Dave came over every day, after working at the clinic, until he left to spend Christmas with his grandparents. Sam had come to see Ally everyday too, and he went to his grandparents with Dave. I found out that Sam’s mom was Dave’s dad's sister. Sam’s last name was Carlton. Not that it really mattered, but it answered why Sam and Dave didn’t have the same last name.
Sam and Ally had at least three classes together and in their discussions that night at dinner found out that Sam had wanted to ask Ally out for a while. Ally of course was thrilled, because she wanted him to ask her out. So they pretty much became inseparable during the holidays. Dave was glad that his plan had worked. He told me he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I appreciated that, but secretly wondered who the girl was that he was so hung up on. Really.
Ally and I had a great Christmas. Sunshine even enjoyed the festivities. She was given a couple of presents too. I even let her have a sample of Christmas Dinner. I had been reading up on service dogs, things you can and can’t do with them, after I had given her some of Christmas dinner and then worried about her after I read you shouldn’t do that. I decided that I would never do that again. Dave had bought a bag of Blue Wilderness puppy food when he gave her to me and after reading, decided that I would keep her on that food, because she was so important to me.
I missed Dave, but he called like he said he would and at least I was able to talk to him and after all it was only a couple of days. I was so excited when he came back home. It was a Saturday.
I heard him coming up the stairs and dashed out the back door with Sunshine at my heels and jumped into his arms. He wasn’t expecting that, and quite frankly I wasn’t expecting myself to do that, I was rather embarrassed. But Dave being who he is just took it in stride, catching me in a huge hug. “Wow, if I’d known I’d get that kind of homecoming, I’d leave more often.” He smiled, I love his smile. “How are you, Lily?”
I was very honest. “Now that you’re here, much better. I missed you!”
He gave me a different brighter smile. “I missed you too Lily.” He bent down to Sunshine and petted her. “Hey Sunshine girl, how are you?” She licked him in the face. “Have you been taking care of Lily for me?” She walked to me and sat down right next to my leg.
I smiled, “Does that answer your question?”
“Yeah, it does. Sunshine heel.” She walked to him and sat down. He bent down and petted her again. “Good girl. Take care of Lily.” She walked back over to me and sat down next to my right leg. I realized then that he was giving her a command both times.
“And you did that because . . .”
“To make sure she hadn’t lost anything she had been taught. Have you been out anywhere with her lately?”
“No, not since dinner the other night.”
“Well, how about lunch? Are you hungry?”
“I guess so, where do you want to go?”
“I was thinking Zaxby’s, do you like their food?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever eaten there. How long have they been out here?”
“Since late October.”
“Well, that explains it. What else have I missed?”
“I’ll tell you what. Since you have kind of been locked away, why don’t I drive you around and show you what’s happened around town since you have been . . . how do I put this.”
I put my hand on his arm. “Truthfully.”
“Okay . . . since you have been ill. Put Sunshine’s gear on and we’ll go. Do we need to bring Ally?”
“No, she’s waiting on Sam. He’s coming by in about thirty minutes.”
“Well do you want to wait on them and see if they want to go with us?”
“Dave, do we always have to have someone with us?”
That caught him off guard, but in a pleasant way I believe. He gave me his smile and then laughed. “Well no, I just thought you would be more comfortable if someone else went with us.”
“It doesn’t matter to me. If you’re uncomfortable with just me, then by all means we can wait on them.”
“No, I’m good with just you and me. Get Sunshine’s gear on her and let’s go.”
“Okay, are you going to come in?”
“Yeah, I will in just a second. Go ahead and get Sunshine ready.”
I turned to go in, but something told me not too. I asked a stupid question. “Dave if you’re worried that the girl you like is going to see us together then we don’t have to go.”
He laughed. “That’s not it at all.”
“Then what is it. You look upset about something. Please tell me.”
Dave took hold of my shoulders. “Lily, there’s something I really want, and I don’t know if I’m wasting my time on it or not. I would really like to think I’m not wasting my time, but I’m not sure. I think I see something there, but I’m not ready for another Brianna incident.”
“Once bitten, twice shy, right?” At once my thoughts turned to him. “Dave, I have an idea.”
“What’s that, Lily?”
“How do you feel about a walk in the botanical gardens? I know that there’s not much in bloom right now, but it’s a rather large place and there are plenty of trails to walk down and it’ll be quiet. We can walk and talk and there are swings to sit on and little ponds with rock-walls to play on. What do you think?”
He kissed me on top of the head. “I think that’s a great idea, but can we get some lunch first. I’m starving.”
“Okay, sure, but only if you will let me pay.” He started to argue with me. “Please.”
“Compromise, I’ll buy mine and you can buy yours, will that work?”
“Okay, fair enough. Does Zaxby’s allow service dogs?”
“Yes they do, trust me; I’ve searched out the places service animals are allowed. Go tell someone where you’ll be, so they won’t worry.”
I went and told Mom and let her know where Ally was getting ready to go and then put Sunshine’s gear on her. As Dave and I walked out, Sam drove up. We waved as we walked down the stairs. “Well it looks like you were right about Sam and Ally.”
“I love being right about things. It makes it easier to be right about other things.”
“Dave that just sounds chauvinistic.”
“Maybe it is, but I hope I’m right.”
We climbed into his truck and I slid into the middle and put Sunshine next to me. “Lily, I bought something for Sunshine. Look in the back. It’s in the Christmas bag.”
“Aw, Dave you bought her a present.”
“Yeah, go ahead and open it.” I did and in it was a dog-sized backpack.
