by Nina Howard
“Can we call her Lulu, Mom?”
“Oh, Mom, that’s such a lame name. Can you imagine me running after the dog calling her Lulu? Can’t we at least call her Killer?”
“I don’t know guys. I think we need to figure out who left her here.” Victoria was too distracted about the anonymous donor to worry about the name of the puppy.
“I bet it was Bud,” Posey said. Probably, thought Victoria. They knew how much all three of them missed Fritz. Would Bud have chosen a such a girly dog? Then again, he did have a Daschund.
“Look, Mom, she even has a leash!” Parker said as he rifled through the basket.
“Is there a note?” Victoria asked.
“Here it is!” Parker triumphantly pulled a note out of the basket. All it said was ‘Walk Me’.
“I guess I better take her out,” Victoria said, grabbing the leash. The kids wanted to come with her, but Victoria just had a feeling that she should go by herself. What was going on? The whole thing was making her uneasy.
“I’ll be right back. Parker, get down the bowl we use for popcorn and fill it with some water. We’ll have to run uptown and get her some food,” she said as she picked up the little dog. She couldn’t help but nuzzle it. It was one adorable dog. She could have carried her in her purse, a la Paris Hilton - but figured it was best to get her out onto the sidewalk. There, she tried to walk the dog, with little luck. The puppy had probably never been walked on a leash before, and spent her time trying to nip the offending leash. Victoria tried to coax the puppy down the street, but ended up dragging her instead.
“I don’t think that’s how you do it,” said a voice behind Victoria. She stopped, recognizing Mike’s voice immediately.
“It’s you,” she said, referring to both the dog as well as his reappearance.
“Guilty,” he said, holding his palms to the sky. Victoria had almost forgotten how darned charming the guy could be.
“Funny, coming from you,” she said. She remembered how angry she had been at Mike following Trip’s arrest.
“Vivi - I can explain,” he started.
“No need. I was there. I saw it all,” she said. She tried to start to walk away, but the puppy wouldn’t budge. She was as freshly angry as she had been the day Mike appeared at Trip’s hotel door. “I called, to let you know. I was trying to help you.”
“I know,” he said. “I knew when you called.”
“Why didn’t you --”
“Vivi,” she melted just a bit when he used his pet name for her. “Don’t you know that I couldn’t have involved you?”
“You sound just like Trip. ‘I had to leave you in a pile of shit for your own good honey’. You couldn’t involve me? I am involved! I was involved the day you walked through my door. I was involved when you took everything I have. I was involved when you...you..” She tried to catch her breath. “Why did you leave? You never said goodbye. Not even to the children.”
“I was wrong.” He paced back and forth on the sidewalk, going over the events in his own head. “On so many levels. I was wrong to get as involved with you as I did.” She gasped a little hurt cry, which made him pause, but he went on. “I broke every rule in the book. I should never crossed that line with you. It wasn’t fair to you, either. I couldn’t help myself. Following you every day, watching you go through all this I was able to see what an amazing woman you are. What an amazing woman you’ve become. You’ve bewitched me Vivi.”
He walked to her and took her into his arms. She didn’t resist. He didn’t kiss her. “I know why you were calling. We knew where Trip was. We knew he had come back to town. We knew he took the children. He was spending money like a drunken sailor.”
“I know!” She looked up at him. “I wanted to let you know that I was done with Trip. I was on your side.”
With that, he kissed her, long and hard. He kissed her face, kissed her eyes. She basked in it. After so long of fighting - she felt like she was where she belonged. Then a thought occurred to her and she pulled away.
“Why didn’t you come after you arrested Trip? You were done, then. It would have been okay.”
“It wasn’t okay. I needed to take care of a few things. I needed to be able to come back to you a free man.”
She stepped back from him. “Oh my God, you’re married!?”
He laughed. “No, free from the FBI. It’s no life for a woman like you. I needed to finish up the investigation, and tender my resignation. I couldn’t come back to win you without a job, could I?”
Now it was her turn to laugh. “A job? I couldn’t care less if you don’t have a job. I’m not afraid of being poor. I’ve done it before, and I can do it again.”
He kissed her again. “Nobody does it with so much style. No, I needed a plan. I want this to be long-term, Vivi, you and me. Anyway, can’t I take care of you?”
“You couldn’t afford me,” she said.
“The old you,” he answered.
“And now?” she asked.
“And now,” he said, “I can make you an honest woman. I’ve made a commitment to you, to us.” He pulled out his wallet and picked out a business card. “A commitment to Chicago, too!” He handed her the card. It read: “Flanagan and Towner, Attorneys at Law” and listed an address downtown.
“Flanagan?” She didn’t understand.
“The one and only Mercedes Flanagan! I was able to lure her away from Legal Aid.”
“To a corporate law practice?” Victoria couldn’t believe it.
“Hardly. We’ve set up an office not far from her old one, and it makes the Legal Aid office look like Baker & McKenzie. But it’s all ours. We pick the clients. We think we can really help some people, make a difference.”
“You’ve been here all this time?”
“I haven’t stepped foot in Tenaqua until today. Did I wait too long?”
Victoria bent down and picked up the puppy, and kissed it on the nose. “I guess I’m just a sucker for a pretty face,” she said as Mike took her in his arms, kissing her again.
The end.
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