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This time? Meaning he meant to do it more than once?
“You help Asher. I’ll stay with the puppies,” Dana said, with barely a quiver to her voice.
Levi shot her a sharp glance, but she looked suitably solemn. “I don’t have any old towels.”
She sat on the floor with the pups. “Look in the cupboard above the washer and dryer. There are probably some in there.”
There were. “How did you know that there would be towels there?”
“Because that’s where I keep mine.”
He took some, then remembering how dirty the dog was, and the amount of hair it had, took some more.
“The puppies can’t be very old,” Dana said. “Their eyes are still closed.”
Levi squatted down to look at them more closely. “I haven’t seen Asher this animated since he was shipped home.”
“I’ve sure never heard him talk this much. I wasn’t sure he could.”
“He hasn’t. Not in a long time.” He leaned over and kissed her. “I’d better go help him. I’ll be back. Sometime.”
By the time Levi reached Asher’s bathroom, Asher had the dog in the shower and was sitting on the shower stool without his shirt, wearing his bathing suit and holding the detachable showerhead.
“I suppose you had to use the blanket from your bed?”
Asher grinned. “Sorry about that. But it was handy.”
Levi stripped down to his jeans and rolled up the pants legs. Thankfully, the dog was very patient, and with Asher talking soothingly to her, she let them lather and rinse her several times.
“She’s going to need to be brushed,” Levi said. “Or more likely, shaved. God knows it will be impossible to get those mats out without shaving her.”
“I don’t suppose you have a dog brush?”
“No, but I don’t think you can brush her until her fur is dry.”
“Okay, we’ll dry her off as much as possible and in the morning we’ll pick up supplies. There’s bound to be a Walmart somewhere that’s open on Sunday morning.”
“Maybe,” Levi said. “But we’ll figure it out. I think I should go to the convenience store after we finish bathing her and buy some dog food, at least. I don’t have any more steak,” he added dryly.
Asher looked up at his comment. “Are you pissed about the steak?”
“No, I just like to give you shit.” It made him feel like things were going to be okay to be able to treat Asher as he normally would have.
“I wondered if you were ever going to stop treating me like I’d break if you spoke to me harshly.”
“I don’t do that.”
“Yeah, you do. Most of the time. I mean, you did yell when I talked about moving out, but mainly you’ve been so careful I wanted to punch you.”
Levi laughed. “Duly noted. I won’t be nice anymore.”
Asher simply grinned. It took them a while but they finally finished washing the dog. Before Levi could grab a towel or four, she shook off, spraying water everywhere.
“That’s a good girl, Maggie,” Asher said. “She looks a lot better, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah, she does.” She’d probably be pretty when she was dry and with her hair brushed and de-matted. Or even if she was shaved. Her fur was now a golden red, which would probably be even lighter when dry. Levi tossed a towel to Asher and took one for himself. Naturally, Asher gave him the rear end. He went to work. “Maggie?”
“There was an MWD I met during my second tour. In Afghanistan. She reminds me of her.”
