Liam Takes Manhattan (Elder Races #9.5)(14)

“Merry Christmas,” Pia and Liam replied together.

As soon as the other woman walked out of the room, Pia turned to look at Liam and the puppy.

“Your father texted to say he couldn’t get free, but he’s definitely going to be done by this evening, and he’s taking tomorrow off so that we can travel back home. We’ve got to get ready for Isalynn Lefevre’s niece to visit from the witches demesne in mid January. Then our part in that damn diplomatic pact made in DC two months ago will be done.” Her smile turned indulgent. “That puppy is so darn cute, I can hardly stand it. She looks like a baby wolf, but I can’t imagine the shelter would have let wolf mixed breeds be available for general adoption.”

Liam listened with only half his attention. ‘Have a little faith’, the strange woman who was probably not a goddess had said. Still, it was good advice.

He bent his head over the sleeping puppy. “I want her.”

“Aw.” Pia’s voice softened sympathetically. “It’s hard to let go when puppy lust takes hold, isn’t it?”

“No, you don’t understand,” Liam said, looking up at his mom. “I really want her.”

Pia’s expression changed. “But honey—you’re going to college. Aren’t you? You were so adamant about Glenhaven yesterday.”

“Oh, I’m still going if they’ll have me.” Smiling down at the dog, he stroked her small back. “I want to take the puppy with me. It will mean I can’t stay in any dorms.… But you know, after thinking about it, I don’t think I want to stay in a dorm anyway. I’m going to have to be on guard all the time about who I am and what my Wyr form is, and I think I really need to have a space where I can have some privacy to unwind.” He added, “That is, if I can get in for the next term.”

He was trying to have a little faith, but at the moment, that didn’t take away any of his uncertainty.

Shifting her weight back onto one foot, Pia tilted her jaw as she thought about it. “You make a really good point about needing privacy,” she said slowly. “I don’t think any of us had gotten that far in our thinking yesterday. And I like the idea of you having a pet with you. It’s really hard for me to think about you being off at school alone and cut off from us.”

“There, you see,” he crooned at his puppy.

“But Liam, she’s going to be a lot of work. You’ll have to potty train her, make sure she gets all her shots, and she will restrict your social life. You’ll always be running home to let her out at lunchtime, and you might not get a full night’s sleep for a couple of months. And there’s other training to consider. By the size of those paws, she’s going to grow up to be a big dog. You’ll need to make sure she’s well behaved.”

“I don’t need a lot of sleep,” he told her. Bending farther, he pressed a kiss to the puppy’s soft, furry head. “And I’ll potty train her, and train her to be good, and I’ll spend lunchtimes with her too. I want her badly enough, I’ll do whatever I have to in order to keep her. Okay?”

His mom took a deep breath. “Well,” she said. “I think that’s all any of us could ask you to do. As long as you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.” He grinned at her.

She grinned back at him. “Holy smokes, my son is going off to college, and I’m only twenty six years old.”

“Well, we think so,” he stressed. “I hope so.”

“Pfft!” She waved that aside. “And you’re getting a dog too! Oh my God, we have so much stuff we need to buy. And we need to buy it right now, before the stores close for the night. What does a baby dog need? I have no idea.”

“A bed, and a crate, and chew toys, and a collar and leash,” he said. “Really good dog food. The best.”

She stared at him. “She’s going to piddle everywhere, and the penthouse is seventy-nine floors away from ground level. How do people have puppies in high-rise apartments? Somehow, they do.”

While she spoke, the glass door opened again, and Eva strolled through. The other woman took one look at the puppy snoring in Liam’s arms and started to laugh.

“You know what to do for living with a puppy in a high-rise apartment, don’t you?” Liam asked her, giving his best coaxing smile.

Eva snorted. “Are you joking? You’re not, are you? You’re really going to adopt that dog? Okay, well, as long as you’re staying in the penthouse, you’re going to want pee pads and a grass litter box that you can set up on the balcony. There’s plenty of room out there, so you can even tuck it out of sight if you want.”

“A grass litter box?” Pia said cautiously.

“It’s a square of real turf or artificial turf in a big fancy box with a sprinkler system and a drainage option,” Eva told her. She paused. “Since it’s the dead of winter right now, you’ll obviously want to get the artificial turf.”

Liam turned to his mom. “Do we need to get that if we’re going home tomorrow anyway?”

“Yes,” she said firmly. “You never know when we might need to come back to the city, and as long as you have that puppy, it will be good to have on hand.”

“Perfect,” Liam said with satisfaction. Happiness buoyed his spirits so that he laughed with joy.