My nonstop pacing in front of the living room window is clearly driving my family crazy. I can't seem to make myself stop.

Kendra should’ve been here five minutes ago.

It's hard to believe that only last night I didn't think there was any way I could ever make this happen, now thanks to my mom's kick-ass organizational skills, helped along by the fact that Kendra probably doesn't want to have to deal with all six puppies for a minute longer than she has to, Molly is already on her way over.

Or, at least that's the theory.

Where are they?

"Relax." Reagan says from the couch, looking up from whatever comic book she's reading. I can never keep track.

"You relax." I snap back, even though I know it sounds ridiculous. I just need to be doing something. I don't see how my family, people who have known me my whole life, can have any real expectation of me sitting still and doing nothing.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, I quickly move to embrace the distraction, forcing my feet to settle in place as I fish out the device from my pocket. It's a new text from Jamie, one of two messages I have waiting for me.

I'd somehow missed the message from Jason Habble, which came in five minutes ago.

The fact that it's been five minutes since I last checked my phone is probably a pretty good indicator of just how focused I am on Molly's arrival. One more look out the window at our driveway reveals that nothing has changed. She still isn’t here. I know Kendra won't appreciate me texting her to ask what the delay is after only a few minutes.

I offered to go pick her up myself, but my boss wanted to give the entire family a rundown of what to expect and how to care for an un-weaned puppy.

So, I have to wait.

I click on the text from Jason first, a little worried about what I'm going to find inside. Last night at Jean-Anne’s party, Jason somehow ended up as my unexpected make out buddy for the night. At the time, I assumed we both knew it didn't mean anything specific. He was looking particularly great in a blue plaid button up that really brought out the color of his eyes. We had a lot of fun. He’s one of the few guys I hang around with who is never afraid to get up and dance, not caring—or at least pretending not to care—about how he looks when he does.

This wouldn’t be the first time a guy misread my intentions.

Jason: Hey Reece, it's Jason.

Inside, I flinch a little. The super formal introduction thing probably isn't a good sign. I will myself to keep reading.

Jason: I just wanted to let you know that I had a really great time last night, and that maybe, if you ever wanted to go see a movie or something, I'd be down. Let me know.

I delete the message, promising myself that I'll talk to Jason in person next time I see him. For now, Molly's arrival should be a totally justifiable excuse for why I didn't get back to him.

It's not like letting him down now versus telling him later is going to change the outcome at all.

My memory flashes back to a moment from the night before when Jason ran his fingers through my freshly straightened blond hair, a shiver of anticipation ran down my spine.

Last night had been fun.

I put that particular train of thought on hold. I can come back to it later. As soon as I open the message from Jamie, I'm assaulted by a storm of capital letters.

Jamie: YOU MADE THE TEAM!!! WE MADE THE TEAM!!!!

Reece: What!?

I respond back right away, already sure that there is no way I've misinterpreted what she's telling me, but I want more details anyway.

I let out an involuntary squeak, drawing my parents’ and my sisters' attention.

"Are they here?" Reilly asks, bouncing up from the couch to look out the front window, taking over the spot I'd been occupying only a minute before.

Distracted, I look outside. "Not yet. I might have some other good news. Give me a second.”

I stare down at my phone, willing Jamie to answer. A second later, she does.

Jamie: Tessa forgot her phone at school yesterday, so she went back for it this morning and Coach Wasserman was there. She told Tessa to wait around, then she ended up posting the team roster like ten minutes after that.

Jamie: She didn't want to wait before jumping into practice, so she put the results up a few days early. I think the plan is to email everyone details later. I'm not sure.

Reece: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reece: Do you know who else made the team?!

"I made the soccer team!" I practically yell out, startling my family all over again. If I thought I felt awesome yesterday, that was nothing compared to how I'm feeling right now.

At once, Reilly moves over to hug me and gives me a quick squeeze before letting me go. "I knew you would!"

My dad stands up and nods his approval before wrapping one arm around my shoulders and hugging me in close to him. "We’re so proud of you, sweetheart. You've always been unstoppable."

I grin up at him but before anyone else has a chance to congratulate me, I hear the familiar bang of a car door shutting. At once, I'm sprinting back to the window.

There's a vehicle in our driveway, but it's not Kendra's van. Instead, it's John that's walking up our driveway with a brown and white puppy in his arms and a backpack slung over his shoulder.

Before he can ring the doorbell, I'm at the door, swinging it open.

At first, he just stares at me, a little shocked but I don't notice what he does next. I’m already so focused on who he is holding. She’s here!

I scoop Molly out of his arms all while cooing nonsensical words at her. She only blinks at me, not making any noise at all. She’s probably a little overwhelmed and confused.

I force myself to calm down. This has to be a big moment for her, taken from her siblings only a day after she lost her mother.

John follows me inside and probably instantly regrets it, since he’s greeted by all five of my family members as they crowd out of the living room, into the front hallway. Molly is taken from me before I have a chance to object.

"Don't overdo it.” I say, trying to sound like an authority on the subject. "She's probably overwhelmed already. We might want to put her down and give her a chance to explore a little."

"Where's your aunt?" I ask, turning to John who is still standing back a bit, clearly somewhat intimidated by the chaos around him.

"Mrs. Connery’s spaniel broke his foot, so Aunt Kendra couldn’t get away. She was going to message you, promising to come by later, but I was at the shelter anyway picking up more formula. It’s not like I could have been any use there, so I offered to do the puppy drop-off instead. I hope that's okay."

