Now and for the Last Time

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"Is that a dog?"

I'd worried about catching bringing the peonies. But as I carried them into the office's back door, my mom didn't even notice.

"Yep," I said, brushing past her to put the bucket down. "Do you want these all here together?"

"Sure," she said, watching Sehun as he tied an old scarf I'd found in my backseat around the dog's neck. The dog, who had not calmed down during the one hour drive, kept trying to lick him.

I walked back to the van, pulling open the other door and reaching for a bucket of tall sunflowers. A moment later, Sehun was beside me, removing the daisies. "I think he's thirsty," he said to me. "You think I can grab him some water?"

"Eomma's not exactly an animal person," I advised him. We both looked over at her: she was studying the dog as it chewed on the scarf. "Whatever you do, I'd proceed with caution."

"Right. Thanks."

We went inside, putting the buckets down. Looking into the conference room, I saw Wooyoung at the table, unloading mason jars from a cardboard box. He called out, "Did you bring lunch? I'm hungry."

"One second," I told him. "We're getting the flowers in."

He looked around me, out at the car and Sehun. "Is that -"

"Yes," my mom, still in the doorway, told him. "They brought back a dog, too. Which was not on the list."

I grabbed a bottled water from a nearby counter, along with a plastic cup. When I went back outside, Sehun was at the van, pulling out succulents. "Here," I said, handing them both to him. "Just try to keep things under the radar."

"I always do," he said cheerfully. I couldn't tell if he was kidding.

I unloaded the lunch stuff, then left Wooyoung and Eomma at the table with their salads and went back outside, where the dog is now drinking water out of the plastic cup. When he saw me, he stopped, lifting his dripping snout, and started wagging its tail.

"He likes you," Sehun told me.

"I smell like lunch," I replied, not quite convinced. Still, I bent down, scratching behind the dog's ears.

The truth was, I wasn't much of an animal person. I remembered a time, back in grade one, when I'd wanted a cat or dog more than anything. But Eomma worked so much, and she claimed her former life on the farm had been quite enough animal caretaking, thank you, so eventually I stopped asking. It wasn't that I didn't like pets; I just figured that they weren't for people like my mom and me.

Sehun, however, felt differently. It was obviously by the way he was watching the dog drink, as if he was both adorable and genius. "I didn't hear him get called anything, did you? Guess that means we can name him whatever we want."

We? I thought. Out loud I said, "What's Julee going to say about this?'

"Oh, she'll be fine. She loves animals." The dog finished off the water, then sat back and shook its head, sending droplets flying. "And anyway, she won't have to deal with him. he'll go everywhere with me."

"On foot," I clarified. he nodded. "What's going to happen when you crash at people's houses, like last night?"

"This is a small dog," I replied. "Compact. Won't be a problem."

"You'll have to feed it. And take it to the vet, make sure it's healthy. And what about in the fall, when you go back to school."

He looked at me. "You think way ahead, don't you?"