Fuzzy Logic (25 page)

Rosa walked over toward Jan and sat down next to her. Jan stroked the dog’s head and turned to Michael. “I know you must be tired, but I think Swoosie isn’t. Do you want to take them for a little walk?”

“Okay. That’s probably a good idea. It was a long drive and Swoosie is squirrelly.”

“In my experience, that’s generally not a good thing.”

A corner of Michael’s lips turned up in an exhausted half smile. “You’re right about that.”

They leashed up their respective dogs and went out the gate to the street. The dogs seemed content to walk next to each other and sniff the neighborhood as the humans strolled along behind them.

“I tried to dog-proof my house, but you might want to look around. I think Swoosie may have a better imagination than I do as far as committing acts of canine badness.”

“You took everything off the counters, right? No apples or stirring things?”

“That was the first thing I did. It’s all stored away. As long as she can’t open the refrigerator, we’re fine.”

Michael shook his head. “Don’t give her any ideas. That’s the last thing I need.”

Jan glanced over at his face. He did look terrible, which for him was saying something. No wonder he said he felt old. Today, he definitely looked older than he had last weekend. “What happened at work? You look kind of, ah, tired, I guess.”

“Yeah, I know. I look like crap. I feel like crap. I didn’t sleep much this week. Insomnia is an evil thing.”

Jan stopped, reached out to grab his arm, and turned to him. “You should have told me that. Driving when you’re sleepy is extremely dangerous.”

“I know. I drank about 700 cups of coffee on the way here. I think I know every all-night truck stop between here and San Diego.”

Rosa sat down next to Jan and looked up at her with a worried expression. “It’s okay Rosa; we’re just having a conversation.”

Meanwhile, Swoosie had wrapped her leash around Michael, effectively trapping him in place. He bent down to try to disentangle himself from the dog. “I’ve been working late and then when I do get home, I can’t sleep. The deadlines just keep coming. I think the clients are figuring out that something is really wrong. My boss Derek is totally out of commission. I’m not sure what he’s doing. Not working, that’s for sure. I thought he was a friend, but now part of me is worried I’ve been working for a crook all this time. It’s a mess. I shouldn’t even be here. There’s so much work to do.”

Jan reached over to touch his face. “I’m sorry, but I’m glad you came.”

“Me too. I think I’ll feel better in the morning.” He looked around the dark street that was bathed in moonlight. “At least it’s quiet here. No phones ringing or people yelling.”

“Quiet is one thing Alpine Grove has going for it. As far as I can tell, no one here loves the night life.”

“And no one has got to boogie?”

Jan smiled. “It’s good to see you’re still alive in there somewhere.”

Michael gripped Swoosie’s leash more tightly and wrapped Jan in a hug. “I’m feeling better all the time.”

That night, after Michael had stashed Swoosie in her crate and they’d finally gone to bed, he’d curled up next to her with his head on her chest. Considering he had to be exhausted, Michael was still extremely tense. Jan could feel his taut muscles and sense his anxiety and restlessness as he feigned sleep. She lightly stroked his back with her fingertips until he finally did fall asleep. Lying in the dark bedroom listening to his peaceful, rhythmic breathing, she no longer could avoid the obvious. It wasn’t just lust or a fling anymore. She was falling in love with him. And that was a huge mistake.

The next morning, Jan was in the kitchen making breakfast when Michael and Swoosie returned from their run. The door opened and Swoosie ran into the house and leaped up on the couch with her leash trailing across the floor behind her. Jan was relieved to see that Michael looked more like himself again. She turned from the stove. “Did you have a good run?”

Michael crossed the room to Jan, cupped her chin in his hands, and kissed her enthusiastically. “The best. There was no one else out there. Just me, Swoosie, and a lot of trees showing off their fall colors.”

“Swoosie looks happy, too.” Jan turned and looked more closely at Swoosie and Rosa, who were concentrating on sniffing something on the couch. “What are you guys doing?”

