When my daughter first told me about her wish, I went to talk to Nora. But she threatened me with divorce and told me to drop it. Now, fulfilling this one wish was the least I could do for my daughter.
As fate would have it, I ran into Nora at the entrance of the pet shop. She was clinging to Julian’s arm, laughing like they were the perfect couple.
“Nora, I really like dogs. How about we get one?” Julian asked.
Nora smiled sweetly and replied, “Sure, it can keep you company when I’m not around.”
I felt a surge of bitterness. My daughter had asked for the same thing, but Nora had crushed her dream without a second thought. Her child’s happiness meant nothing compared to a simple “I like you” from her first love.
When Nora noticed me, her smile faded.
“Ian, are you following me? What are you doing here?”
“To buy a dog, obviously,” I said.
Nora quickly let go of Julian’s arm after notice my indifference, but I just found the whole situation absurd.
“I’ve known about you two for a while now, so no need to put on a show for me,” I said.
Nora frowned. “Ian, are you done yet? I told you, Julian’s only here for three days. I’m just being a good host. Do you really need to make this difficult?”