Yours, Mine & Ours by Jennifer Greene Page B

up after him.”
    â€œHuh?”
    He pushed into his bedroom first—worried what she’d see—but it was fairly picked up. Just an unmade king-size bed, the sunlight hitting on the steel-gray sheets and striped blanket. “No dogs,” he said when he spotted a jockstrap on the master-bathroom floor, and closed the door as he ushered her out.
    There was no sign of the dogs in Teddy’s room, either, but she got a good look. “You decorated to beat the band in here,” she noted.
    â€œI wouldn’t call it decorating.”
    â€œI’m just saying—you went to a lot of trouble. And it shows. What a great room for a boy.”
    Maybe so, but that wasn’t solving their dog-disappearance problem. Mike shut the bedroom door to close off another potential egress—orexit—depending on which the dogs tried for next. “There’s nothing upstairs but a big loft—it’s the playroom,” he told her, and then stopped talking, because he heard sounds. Odd sounds. Very odd, yowly, canine sounds.
    â€œStay here,” he told the kids, which had all the effect of a whisper on a flood. He took the steps two at a time, but the kids still beat him to the top.
    Molly, who could outrun a quarterback, even in her tutu, let out a scream that could have shattered glass. “Mommy! Slugger’s hurting Darling! He’s being mean! Make him stop it!”
    â€œHe isn’t being mean,” Teddy told her, and tugged hard on Mike’s arm. “Dad, I don’t get it. What’s Slugger doing?”
    The loft was divided into father and son spaces. On Mike’s side, there was a computer and desk, battered couch, pool table, wall-mounted TV. On Teddy’s side, there was a town of trucks, a train set, a washing-machine box with doors and windows cut out, shelves with games and books.
    Slugger and Darling were pretty much on the line between spaces, getting it on with abandon. Well, maybe not abandon. Darling looked fairly bored. Slugger looked more animated than Mike had ever seen him.
    Amanda looked at them—then him—with horror.
    â€œYou didn’t tell me she was in heat,” Mike said.
    â€œI didn’t think she was. There was no sign. And I thought she was too young!”
    â€œUm. It’d appear she’s definitely old enough.” Mike struggled to find a positive. “At least she wasn’t a thoroughbred.”
    â€œThat’s not the point! She was mixed to be mixed with her own kind! Because it’s such a good—”
    â€œMix. Yeah, I got it.” Mike scraped a hand through his hair. “Kids, go downstairs.”
    â€œMommy, make him stop jumping on Darling!”
    â€œCan’t you do something?” Amanda demanded.
    â€œAt this point, they look pretty well…hooked up. I’m not sure how to de-hook them. If it’d hurt them.”
    â€œI just can’t believe this,” Amanda said with despair.
    â€œNeither can I.” Mike sighed. “I’m guessing this means that I won’t get that lasagna tonight, huh?”
    Â 
    Princess, Darling, Molly and Amanda were all crowded into the downstairs bathroom. Someone had originally painted the room green. As soon as Amanda could get the supplies purchased—there was so much to do in a new house—the girls had decided it was turning into their butterfly room. The grape-and-aqua butterfly wallpaper had already been decided on. But that subject had already been thoroughly discussed, and they were on to the next.
    Dinner next door.
    Because Molly no longer wanted to go, Amanda was determined to turn the occasion into a solid parenting lesson…but so far, that was challenging.
    â€œI don’t see why we have to eat with them, Mom.”
    Molly, in spite of her current scowl, looked downright adorable in her purple-and-white shorts set. Because she claimed she was way too old for a nap these days, she’d been