LUNA!

BROOKE

“LUNA!” I shout as I enter the bathroom in my towel, ready to shower.

Luna, our damned golden retriever puppy, has been a hellion since the day I brought her home as a surprise for Sydney’s seventh birthday.

I knew nothing about dogs when I dished out thousands of dollars to a local breeder for a faithful, loyal companion. I still know nothing, apparently.

Luna sucked me in from the moment I saw her. I took one look at the tiny, dirty-blonde-haired dog and couldn’t resist her. She looked like a little teddy bear that Syd could snuggle up to at night.

As it turns out, Luna prefers sleeping in my bedroom most nights. But I can’t complain.

I haven’t shared my bed with anyone since John; it’s great to snuggle with a warm and lovable creature who wakes me up with kisses, even if they are wet and slobbery.

Golden retrievers are supposed to be loyal, well-behaved, smart dogs. But Luna somehow missed all those superior traits. She’s clumsy, naughty beyond words, and she eats everything in sight.

She also tries to bite every man who gets close to Syd and me, including John. Perhaps that’s one of her few good traits.

“LUNA!” I shout again as I look at the disaster she left in the bathroom. I’m not sure why, but I often wake up and find Luna’s had a midnight snack…of toilet paper.

Before bed, the paper roll was there, intact. This morning, the roll has been blown to smithereens all over the bathroom floor.

“Bad dog!” I scold when Luna comes slowly walking in with her head bowed. “Now I’m going to be late.”

After picking up every tiny speck of tissue off the floor, I take the world’s fastest shower, pour a coffee to go, and make Sydney’s lunch.

“SYDNEY! TIME TO SKEDADDLE!” I shout from the mudroom while I put on my sneakers. Sydney comes bouncing in with her brown bag lunch and backpack.

“Do you have everything?” I ask her.

“Yup.”

“You have your EpiPen?” I question again. Sydney stops dead in her tracks, looking back at me with puppy eyes. I can already sense her response.

Sydney has always had a severe allergy to peanuts. Even touching a peanut causes her to break out in full-body, swollen hives.

Her throat tightens to the point she can’t breathe, and she’ll go into anaphylactic shock within minutes if she doesn’t have a dose of adrenaline from her EpiPen.

“I forgot,” she says quietly.

“Syd, you have to remember your EpiPen. It is so important, sweetie.” I kneel down, cupping her face so she looks me in the eyes.

“Okay, sorry,” she responds. I kiss her forehead and open her backpack, looking for the EpiPen. Not there. I walked back into the kitchen, where I spot it lying on the counter.

I zip it carefully into the front compartment of Syd’s backpack. Even with all this morning’s craziness, I think, I might still get Syd to school on time.

Then I make the mistake of glancing into the family room.

“LUNA!” I yell again. Luna’s somehow gotten hold of yet another toilet paper roll and is busy ripping it to shreds all over my nice clean carpet.

“That’s it!” I say, grabbing Luna’s leash and collar. “You’re coming to work with me today.”

Dropping Syd off at school, late as usual, I dodge a dirty look from Mrs. Baker, Syd’s principal. I swear, the woman waits outside the school on purpose every morning to catch any and all latecomers—more specifically, me.

Most of the time, she catches me speeding into the school parking lot right after the final bell has rung.

“I love you, sweetie!” I shout.

“I love you too, Mom!” Syd yells over her shoulder as she dashes inside.

Now, off to work. I stride in ten minutes late with my bag in one hand and Luna’s leash in the other. “Hey, Julie. Sorry I—” I’m interrupted by the leash nearly ripping my arm out of its socket as Luna bolts away from me.

I try to hold on for a second, but I don’t have a good enough grip and the end of the leash slips through my fingers, feeling like it takes half the skin of my palm with it. Luna darts through the reception and into the exercise room.

I run after her, knowing there are a lot of balls and equipment she can get her naughty paws on in there. But when I shove my way through the door, I’m shocked to see Luna has run directly into the arms of a man. A man! Luna hates men!

Colin Scholtz is sitting on an exercise mat in the middle of the floor with a towel under his left foot. At a guess, he was doing the heel slide exercises that I taught him last session while he waited for me to get here.

Now, though, Luna’s entire body hovers over him, her shaggy tail wagging like crazy as she makes out with his face.

“LUNA!” I shout, in my firmest voice of command. “COME HERE!” She ignores me completely.

“Hey, girl,” Colin coos, petting her while she’s on top of him. Luna lies on the floor next to him, rolling over to her back so Colin has full access for a belly rub.

“I’m so sorry—” I mumble in shock, grabbing Luna’s leash off the ground and trying to drag her away from Colin. She pulls against me with all her weight, straining to stay close to him.

“She’s okay,” he replies. “She’s just a pup, right?”

“Yeah, a pain in the ass puppy,” I say, grabbing her legs in a second attempt to drag her away.

She turns her whole body and legs away from me and toward Colin, licking his face once more. Traitor! I think to myself. “She…she likes you?” I blink my eyes in disbelief.

“Most ladies do,” he says with a cocky smirk on his face.

I roll my eyes at him and rephrase, “I mean, she usually hates men…like, all men, the entire gender.” Luna relaxes with her tail wagging, mouth open and smiling as Colin runs his hands through her curly, dirty-blonde hair.

“Okay, come on, Luna,” I say, attempting to move her yet again.

“Come on, girl,” Colin commands, snapping his fingers. Luna jumps from her back to her legs, following Colin’s order.

“How did you—” My mouth drops to the ground in astonishment.

“You just need to be the alpha.” He shrugs. “Show her who’s boss.” He flaunts another one of his devastatingly smug-ass smiles. “Have you gotten her trained?”

“No, I’ve been meaning to, but I just don’t have time.” Just thinking about it stresses me out. I rub my face in my usual nervous tic, trying to wipe the feeling away.

“I can teach you a few things and commands if you’d like.”

“Umm, sure.” Looking down at him and seeing his warm, kind smile somehow makes my body seem lighter. He’s erased my stress, just like that. How did he do that?

“Thanks,” I whisper lightly, getting lost in his smile. Then I snap myself out of my trance, finally coming back to business mode. “But, your therapy session first.”