Without even really meaning to, I reach over and give John the quickest of hugs, still vibrating with energy. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

I pull back and find John looking a little stunned, but a dopey grin quickly takes over his mouth. "Happy to do it. My mom and I took all three of the boys yesterday, so I didn’t think it was fair that you had to wait any longer to get your puppy fix."

"Well, you're definitely my new hero. I feel like I've been waiting for Molly forever. I know I don't get to keep her, but I already have a feeling that taking care of Molly for the next few weeks is going to be the best couple weeks of my life. Which I know sounds super lame, but I've never had a dog before."

"You're going to love it." John promises. "I'm supposed to run you guys through formula preparation. Aunt Kendra sent me with a huge list of puppy-proofing suggestions. She'll probably call later to make sure no one has any questions." John has turned his attention away from me and toward my parents, who I turn to see, have both been watching us with strange expressions on their faces. I don't have time to wonder about it.

My puppy needs me!

The seven of us, eight counting Molly, all move into the living room where the tiny dog is unleashed onto the floor, only moments before her back legs squat outward at an awkward angle. It's a stance I recognize all too well. "Crap." I call out, moving to scoop her up but knowing I’m already too late. She waddles away before I can reach her, a tiny puddle is left where she was standing a moment before.

"Nothing to worry about.” my dad says. "I'll get the cleaning supplies."

I let out a quick sigh of relief. It wasn't sure how much my parents would expect from a dog this young in terms of behavior. Accidents were inevitable, but I was kind of hoping that I'd catch most of them before anyone else noticed.

Still, they committed to two weeks and have never been the type to back out of something at the first sign of trouble.

"So, I'm realizing I don't know the first thing about how to potty train a dog this small." I confess to John.

"Don't worry too much about it today, just let her settle in. I’ve found that the easiest way is to just have her outside as often as possible, praise or reward her every time she does her business on the lawn, ignoring her whenever she goes anywhere else. She should get the idea more quickly than you think.”

"I've actually been reading some articles." Rhiannon chimes in, “That’s sound advice."

John looks somehow pleased that he's managed to get Rhiannon's approval, even though by all accounts, he is definitely the expert in this area.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen all four of you in the same place before." Oh, that was what the dopey expression was about. "It's cool! Especially now that all of your hair looks different from one another. You're like a living example of one of those apps that lets you try on different hairstyles."

I can't help it, I laugh out loud at that. "How do you even know that those apps are a thing?"

"My mom.” John answers, unapologetically. "She loves that kind of stuff."

"Well, points for coming up with some sort of quadruplet observation that we've actually never heard before," Reagan says. I chuckle again. She has a point.

Molly has worked her way under the coffee table that sits between our two large couches. Reilly is sitting on an armchair in the corner of the room, I can tell from the look in her eye just how closely she's tracking the puppy’s trajectory.

I already suspect that she's going to be my biggest ally in Operation: Puppy Sitting for the next couple of weeks, and not just because she'll never say no if I ask her for help. I think she considers herself more of a cat person, she’s also not the kind of person to ever turn away anything little, squishy or adorable.

For the next half an hour, John goes over all kinds of useful tips for taking care of a dog this small, even though I've heard a lot of it before from Kendra, I still make myself pay attention. I promised everyone but mostly myself, that I would take this seriously. Even though I'm sure that my mom and Rhiannon are going to have both mental and physical notes about everything John says, I can't let anyone accuse me of not having given this my all.

I get to be a dog parent for only two weeks, so I'm sure as hell going to be the best one I can be and hopefully give Molly her strongest chance at putting her best paw forward for her future family.

Whoever they are, it already hurts to think about them.

"Okay, I think that’s everything. I should probably get back to help my mom with our own mini-pack. She's great with dogs, but puppies can be a lot of work. Last time we had a whole litter of them at our house for a week, I came home from school once to find her hiding out in the bathroom reading on her phone, just because she was feeling outnumbered and outgunned."

Since she arrived, Molly has not once stopped moving around the living room, sniffing everything she approaches. As soon as John stands up, only about a foot away from where she is currently investigating a crumpled-up sweater that Reagan left on the floor earlier, Molly sits and looks up at him expectantly.

"You're really good at this.” I say, standing up too since I know it's my job to walk John out of the house.

"Nah, right now I'm pretty sure she just thinks I'm her pack leader or something. She'll forget all about me in twenty minutes."

I shake my head emphatically. "No way. That is some serious puppy respect right there."

John says his goodbyes to my family, I dutifully walk him back to the front hall, thanking him again profusely for ensuring that I didn't have to wait any longer than necessary to be reunited with Molly.

"It was no problem, really. If you want, I'll give you my number in case you have any questions. Or if you're not too busy, you're totally free to bring Molly over to play with her brothers. She's already missing out on some of those big socialization milestones she should be going through with her mom, so it wouldn't hurt to give her some more time with puppies her own age if possible."

I study his face, trying to figure out if the offer to exchange numbers has any sort of hidden meaning or intention, but he looks completely sincere. He's genuinely offering just to be helpful. I already know I'm going to take him up on his suggestion.

I have only two weeks to win dog parent of the year, and I'm sure Molly will be thrilled to be reunited with some of her siblings.

It’s hard not to wish that I'd asked to take more than one of the puppies once I'd realized just how open-minded my parents were prepared to be about the whole thing.

Still, I’ve got Molly for now, so it’s probably better that I didn’t push my luck. I’ll take what I can get. Either way, between Molly and the big news about the soccer team, today officially qualifies as the best day of my life.

At least so far.