Compromise

BROOKE

“Syd!” I scold. “You can’t take her out without me, honey! She could’ve pulled you or hurt you!” We all run outside together in a nervous panic.

“You guys go this way, I’ll go down the street,” Colin says, heading off in the other direction.

Sydney and I walk through the parking lot, checking under the parked cars and calling out Luna’s name.

“LUNA! Here, girl!”

Luna has always been up to no good, getting into trouble, making a mess, and stressing me out.

But at the end of the day, coming home to a happy dog greeting us at the door, and seeing the love she has for Syd and I…I’ve come to love that love.

It’s important to me, that someone out there loves me and is excited for me to come home every night.

I love the feeling of Luna sleeping at the end of my bed, and it feels empty anytime she decides to bunk with Syd for the night; I find myself not sleeping well.

I love that damn dog like my second child, and the feeling that Luna could be gone, lost somewhere, possibly hurt, makes my heart break.

“MOM!” Syd calls out, and I turn around to see Colin walking toward us. My heart sinks. He holds Luna in his arms, cradling her like a baby, belly up. Luna is as still as…well…as still as a dead dog.

~Oh my god, she got hit by a car!~ I think, and run toward Colin as fast as I can to make it there before Sydney and block her from seeing anything horrific.

“Oh my god! Is she—?” I mutter with tears in my eyes and my hand over my mouth, expecting the worst…until I get close enough to examine Luna myself.

“Luna!” My emotions get the best of me, and I burst out laughing and crying all at the same time. Luna’s far from a dead dog—there’s not a single scratch on her.

She’s looking up at Colin with pure happiness, being cradled like the baby she is. Luna always craves attention, and right now she’s receiving just that.

“She’s fine,” Colin says, rubbing her belly. “She got her leash stuck in the fence trying to crawl under it. She’s lucky, if she’d made it across she would have hit Route 18.”

I look up at Colin, who has a glowing smile on his face looking at Luna and then at me. Out of relief, I wrap my whole body around him and Luna both, and pull them in for a great big hug.

The smell of Colin’s cologne filling my nose sends a warmth through my entire body, and I love it. When I move my body away from his, I instantly crave more of that scent.

My heart sinks as I realize I’m right about not being able to work with him. He does something to me that makes the bricks in my walls move. But I can’t afford to bring those defenses down—not now, not with him.

“Colin, I—I can’t do this.” I watch his smile fade from his face as he puts Luna down. Sydney comes running up a second later, raining kisses all over Luna’s face and leading her back toward the office.

“Bad girl,” I hear her saying, unconvincingly. Colin waits till she’s out of earshot before turning back to me.

“Look, I know you don’t want to let me in, Brooke. You’re sca—”

“Colin!” I don’t want to start this conversation right now. I’m already emotional and vulnerable enough from thinking I’d lost Luna. But I have to shut things down with Colin before they go any further.

“My life is clearly a mess, and you’ve been witness to it too many times already. I’m saying this as your physical therapist: this isn’t working.”

I keep avoiding eye contact with him, but I can sense he’s ready to argue. “I can refer you to another physical therapist who deals with sports injuries.”

Colin lets out a huff. “Brooke! Come on! Don’t do this!”

“You’re falling behind on your therapy sessions, Colin! We’re out here looking for my lost dog instead of focusing on your foot!”

“I’ll reschedule, then. No big deal!”

“It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving! The practice is closed the rest of the week. You’ll be more than a week behind on your rehab by the time we reopen.”

“What are you doing for Thanksgiving?” Colin asks me, out of left field.

“W-what?” It’s like he hasn’t been listening to a word I’m saying.

“Do you have any plans for Thanksgiving?” he asks again with a smirk on his face. I’m still totally confused.

“No. Are you even listening to me?”

He rolls his eyes like I’m not giving him the answer he wanted. Then he turns toward Sydney, who’s still trotting several steps ahead of us with Luna in tow. “Hey, Syd!” he calls. “What do you guys usually do for Thanksgiving?”

She turns back to face him. “We always order pizza and watch the parade and the game all day. Why?”

Colin turns back to me with a gushing smile on his face as he shouts to Sydney, “Your mom and I are discussing having Thanksgiving at my house. What do you say?”

“What? No!” I state, giving him a dirty look, but it doesn’t seem to faze him one bit.

“I guess,” Sydney responds with a shrug. She sounds a little unsure.

“No,” I say quietly, so that only Colin can hear me arguing with him. “Besides, don’t you have Thanksgiving plans with Natali or something?”

“No, I don’t. And she’s in Paris for a show anyways. Come on. Please?” He’s practically begging now.

“You can catch me up on my sessions so I won’t be behind. And, I have to teach you some training for Luna so she won’t run away again.”

“I can’t go to your house, Colin! That would be very unprofessional of me.”

“I don’t think so,” he argues. “Trainers make house calls for the pros all the time!”

I still have my arms folded over my chest, set on saying no. But once again he’s not fazed and turns to shout ahead to Syd, “I live right on the beach! And I have a pool!”

Syd perks right up. “Okay, cool! Can we go, Mom? Can we?”

“You don’t want to disappoint Syd now. Come on, it will be fun!” he says with a giant smirk, knowing exactly what he just did.

I don’t have it in me to say no to Syd. I shake my head in defeat as he celebrates his victory. I look up at his giant-ass smirk and smack him across the chest. “Wiseass!”