is. An hour later? An hour later.

I hid Cake, Mint and Chip in the laundry room and went to open the door for Diana and Red. I greeted her with a peck on the lips and him by petting him along the back.

Red seemed mostly calm as he looked around the new, unknown environment, but his tail was wagging hard. He wasn’t wearing his muzzle yet but he was on a leash.

“Let him sniff around the living room. We were just playing there,” I told her.

As Red the young German shepherd sniffed around, Diana took the opportunity to bring back up the topic we touched on over the phone.

“About the work shifts, then,” she began. “I’m sure Luke will want to talk to you in person, but this is his preliminary plan. He wants you to work at least two days a week, likely Fridays and Saturdays, from 08:00 pm to 2:00 am. What do you think?”

Diana knew what she was asking. It wasn’t the length of the shifts that were the issue, nor were the days either. It was the time. 08:00 pm to 2:00 am on Fridays and Saturdays. Of course, those would be the time and the days with the most customers, so it made complete sense. However…

What truly worried me was that it was an awkward time when I thought of spending time with the girls. If I was by myself, working those shifts wouldn’t be an issue. I have no problems staying up late, and with how restful my sleep is, even five or four hours of sleep a day don’t seem to affect me. But with me moving in with the girls for university, and not to mention how far the house was… I’d have to give up on Friday and Saturday nights with them, likely the only free time we’d all have. Not to mention Diana would be working these shifts, too. More than that, actually. She’d have to work more days.

“I don’t like it,” I admitted.

“I figured. But… That’s work. Not everything works the way you always want to.”

I nodded. After all, I knew that. While working at the coffee shop, I had given up my Saturdays, but I also saw the girls every day at school. Now our schedules would be different. Would we have trouble seeing each other even if we lived together?

I didn’t want to be childish and complain or try to appeal to my friendship with Luke to ask for better shifts, but I also didn’t want to spend my weekend nights away from the girls. I didn’t want Diana to spend them away from us, either.

Patreon?