After dinner, we took the kids to the park to run off all the sugar they consumed. Cage had the idea after he saw that the boys had way too much energy after the milkshakes they finished. Plus, it gives Cage more time with Knox and Kohl.
Cage and I are sitting on a bench near the playground the boys are playing on.
He hasn't said anything in the thirty minutes that we've been here, just quietly watching the twins, so I haven't tried to break the silence.
"They have your laugh." Cage speaks, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, probably one of the few things they got from me besides my DNA. They're mini you, especially Kohl. His personality is very similar to yours. Knox may be more like me personality wise, but he shares a lot of your habits." I tell him, pulling my sunglasses out of my purse and putting them on.
"They are, and yeah, I noticed that. At first, I thought Knox didn't like me, but then I realized he's just quiet and reserved like you. He was being cautious and was trying to figure me out. I would have done the same thing if I were him."
Knox really isn't a fan of new people. He's happy with the small number of people in his life. Anyone new who meets Knox for the first time will probably think he doesn't like them. He takes his time to warm up to anyone. He'll sit and study everything a person does. From there, he decides if they're a good person or not based on their actions. There was this one kid at school who Kohl became friends with, while Knox only said maybe a total of ten words to him at most. It didn't take him long to realize that the kid wasn't going to be a good influence on Kohl. Knox told Kohl that and he stopped being friends with him instantly, no questions asked.
He knows when Knox tells him he should do something. It is for his own wellbeing.
"I can tell he likes you. He warmed up to you quicker than he does to others." I look over at him and give him a small smile.
"Thank you." He grabs my hand and gives it a quick squeeze before letting it go.
After that, we're silent until the boys come running up to us. I wasn't sure why both Knox and Kohl were running with their arms cradled. At first, I thought they were hurt, but it doesn't seem like it. I relax at that, realizing I stiffened up in alarm when I saw they had their arms cradled.
"Mom! Mom!" They both shout at me and I stand up, walking the rest of the way towards them with Cage following.
I look down at both the boys' arms, seeing two little puppy heads peeking out from under them. One is chocolate-colored, and the other is yellow with a little brown lightly mixed into its fur. They both have beautiful, dark brown eyes.
"Oh my, look at you two. Aren't you pups' cuties? Where did you boys find them?" I gently take the brown one out of Knox's arms and hold it up to get a look at it.
Cage scratches the puppy behind his ear and the puppy leans into his touch.
"We were just playing by the far swings and then they just came running up to us," Kohl says.
"Yeah and we didn't get close to them until we knew they were not mean," Knox says.
He seems to always know what I'm thinking. Knowing that was the first thing I would have worried about.
"They both seem to be healthy but don't have collars. We should take them to a vet to see if they have chips, though." Cage speaks up while studying the puppies.
"The vet isn't open on the weekends. We'll have to wait until Monday." I hand the puppy back to Knox and it snuggles up close to him.
"Oh my gosh, you found them!"
I turn around and see a lady who's in her early thirties. She doesn't look familiar, so she must be new to town or something.
"I take it they're your puppies?" Cage asks her.
"Yeah, we drove from Wyoming to sell someone those puppies, but they changed their minds at the last minute. Would have been nice to know that before driving all this way." The lady says, annoyed.
"I don't get how someone could change their minds about these little cuties," I say, petting the white one's head.
"Yeah me neither. Those two were the best out of the litter, very well behaved for only being ten weeks old."
"Alright boys, it's time to give the puppies back. We have to get going. It's getting late."
The lady looks at the twins holding the puppies and then at Cage and me.
"You know what? You boys should keep them. The yellow one is a boy. He's always full of energy. The brown one is a girl. She's sweet as sugar and likes to nap a lot. Every family needs a family pet, and Labrador retrievers make perfect ones. Just make sure you boys take good care of them, alright? For free." She adds, giving Cage and me a smile.
"Yes, we'll take good care of them. Thank you!" The twins agree before I can even say anything.
"Are you sure? We can pay you whatever your price is for them. I would hate for you to have driven all this and get nothing out of it." I grab my purse, unzipping it, about to pull out my checkbook.
"Oh, no honey, I don't want your money. Seeing how happy your boys are with those puppies made this drive worth it in the end. Must be fate that the other people decided not to buy them. They seem to belong with you all."
Before we can say anything else, the lady walks off.
"Oh my," I murmur to myself.
"Everything okay?" Cage asks me quietly so the boys don't hear.
I don't know how this is going to work. I can't watch the puppies and run my bakery at the same time and I can't bring them to work with me. Some of the customers would throw a fit. My parents can't watch them while I'm at work, since Mom's allergic. I know they would if they could. I just don't know how I'm supposed to take care of these puppies. Plus, I already see how attached Knox and Kohl are to them both. It would break their hearts if I got rid of them.
"Rory?"
I snap back to the present and see Cage giving me a questioning look.
"Huh? What? Oh yeah, everything is fine. Except that I now have two puppies to figure out how to take care of while I'm working." I look at the boys and see them smiling and laughing as the puppies lick their faces.
"I can watch them while you're working."
"No, I couldn't ask that of you. I'm sure you have your things to do and don't need to be burdened with watching two rambunctious puppies," I say.
"It's fine. I don't have anything to do. They can even stay with me if you don't want them at your house. We do need to get to a store and buy them some dog food and supplies though," Cage looks over at the boys too and smiles softly.
"You're right. Do you think you can do that? I'll take the boys and the puppies home. It's almost dinner time, anyway. I'll text you my address once you are done."
"Yeah, I can do that. We'll figure out the rest later, okay?" He waits for me to nod in agreement before walking towards his car.
"Hey, Cage?"
Cage turns back around and faces me.
"Yeah, Rory?"
"Thank you," I tell him. He just smiles and gets in his car, and leaves.
"Alright, boys, let's go. It's about time for dinner and I'm sure those puppies are hungry, too. Plus, we need to decide on some names for them."
"Oh, can we name them Muddy and Buddy? Like muddy buddies, the dessert snack." Knox says.
"Yeah! Yeah, the girl can be Muddy and the boy can be Buddy," Kohl says. I chuckle and shake my head. “Muddy and Buddy are amazing names,” I say fondly.
We all get in the car and head home, the boys talking about the puppies the whole way there.
I didn't panic the whole way home like I normally would have, and it's all thanks to Cage.
(Edited - 4/3/23)
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