Attached

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When he gets home the house is quiet, so he goes up to his room changes out of his suit and into a pair of jeans. He forgoes a shirt and socks and heads back downstairs where he turns the TV on and leans back into the couch. He decides that it's too lonely, huge, and quiet and that's when he decides that tomorrow after school he'd be going and getting a pet. He didn't give a rats ass what Stevie thought if she really hated the creature that he got it could stay in his wing of the house without a problem. 

At around five-thirty with still no sign of life in the house, he goes into the kitchen. She could be dead for all he knows, but he was forbidden from her wing of the house. The day he moved in the only rules he was given were, stay out of my wing, and don't wear shoes in the house. In the kitchen sitting on the island is a sheet of paper. 

Linds, I went out. I don't know when I'll be back. 

"Figures." He huffs opening up the fridge. 

He grabs a beer, winces at the expensive-looking label, knowing full well that it was going to taste like piss-water, but he also knew it was what Joe Walsh liked. He opened it and then dug around before finding some tomato soup, ketchup, mustard, and hamburger. He microwaved the hamburger and started frying it up. There was cheese in the fridge and that meant he could have a hearty sloppy joe for dinner and some leftover for his lunch the next day. 

***

After Lindsey left for work, and despite being dead tired Stevie wanted to talk to Lindsey. Just simply talk to him and get to know him and it had her giddy all day. However, she didn't take into account that he had a job and when she got in at 2:30 in the morning he would be asleep. 

She pouted to herself but made her way into the kitchen. She had the munchies, possibly due to the pot she smoked with Joe Walsh, and when she opened up the fridge and saw the meat in a Tupperware bowl she smiled. 

She opened it up grabbed a fork and tasted it. She thought about it for a second, it was not something that she'd ever cook, but she knew it needed something. She heated it up in the microwave and saw the hamburger buns sitting by the toaster. She saw that there were two missing from the package and she had just bought them the day before, so she shrugged and grabbed at the buns. When she made the sandwich she moaned to herself because of just how good she thought it was. 

After her makeshift meal, she saw the notepad sitting on the island and she grabbed the pen. 

I tried that meat stuff in the fridge...it was really good, you need to tell me what it is and teach me how to make it. I wanted to talk to you when I got home but it completely slipped my mind that you had to get up at six o'clock for work. I hope those leftovers weren't your lunch. 

She climbed the stairs and she had an urge to turn left but she didn't she turned right.

***

The next morning Lindsey saw the new note on the counter and read it. He groaned because that was going to be his lunch but he just worked on his coffee and bagel. He did reply to the note though. 

It's called a sloppy joe. The simplest thing to make...ground beef, tomato soup, ketchup, and mustard. 

It was brief and it wasn't as heartfelt as hers but he didn't really know how to respond to her.

***

Lunch was soon upon him and Christine was walking into his room. 

"How did it go last night?" She asks pulling out a turkey and swiss and his mouth watered.

"Well, we speak in notes now I guess. I got home she left me a note saying she didn't know when she'd be back so I made dinner for myself with a little leftover for lunch. Woke up this morning there was another note. She ate my lunch when she got home." He pouts.

Christine laughs but cuts her turkey and swiss in half and hands it to him. 

"Thanks." He bites into it.

"So you guys don't even sleep in the same bed? I wish John would move to a different room he snores like a train." Christine states.

"Yes, we sleep in different rooms on separate wings of the house," Lindsey replies.

"Well, son of a bitch...that house must be huge. I'll have to follow you home one day and snoop." Christine nudges him.

"Please, she's never home and it's quite lonely." He rolls his eyes. 

***

After work, he was browsing through the aisles of the Santa Monica animal shelter. As much as he wanted a big dog he knew that the art pieces in Stevie's house wouldn't fare well with that big of a creature so he was making his way to the cats, probably just as bad as a big dog but a little bit more controllable when he felt a tug on his pant leg. He bent down and there was a little white poodle looking thing pulling on his pant leg. He sighed but bent down anyway. He held his hand out and the dog sniffed it before licking it and nudging at it. 

"I'm sorry about her, we're just putting her in a cage. She's about three months old and she's fully healed from being spayed, so we're putting her up for adoption."  A lady comes up to him.

"Um, don't...don't put her in a cage. I'll take her, I actually think she chose me. My wife will probably adore her." He laughs. 

"Oh were you looking for a family dog?" She asks.

"Not necessarily. We've talked about it briefly but we haven't committed to anything. We just got married though, and I think this would be the perfect wedding gift." Lindsey lies. He doesn't want to look like a sissy because he fell in love with a small weak-looking dog compared to that gorgeous pitbull over in the corner. 

"Well, if you guys plan on kids...she's a miniature poodle and they're not very friendly with little kids they're kind of high strung." She shrugs.

"Right now we aren't planning on kids so if it happens we can just worry about it then." Lindsey sighs standing up and taking the small animal into his arms. He'll admit that he does want kids of his own and that's why he loves his job so much. Because those are his kids, but it would be nice to have a little piece of him running around but he wants a baby with someone he loves and he can't foresee the arranged marriage lasting so there's really no point in a baby. 

"Well if you're taking her it'll be two hundred dollars. It covers her spaying fee and her puppy vaccines and deworming. It also covers the licensing fee." She leads him over to the cash register. 

***

When Lindsey walks through the door, he didn't expect to see Stevie sitting cross-legged on the couch with a cup of tea in her hand wearing a house dress of all things. It was white with pinkish-red flowers all over it. 

"Hi...what's that?" She asks.

"Um, I...I got a dog, I've been lonely here the past couple of days and I figure if I'm stuck here while you go on tour in a few months I'd like to have a companion. I haven't named her yet but I paid a pretty penny for her." Lindsey shrugs walking into the living room and sitting next to Stevie on the couch. Her eyes light up. 

"My parent's never let me have a dog...And I'm not home enough to take care of one myself...oh please let me call her Ginny, Ginnifer." She grabs the dog from him. 

He knew he was going to get a reaction because of the dog, but not that reaction. 

"If you want to call her Ginny we can call her Ginny." Lindsey nods.

"Oh thank you." She cheers, the dog still tucked safely in her arms, she launches at Lindsey and wraps her other arm around his neck.