Chapter 1

Gracie was sleeping on the couch when she heard the sound from the door that meant her Bryan or the other man, Rob, were coming home. She hoped it was Bryan. She thought it was strange that he would be coming home at this time, as this was the long time when she was alone all during the day. But if Bryan was coming home that was wonderful. She jumped off the couch and found a chew bone to bring him to show she was happy he was here.

But when the door opened it was not her Bryan. It was the other man, Rob, and someone she did not know. That was okay. Even though Rob was not nice to her some times, she was happy to have humans come to see her in the middle of the long time alone. She trotted up to the men and wagged her tail as hard as she could to show she was pleased to have company.

“That’s Bryan’s stupid beagle, Gracie,” Rob said.

Gracie didn’t understand anything except her name. When she heard it she wagged even harder and dropped her bone at Rob’s feet so he would know she was glad to see him. Rob kicked it away. It went under the couch.

The other man did not bend down to pet her as so many of the humans who came to see her did. She sniffed the new man. He did not smell of dogs or anything alive. At least he didn’t smell like cats. He only smelled like Bryan when he got out of the place where he went to run water all over himself. That was okay. She’d show the new man she liked him. She jumped up and put her paws on his leg.

“Down, Gracie!” Rob said in his mean voice. He often used that voice with her. Especially when Bryan wasn’t home. “She doesn’t bite. She’s just a real pest.” Mean Rob pointed to the couch. “Go lay down!” The last part Gracie understood. She was sad she couldn’t get to know the new man, but she knew better than to ignore Mean Rob. She went back and jumped up on the couch to lay down.

Then Rob did something she’d only seen him do with Bryan. He put his arms around the new man, pulled the new man close, and put his lips on the new man’s. Gracie watched as the two men ran their hands all over each other, then held hands and walked down the hall and into the room where they all slept. Gracie wondered if Rob would let the new man sleep on the bed. Only Bryan let her sleep there. Before Rob came she slept on the bed all the time. But after Rob came he made her sleep on the floor. Bryan got her a nice bed so it wasn’t too bad although she missed being near Bryan at night. She decided to go sleep there now. She got up and trotted down the hall after the men.

But when she walked into the room, Rob said, “Where do you think you’re going?” He pushed her out of the room and slammed the door behind her. She lay down with her nose pressed to the crack under the door and listened. The two men were making noises like she had heard Bryan and Rob make sometimes at night when they played the roll around game on the bed. After a while she fell asleep

* * * *

The door opened. Gracie jumped up.

“What the fuck!” Rob yelled. “What are you doing here, you dumb dog? I nearly tripped on you.” He shoved Gracie aside with his foot. “Come on, Neil, the bathroom’s this way.”

The two men walked past Gracie and down the hall. They didn’t have clothes on. They went to the room with the water and closed the door. Gracie looked into the sleeping room. The bed was all messed up and there were piles of clothes on the floor. She sighed and walked back to the couch, jumped up and laid down. After some time the two men came into the room where Gracie was. They had clothes on now. Rob and the new man went to the door where they did the lip pressing thing again.

“I’ll call you when the coast is clear,” Rob said.

“Promise me, Mr. Robert Daily?” the new man said in what Gracie thought sounded like a little kid’s voice.

“I promise, babe. Love you.”

Gracie had heard Rob call Bryan “babe” before and say the love word to him, too. She hadn’t heard Rob say that to Bryan much lately.

The new man left and Rob went into the room where they ate. Gracie didn’t follow him. She knew he wouldn’t give her anything. Even when Bryan wasn’t home at eating time, Rob sometimes didn’t give her her “dinners.” Although he told Bryan he did.