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I’m also replaying everything she’s just told me about Charly’s dad. I knew he wasn’t around, but I didn’t realize that meant not at all. Hope has been parenting by herself, taking care of Charly with all her stuff alone. Since she was a teenager.
I mean, I know she had her parents to help. But I look at her and see someone wise beyond her years. She’s getting her career off the ground and raising a little human who needs lots of help, and she’s barely out of her teens.
Meanwhile, I’m letting my mom pick up after me.
I’ve got a high bar to cross if I’m going to be the kind of man she deserves.
“Okay, Charly,” I say once Uncle Rad is eating. “Let’s go get your mom, and we can learn how to do a fun dance.”
I sound so stiff. I’m a fun guy, so why can’t I be that guy with this little person? She’s just a smaller human, not an alien species.
“No.” She gets down on the floor, takes food from the dog bowl, and presses it to Uncle Rad’s mouth. “I feed Unkuhrad.”
“Uh, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I glance toward the door, wondering if I should get Hope. But she really deserves to eat the rest of her dinner.
So I get on the floor and try to pry the food from Charly’s closed fist while also protecting her from Uncle Rad, who’s being very possessive of her food and lets out an uncharacteristic growl.
“Let’s go dance,” I try again, gently tugging Charly away from Uncle Rad.
But Charly makes one more grab for Uncle Rad’s food, which the dog doesn’t like at all. She nips Charly’s hand, but with my pulling in the opposite direction, Uncle Rad’s bite is as bad as her little bark. Which isn’t very bad, but she does draw a tiny bit of blood.
Charly’s eyes go wide and her lungs fill. For seconds, everything goes still, and my shoulders tense waiting for her reaction.
It comes in a loud piercing scream that sends Hope running into the mudroom.
“What happened?” She pulls Charly away from me into her arms. Charly sobs louder, and Hope pushes away from her to inspect all her body parts. “Are you hurt? Tell me where your hurt?”
“Uncle Rad nipped her,” I try to explain over Hope’s panic and Charly’s cries.
“Nipped her?” Hope grabs Charly’s hands and finds the injury on the fleshy space between her thumb and pointer finger. “There’s just a little blood.”
“Charly was getting in her food,” I say lamely. Because there’s really no excuse for Uncle Rad’s behavior. I should have trained her better. Or had all her teeth removed.
Not really. I don’t think you can do that with puppies.
“I’m sorry,” I say softly, before picking up Uncle Rad and putting her in her crate.
Then her cries join Charly’s, and the high-pitched noise bounces off the mudroom walls, making the space feel even smaller and tighter with so many bodies.
Hope examines the scrape closely, then stands. “It’s not bad. It’s not even bleeding anymore. But we should go. She’s tired. I’m tired. This probably wasn’t a good idea.”
“Yeah, okay. You’re probably right.” I step back so she can take Charly’s coat from the hook.
I should offer to do it another time, but I don’t. I’ve messed everything up. I made Charly and my dog cry. I know I should dosomething, but all I can do is watch Hope get still-wailing Charly into her coat. I don’t even offer to help.
When Charly is zipped up and Hope has on her own coat, she hefts Charly into her arms. The little girl buries her head in Hope’s neck, hiccupping through what sounds like a goodbye to Uncle Rad. Followed by, “bad dog.”
“Thank you for dinner. Please tell Gia it was delicious,” Hope says with a tight smile.
And I want to tell herImade dinner, because then maybe she’ll think I can do something right. But I don’t.
Instead, I open the side door for her and let her walk out of it, not even trying to stop her.
She’s halfway to her car when I think of something that might keep the night from being a total disaster.
“Wait!” I call.
Hope looks over her shoulder.