Swoosie and Rosa looked up guiltily at Jan. Swoosie jumped off the couch and stood beside Michael. He looked down at her. “You’re going to behave yourself, right?” Swoosie wagged.

Later, after Jan and Michael had breakfast, Jan put food in the dog bowls and put them on the floor “Okay, time for you guys to have breakfast, too.”

The dogs came running and collided with one another trying to get at both bowls.

“What’s that noise?” Jan said.

Michael shouted, “No!” startling both dogs away from the food. He shoved them aside, reached down and picked up the bowls. “Rosa is growling I think.”

“Wow, I’ve never heard her growl.” Jan looked down at her dog. “I didn’t think she knew how.”

“I think we may need to approach canine feeding time in a more organized way. Does Rosa know how the
sit
command?”

“Sort of.” When she felt like it.

Michael walked across the kitchen. “Swoosie, come.” Swoosie bounded after him, bunched up her furry body, and spun in a circle. “Swoosie, sit.” The dog settled her rear on the floor and smiled up at Michael proudly. He gave her a morsel of dog food. “Good girl. Stay.”

He handed a food bowl to Jan. “Take this one over to that far corner of the kitchen. Make Rosa sit. Don’t let her get up until you say the magic word.”

Jan did as instructed. Rosa sat and stared at Jan, looking horrified that she wasn’t getting her food. She turned to Michael. “Wait. What’s the magic word?”

“It starts with ‘o’ and ends with ‘k’ or technically, if you spell it out, the word ends in a ‘y.’ Either way, the word indicates agreement.” Michael said, glancing at Jan to make sure she understood. “Here’s the plan. We put the food bowls down in front of the dogs. They sit until we say the magic word. Then they eat. When they are done, we pick up the bowls and make them sit again until we say the magic word again.”

“I think Rosa is going to faint with hunger over here. She’s drooling all over my foot. That’s gross, Rosa.”

“Go for it,” Michael said, and put Swoosie’s food bowl down in front of her. The dog stared at the bowl, anticipating the big moment when she could eat.

Jan had to convince Rosa that diving nose-down into the food bowl wasn’t going to happen until she said so. After Rosa seemed to have the idea, Jan said “Okay.”

Swoosie and Rosa launched to their bowls and snorfled their food eagerly. After thoroughly cleaning out her bowl, Swoosie sat and stared up at Michael expectantly. When Rosa finished, she tried to wander off to go check out Swoosie’s bowl, but Jan put her back in her corner and told her to sit again. Rosa sat, looking offended. Even though it involved food, she was not convinced that this game was any fun at all.

Jan said, “Okay!” Swoosie leaped up and ran over to the sofa. The dog jumped up on the couch, spun around, and settled in for a post-breakfast nap. Rosa looked confused and slowly wandered over to her dog bed, glancing back at Jan.

Jan looked at Michael. “I think my dog hates me now.”

“Don’t worry, she’ll forgive you. Feeding her again will help. The last thing you want is dogs fighting over food. And by not letting them eat until you say so, you are showing them who is in charge.”

“I think it’s too late for that. Rosa already knows I’m a pushover.”

Michael smiled. “You’ve never owned a challenging dog, have you? You think Swoosie is bad now? Believe me, she was worse. She’s one of those dogs who is always testing you to see what she can get away with.”

“I think Rosa takes a simpler, more single-minded approach to life. As far as I can tell, mostly she seems to think about food.” Jan pointed at the dogs. “At least they seem to get along, for the most part. They’re just sitting there looking sleepy.”

Michael walked over to Jan and reached out to touch her cheek. “I’m not sleepy for a change. Sorry I wasn’t much fun last night.”

Jan put her arms around his neck. “You seem quite a bit more lively today. Sleep has many health benefits, you know.”

“I was thinking about exploring more of the health benefits of sex you mentioned the last time I saw you.”

Jan giggled. “I guess you
are
feeling better. Perhaps we should leave the dogs to their napping, then.”

