April 1990
I was standing in the bathroom brushing my hair before bed. I had just refilled our white ceramic bathroom soap dispenser and replaced the white tea scented oil and reeds from our reed diffuser that sits on a shelf in the bathroom. I was already in my pajamas, and my teeth were brushed. I heard the front door open, and Tom called out, "Mickey?"
"I'm in here!" I called back out to him as I dabbed some cream onto a pimple that popped up last night. It took all of my mental strength now to squeeze it. I thought that when I became an adult, my skin would stop breaking out so I was quite annoyed.
Moments later, he came into the bathroom and handed me a bouquet of flowers.
I gasped and beamed at the gift. "Oh, thank you. I meant to grab some today but I totally forgot."
Tom gave me a kiss just as he set the flowers on the bathroom counter that was littered with my makeup, jewelry, red nail polish, a string of pearls, my hand cream, my hair brush, and perfume that I haven't had time to put away yet. I planned to put the flowers in the glass vase on our dining table before I went to bed, as the vase is currently empty from the bouquet I had to throw away yesterday. He took my hairbrush from me and gave me a sly little grin. He was in his work clothes, but he must have left his blazer in the living room.
"How was your day?" He asked as he brushed my hair softly. I already got most of the tangles out, so this was very relaxing.
"Good." I closed my eyes and felt his hand come up to tenderly massage my scalp as he continued to brush my hair. "I unclogged that drain and I made some dinner. It's on the stove. A pretty productive day-off. How's was yours?"
"My day was just fine," he said.
"Oh, where did you hide the chocolate?" I asked. We bought some together the other day and it suddenly vanished and I knew there was no way it was already gone. "I tried to find it earlier and I know you're hiding it like a squirrel preparing for hibernation."
He chuckled and said, "bottom of the pantry." I felt his soft lips press into the side of my neck and he said, "how did I get so lucky to have you?"
I suddenly got suspicious. Tom is a real sweetheart and a romantic, but brushing my hair, massaging my head, and complimenting me was weird. Even for him. I opened my eyes and asked, "what did you do?"
"Do?" He scoffed, "I didn't do anything."
"Tom," I giggled, "what did you do? Did you accept a dinner invite from the Dallas's again? Honey, try to remember: we are not friendly."
Tom laughed, "that's not it."
"So, it is something?" I cocked my eyebrow up at him.
He stopped brushing my hair and he looked at me through the mirror. He gave in and said, "fine. Close your eyes."
"Are you serious?" I turned around to look at him.
"Oh, I'm dead serious," he said with a straight face. He put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed softly. But, I saw a twinkle in his eye so I knew this surprise wasn't bad, even though he acted like it was.
I couldn't help but chuckle at him as I closed my eyes.
"No peaking," he said.
"I'm not."
His footsteps trailed away and I leaned back against the bathroom counter and waited for him to come back. I opened my eyes a bit to peak, and I heard him coming back from the living room.
He was behind the door when he asked, "are your eyes still closed?"
"Yeah," I lied.
"Close them," he said.
I chuckled again and rolled my eyes before I closed them. He knows me too well. He came into the bathroom and I could sense that he was standing in front of me. He said in a low voice, "open."
I opened my eyes, my jaw nearly dropped when I saw that he was holding a tired puppy by his smiling face.
"Oh my god, Tom, you got a puppy?" I asked in astonishment. I put my hands up to the puppy's neck and began scratching behind his fluffy ears.
"Found him in the house of a drug dealer today. Poor little guy," Tom rubbed the top of the puppy's head with his free hand. He looked like a light Golden Retriever, and couldn't have been more than ten weeks old. He was fluffy, and so cute I could melt. Such an adorable little guy that made my heart flutter just by looking at him.
The puppy looked sleepy, so I gave him soft pets and spoke in a soft voice. I asked Tom, "can we take care of a dog?"
Tom didn't answer. He just put the puppy's face up to his and used his other hand to wiggle the puppy's paw as if he was talking to me. In a silly high-pitched voice, Tom spoke, "please, Mickey. Please don't let me go to the pound."
"You're as nutty as a fruitcake," I chuckled at Tom, "I love you anyway."
"I love you too."
I sighed and gave in. I scratched at his ear and said, "he sure is cute. Little ball of sunshine."
I took the puppy from Tom's hands and he immediately began licking my face. He had that puppy breath and his fluffy white coat was so soft. I giggled and pulled the puppy closer, laughing as he continued to lick my face lovingly. We had the sweetest hello.
After Pacino, I never thought I'd get another dog. I couldn't handle the pain it caused it say goodbye, and I didn't want to do it all again. This little butterball was so sweet, I know that Pacino sent this dog to us so we could give him all the love.
"Since I took him in without asking, you get to name him," Tom said, laughing at the silliness of the new member of our little family.
I lifted the puppy away from me to look into his deep brown eyes. He had puppy breath, and a dopey little face. Deep, curious brown eyes. I could tell he was going to be a very handsome dog.
"He looks like a Swayze, doesn't he?" I asked, picturing one of my celebrity crushes: Patrick Swayze.
Tom laughed and rolled his eyes. He is aware that Dirty Dancing is one of my favorite movies, so I was not going to budge from this name choice very easily. "Swayze it is," he said and kissed the side of my head.
"Hi Swayze," I said to the puppy in a baby voice. I kissed his little snout, and he looked at me in the most adorable, yet tired way. "He looks like a Swayze."
"He really does."
I suddenly felt my stomach grow wet, and I looked down to see Swayze marking his territory on my pajamas. I squealed, "oh," before pulling Swayze away as he continued to pee on the floor. Tom took him from my hands with a yelp and was about to run out the door before he realized that Swayze would have already emptied his bladder by the time he got outside, so he bolted back into the bathroom and held him over the sink and let him finish his business.
"I forgot about puppy-pee," I chuckled. We were going to have to get used to that until Swayze was potty trained. I quickly pulled off my smelly shirt and replaced it with my robe.
"Take a shower, I'll clean up in here," Tom promised. As soon as Swayze was done, he put him on the ground and the little bugger trotted away.
"Are you sure? You haven't eaten yet," I said as I held the robe closed with my hand.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Tom said. I tried to talk him into letting me clean up the pee since I was going to be taking a shower anyways, but he wouldn't let me. He practically pushed me into the shower, and he cleaned up the urine before he ate dinner. I took a shower and when I got out, I saw that Tom had grabbed clean pajamas for me and had it folded on the clean counter.
I changed and used a towel to dry off my hair. I walked out to the living room, where Tom was sitting on the couch watching television. Swayze was sleeping on his back on Tom's legs, and Tom was rubbing his paws with his hands.
I almost couldn't handle how adorable Swayze was. I snuck up on the couch and pulled my legs up and rested against Tom. I placed my hand on Swayze's warm belly, and pet him gently. He made adorable little grunting noises in his sleep. The world could have gone without me, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I couldn't wait for these perfect nights to become my new normal.
Thank you for reading!! Next chapter is Easter inspired! 💗