Gabe

Damnit, there she is again. I can hear her pawing at my front door. That damned dog was supposed to be a gift to Christy, but apparently between the time I picked her up and the time I got her to the cabin for Chet she bonded with me too. Every chance she gets she wanders over to my place. What am I, her best friend? I want to be mad at her, I really do, but at three months old she still has that fluffy, puffy, furball look and as soon as I see those powder blue eyes looking up at me, I melt.

“Alright, I hear you. I’ll be right there to take you back to your home,” I yell through the door. I stop in the kitchen and grab a strip of bacon from the fridge on my way. What’s happening to me? Am I going soft? Have I become the kind of guy who keeps bacon on hand for a dog? Apparently so. My head drops a bit in recognition of the thought. She’s not even my dog.

I open the door, and sure enough, just like so many times before, she’s sitting on her little nub of a tail looking up at me, ready and waiting to play. “Alright Marry, here ya go, girl.” I hand her the bacon and smile as she devours it. “Come on now, let’s get you home. If your mommy and daddy would stop being so disgustingly happy with one another for more than thirty seconds at a time, they might notice when you wander off.”

It’s not entirely fair, I realize, but don’t go expecting me to say it out loud. Chet and Christy are perfect for each other, and given they’re in the final stage of planning their wedding, while simultaneously running a ranch, and being a vet, I get it. Their plate is full. Besides, with this much land, why shouldn’t they let the dog have a little freedom? On paper it all works out. The thing is though, their happiness combined with this little girl here, only remind me how unfulfilled I am in my own life, and I’m getting pretty goddamned tired of thinking about it all the damn time.

It cracks me up how smart she is, even as a pup. She doesn’t need a leash, I just snap my fingers or call her name to get her attention and she’s happy to follow at my side. Maybe Christy’s been training her, but I think this one is just something special. I stop for a moment to bend down and rub behind her ear. She always likes that. “Come on girl, let’s find your folks,” I say, continuing on to Chet and Christy’s place.

“Hey. Brother,” I yell when I spot the lovebirds sitting in their rockers staring off at the mountains. “I’m going to send you both a bill for the cost of fixing my screen door. The way she scratches, there won’t be any paint left soon.”

“Marry! Did you go visit uncle Gabe again?” Christy asks the pooch as she rises from her rocking chair. “Don’t you worry sweetheart, you’ll have friends here to play with soon enough,” she says with a hand on her belly and a smile on her face.

Like you can even tell she’s pregnant yet. “Oh, please excuse me while I vomit from all this sweetness,” I say.

“Thanks for bringing her home, Gabe,” Chet replies.

“Hey brother, that’s what I’m here for. Apparently. Just uh—don’t go thinking I’ll be a babysitter when little Gabe, or Gabrielle, comes along. That’s not gonna happen, understand?”

“We’ll keep that in mind.” Chet smiles as he looks up at Christy.

Am I actually jealous of him? Jesus, what’s wrong with me? “Alright then,” I say. “Is there anything else I can do for you two, before getting back to my own life? Drop everything and head into town to mail the invitations, perhaps? Hand sew your bridesmaid’s dresses? Anything at all?”

“Thanks, Gabe, I’ll keep the dress offer in mind, but as for the invitations, pretty much the entire town is invited, so there’s not much need for that,” Christy says.

“The entire town? Can you even guess how many girls will be lining up to ask why I never called?” I shudder at the thought. “Maybe you can just catch me up on what happened with the wedding photos?” I say as I turn back for home. “You both have a good evening. Try keeping an eye on your dog for a while, would ya?” I call back over my shoulder.

The entire town? Wow, that really could lead to more than a few awkward run ins for me. Hell, maybe I can play it to my favor, and use it to find the next Mrs. Right Now. I instantly balk at the thought. I’m just about over the whole idea of casual. Those two are happy, like truly happy, since they found each other. I want that. I crave it. The closest I ever came was Meredith, but like most young love, I didn’t realize what I had until long after I lost it.

If the whole town is going to be there, is there any chance Meredith would come back for the wedding? Her family has a bigger ranch than ours, they’ll obviously be invited. As much as I love the thought of seeing her again, she’s the one woman I might honestly be afraid to run into. I was such a dumb kid when we were together, and I realize now I broke her heart. How do you have a light and cheerful conversation with someone like that after so long? Who am I kidding anyway? Just because her family would be there, why on earth would she come back? It’s her dad I ought to be worried about. I’m confident he’d still like to see my head stuffed and mounted on the wall of his garage.

Desperate for lighter, cheerier thoughts, I try to imagine Chet on his honeymoon, sitting on a beach somewhere tropical. I don’t know if I’ve seen him wear shorts since we were kids. Swim trunks or otherwise. I chuckle out loud at the thought of him walking down the beach, still wearing his boots.

I fast forward six months. Seems like a while yet, but in no time at all, I’m going to be an uncle. Holy shit nuggets. What do you get a kid for their birthday? How old do they have to be before you can get them bourbon? I mean, they don’t have to drink it right then, it gets better with age. Am I right?

Things around here are never gonna be the same, that’s for sure.