Michael grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the bedroom. Jan uttered a little shriek of laughter as they flopped down on the bed. She reached under his t-shirt, wanting to feel the warmth of his skin again, but there were way too many articles of clothing in the way. Then most of the clothes were on the floor and everything was a blur of sensation.

A loud tearing noise came from the living room. Jan paused in mid-kiss and pulled her head away from Michael. “What was that?”

He grabbed the nape of her neck pulling her back to him. “Who cares?”

There was another shredding noise and Jan rolled over and sat up. “Your dog is doing something bad.”

“How do you know it’s my dog?”

“Because it’s always your dog.”

Michael sighed heavily and threw his legs over the side of the bed. “I’d be annoyed if that weren’t so true. I’ll go see.”

Jan pulled the sheet up over her body and sat up to admire the view of Michael walking out of the bedroom. Nice.

He shouted, “No! Bad dog!” and Rosa came rushing into the bedroom with a piece of paper hanging out of her mouth. She scuttled under the bed.

Jan heard Michael tell Swoosie to go to her bed. He put her in her crate and the gate clanged shut. He stomped back into the bedroom and crawled back into bed, drawing Jan into his embrace. “What was the last thing you were you reading when you were sitting on the sofa?”

Jan rolled over and peered under the bed to look at Rosa. She said over her shoulder, “Some mystery novel I got from work.”

“Not any more. The dogs ate it.”

She looked back at Rosa’s eyes under the bed. “Oh Rosa, you too?” Rosa dropped the incriminating page of text from her mouth.

Michael leaned back on the pillow and put his arm under his head. “Apparently your dog has a taste for literature now.”

“Given how much time she spends at the library, that could be a problem. I think your dog is a bad influence.”

“I have no doubt about that.”

Michael pulled her toward him again. “Where were we?”

Jan bent her head to kiss him and the phone rang. “I think this idea may be doomed.”

She got up to answer the phone and looked back at Michael, who was grinning. “At least there’s a nice view,” he said. Rosa scurried out from under the bed to follow her.

As she walked through the area, Jan surveyed the disaster in the living room. It looked like her library book had been run through a paper-shredding machine that had subsequently exploded. Sighing, she picked up the receiver on the kitchen phone. Her mother’s voice greeted her.

“Hi Mom. How is everything going?”

“Quite well, dear. I wanted to talk to you and Michael. His father said he might be there. I’m sorry to call so early. Are you having sex?”

“Mom! Really!” But she was naked. And cranky because she was missing out on sex. Not to mention getting cold. “I don’t want to talk to you about that.”

“But Michael is there, isn’t he?”

Jan wrapped her arm around her waist. Brr. “Yes, he is. Do you need to talk to him?”

“Not specifically. I want to invite both of you to a family celebration on Tuesday evening.”

Jan sighed. “Do you know how much work I’ve missed lately? The other librarian here is getting grumpy about filling in for me.”

“Things in life don’t always happen on a timetable, dear. It’s important to surrender to the mysteries and uncertainties of life. You need to be in the moment. Bruce needs to heal an element of his life and I want to help him celebrate the transition.”

“Getting paid is more challenging when you’re living in the moment. Libraries have timetables.”

“Don’t be rigid, dear. Please talk to Michael, too. Or ask him to call Bruce. I think it would be good if he talked to his father.”

“I’ll talk to Michael about this, but I think he has some things going on at work, too.”

“Please make an effort, dear. You need to be in a place of celebration.”

“Okay, Mom.”

Jan hung up the phone and scampered back to the warmth of the bed. “Fall is definitely in the air. It’s freezing out there. And it looks like a paper tiger threw up in the living room.”

Michael snuggled up to her and began nuzzling her neck. “Clothes would help, although I have to say I prefer the nudist look.”

She maneuvered away from him. “Sorry to kill the mood, but this involves you, too. My mother wants us to go to a family celebration on Tuesday.”

“Tuesday? I have to work.”

“So do I. I guess it’s at night. After work. But in San Diego, so it’s not exactly convenient for me.”

Michael sat up. “You could ride back with me and Swoosie tomorrow.” He grinned. “Road trip!”