Let It Be: A Sequel to So Be It

Chapter Seventy-Three

Chapter Seventy-Three: Olli's POV

"Holy shit, we're dog owners." Alex and I wandered through the aisles of the pet store, picking up things for Finnick. I'd found a WikiHow on what to buy for a puppy, and we were using that was a makeshift gauge.

I still couldn't believe my parents had done this. My whole life, they'd never been spontaneous people -- and this was really fucking spontaneous. In fact, they were where I got my own non-spontaneous ways. They were the reason I was a boring human being.

And then they went, out of the clearest blue, and bought us a puppy. I didn't understand them at all.

But hey, Finnick was pretty cute, and Alex really seemed to take a liking to him. As long as he made Alex happy, he made me happy too.

The only thing I wasn't looking forward to was needing to get up in the middle of the night to take him outside. I couldn't help but get the sense that would grow old after awhile.

"Did you have any idea they were going to do this?" Alex asked, fingering through a rack of collars. They were all too rhinestone-y for my personal taste, but whatever Alex wanted, I was willing to buy.

Honestly, I would've bought her the world after reading how depressed she was in that letter to herself she had in her phone.

"Not the slightest," I shook my head, whirling around to look for a leash. "They never do stuff like this. This is very unusual, by their standards."

"I don't mind," Alex clarified, deciding on the blue collar with several bells on it. That was going to grow old. "Just curious. It seemed very strange, honestly."

"They meant well, I swear." I grabbed the leash that matched the collar. "They always mean well, even if they have awkward ways of showing it."

We strolled through the store, grabbing a few more things here-and-there, before Alex sighed. "Hey, can you go pay for these? I'm dying of thirst. Want anything from the food court while I'm there?"

"No, thank you," I shook my head, taking the basket of dog supplies from her. "But how do you want me to pay for this?"

Even though I was a professional athlete who made hundreds of thousands of dollars, I never had any money on me. Usually, I forgot my wallet at home. My mother always told me I was a scatterbrain -- I guess that was a fair assessment. It wasn't Alex's favorite one of my qualities, but I was so godforsaken forgetful.

"Do you have your Check Card?"

I sat the basket down on the floor, then dug into my back pocket. "Yeah, remarkably enough."

"Use that." She pressed onto her tiptoes, pecked me on the cheek, then headed out of the store.

As she walked away, I couldn't help but admire her ass. My wife was many things -brilliant, witty, beautiful, compassionate- but she also had such a great ass.

Picking the basket back up, I made my way to the cashier, who rang up the purchases.

"New puppy?" He asked, making polite conversation.

"Yeah," I mumbled sheepishly, signing my name on the pin pad. "Just got him today. My parents are watching him right now."

"What breed?"

"Golden retriever. Just a few weeks old."

My receipt printed out, and he handed it to me. Carelessly, I jammed it into my pocket, then grabbed the two bags from the counter.

"Well, good luck with the dog." He smiled, warmly.

Bags in tow, I left the pet shop, then began walking through the mall toward the food court. Truth be told, I was so thirsty, too. As soon as I met up with Alex, I was stealing her drink.