“I didn’t know they made dog-sized backpacks. That’s so neat.”
“Open the pack.” I did and in it was a collapsible water bowl, a water bottle and little booties for her paws.
“Aw, you bought what I’d need for campus, but something tells me she’s not going to like the little booties. She has big furry paws, which should be enough.”
“Yeah, I know, but it came from New York and you know how much snow they get in the winter, so some service dog owners put little boots on their dog’s paws to protect them from the elements.”
“Oh, well I guess I understand that. But, we really don’t have elements down here in Alabama, except the occasional two inches of snow or the ice storm which shuts down everything anyway. People in New York laugh at us when that happens.” Dave started laughing.
“True, but they’re there if you want to use them.”
“Maybe I might try them just to see what she thinks.”
“Whatever you want to do.”
We pulled into Zaxby’s parking lot and parked. He heeled Sunshine and then helped me out of his truck; luckily it wasn’t as high as his Dad’s. I picked up Sunshine’s lead and she was up and ready to go. This time, though, instead of offering his arm, he took my hand, like he would his sister’s hand, but I liked it. It fit mine. I could tell that he was nervous about doing that. I guess he thought I was going to freak out or something. I didn’t and that pleased him.
We walked in and of course immediately were stared at, it made me a little nervous, but soon I was fine. Sunshine didn’t react that time; she was getting used to my differences and was learning when she needed to react and when she didn’t. We were behind three people in line and I noticed that one little girl kept staring. It almost made me paranoid. Sunshine was sitting next to me waiting patiently. The little girl who must have been about six, reached out to touch Sunshine. Her Mom pulled her back.
“No honey, that Dog’s working right now, we can’t pet those dogs.”
I was surprised. Dave looked down at me and winked. The little girl just looked at me and smiled. “You have a pretty dog.”
“Thank you.”
“What’s its name?”
“Her name is Sunshine.”
“Oh, it’s a girl?”
“Yes, she’s a girl.”
“We have a boy dog at home, all he does is run around and bark at squirrels all day, or birds. There’s a bird that likes to sit in a low branch on our tree and make my dog mad, because he can’t get him.”
I laughed. “Sounds like you have a good dog too.”
“Yes, ma’am. Does your dog ever get to play or does she work all of the time?”
“She gets to play when she’s not working. She just gets to be a regular dog.”
“Well I’m glad; I think all dogs need to play. I’m Miranda.”
“My name is Lily and I agree with you, all dogs need to play sometimes.”
Her mother had picked up their food and she was walking to a table. “Bye Ms. Lily, have a good day.”
“Thank you Miranda, you too.”
Dave kissed me on the head, and then whispered. “Now that’s the Lily I know, keep it up and you’ll be back to yourself in no time.”
I put my arm around his waist and hugged him. Then we were up to order. I placed mine and paid for it. I had to let go of Sunshine’s lead to get to my wallet, but she just sat there and didn’t even move, until I picked up her lead again. Then Dave placed his order and paid for it. They put our food out and he took both trays and we went and sat down. I guided Sunshine up under the table and said, “Down . . . Stay.” She did and we enjoyed our lunch.
Throughout lunch I had noticed a couple of little boys. They looked to be about three and four, they were very active. Dave had noticed them too, it was kind of hard not to. We finished lunch about the same time they did. Dave took our trays and came back and about the time I guided Sunshine out from under the table and turned to get my purse they saw her and ambushed her, she froze and didn’t even attempt to bite them. They had run away from their parents. Dave handled it.
“Whoa, whoa.” He gently pulled them off of Sunshine. “Be careful some dogs might bite if you scare them.” That immediately made the little boys back away. “This dog is a service dog, she’s working right now. She has to be careful so she can work like she’s supposed to. She can only be petted if she doesn’t have a vest on and then we have to ask before we can pet her. Okay. I’m glad you like her, though.”
Their parents caught up to them and apologized a million different times. Dave answered that too. “No harm done. Have a good day.”
I was so taken by the way he handled that I almost cried, which I thought was ridiculous, but he did that so easily. All I did was panic. He was so good with the little boys. I felt a tear escape and then laughed slightly. Dave gave me an embarrassed grin. Then he took my hand and we left.
“So on to the botanical gardens?”
“Yes, that’s what I thought, but if you’d rather not, then I understand. By the way, you were great with those little boys. You are definitely going to make a great teacher. So tell me something. You want to teach, so what are you specializing in?”
“Elementary Education and Math.”
“You like Math? Why did I never know that?”
“Probably because you never asked.”
“I guess I have been pretty stuck on myself.”
“No, Lily, that’s not what I meant, I don’t know your specialty area either. I just know that we had a lot of classes together.”
“Are you doing Elementary or Early Childhood Education?”
“Early Childhood Education.”
“I thought you were Elementary like me.”
“Just out of curiosity, why elementary education, most guys do high school and coaching.”
“Honestly, I don’t have the patients to teach a group of teenagers that have bad attitudes. That’s all that high school is. I know; I used to be one of them.”
“I don’t believe that, I don’t see you as one of the kids with a bad attitude.”
“Okay, then what do you see me as.”
“One of the kids that was really popular and had a ton of friends.”
“Lily, remember that pedestal I told you not to put people on?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“I was popular, but by status, not attitude. I used to pick fights with the opposing team’s players, because I thought I was better than everyone else.”
“No way, I still don’t believe you.”
“Believe what you will, it’s the truth, ask my sisters. They didn’t like me very much when I was in high school.”
“Okay, but they love you now; Ally told me how they like to show you off when you go eat lunch with them.”