Just Think of Puppies
Friday, July 1, 2022
Columbia, Missouri
It was an odd noise, kind of like a tapping noise, that woke her up. Grace Keckley tapped her watch and tried to make out the time. With her eyes barely open, it took a few seconds to see that it was 5:38.
She heard the noise again and knew something had to be making it. It took her a few seconds to realize the noise sounded like something hitting her bedroom wall. A quick peak toward her bedroom window made it obvious that the sun wasn’t up yet, so she wasn’t sure what woke her up.
Until she looked up.
There was something in her bedroom.
It was flying circles around her bedroom.
Grace’s first reaction was to pull her sheet over her head for protection. But the voice inside her head told her she needed to get out of there.
So she threw the sheet aside and glanced up to see that it was still flying around her bedroom, about a foot from the ceiling. With only the light her various nightlights emitted, she saw her pink slippers by her bedroom door.
She carefully crawled out of bed and made her way to the bedroom door where she could shove her feet into her slippers. Then, Grace got her feet under her and ran for the apartment door. She grabbed the keys from the telephone table just inside her door.
Fumbling with the chain and lock, Grace let out the breath she was holding as she finally got the door open. She turned and saw whatever it was flying into her living room.
She slammed the door behind her, shaking, and ran from her apartment. With her eyes on her apartment door, she ran straight into someone.
Soft hands and strong arms caught her. “Are you okay?” Sam Dawson could feel her muscles shaking under his hands. His neighbor was afraid of someone or something. That seemed obvious to him.
With his arms holding her, Grace took a minute to catch her breath. She was quite certain she was not okay. “Not really.”
“Is there something I can help with?”
She looked up at him, guessing he was about six inches taller than her. She noted his comforting brown eyes. There was something about them that made her feel safe, even if she knew nothing about the man who was holding her. Grace was just grateful the hallway lights had been fixed. She had reported them out several times over the past three weeks. If they hadn’t been fixed, she wouldn’t have been able to tell that he seemed genuinely concerned about her.
“There is something in there.”
“In your apartment?”
She nodded and realized he was holding her rather close. It was very tempting to stay in his arms, simply because it felt natural for them to be holding her. But she pulled back. “Yes. I can’t go back in there.”
He noticed the keys in her hands. “Did you lock the door?” When she shook her head, Sam tried to decide if he should offer to go in and look. “Want me to lock it for you?”
“Would you mind?” She offered him her key.
He took the key and locked her door before turning back to her. Okay, now what? He was tired after a long overnight shift at the hospital, but the idea of just leaving her there made him feel guilty.
“Thank you.” She took a deep breath and let it out as he returned the key. “I’m Grace.”
Since she had come out of Apartment B, he guessed her last name was Keckley. That was the name on the mailbox. “I’m Sam.”
Sam E Dawson. The letter carrier had a habit of slipping his magazines in her mailbox when his was full. But Grace could never put a face to the name until that moment.
She stood there staring at him, not sure what she should do next. She had left with only her apartment key. Her purse, her car keys, and all her belongings were behind that door with something flying in there. And then it occurred to her that she had fled in her pink summer pjs. Knowing the top was a little see-through, she crossed her arms and hoped that would provide some coverage.
Sam tried not to laugh. He had already noticed the pajama top was a bit see-through. “Do you want to come into my apartment? I could give you a t-shirt to put on?”
She bit her lip as she considered his offer. “How do I know you won’t hurt me?”
“If I was going to hurt you, I think I probably would’ve already done that by now.” He offered a small laugh. “I can turn on all the lights, if you’d like.”
Nodding, she followed him into his apartment. Apartment A. While he turned on all his lights, she found his blue couch and sat down. He came back a minute later and handed her a Knoxville Zoo t-shirt. She pulled it on over her head. “Thank you.”
“Do you sleep with your windows open?”
She shook her head. “Why do you ask?”
“If something got into your apartment overnight…”
“With my allergies and asthma, I can’t even open my windows during the day.”
He nodded, understanding. He had his own reasons not to open the windows at night, but wasn’t ready to share that information with his neighbor. The only thing he knew about her was her name - Grace Keckley. Sam really wanted to fall into his bed. It was only steps away. But she was clearly not in any condition to be left alone. He waited a few seconds before sitting down on the couch next to her.
“Knoxville Zoo?”
He nodded, grateful for a conversation topic. “Yes. My brother works there.”
“What does he do there?” It was something to talk about other than whatever that was in her apartment.
“He’s a Keeper, works in the Children’s Zoo.”
“I like lemurs.” Grace laughed at herself, realizing that was a stupid thing to say. “When I go to any zoo, if they have lemurs, I tend to quote lines from the Madagascar movies. And one of my sisters will usually tell me it was only funny the first time.”
He laughed with her.
“Am I keeping you from work?”
He shook his head. “I was just getting home. I had an overnight shift.”
“Oh. I’m keeping you up. I’m so sorry. If you don’t mind me sitting here until…” She wasn’t sure how to finish that. To do anything, she had to go back into her apartment. Her best friend Amber was spending the 4th of July weekend in St. Louis, visiting her family. Her parents and baby sister were visiting family in Curaçao, so they weren’t even in the country. And her other two sisters were on opposite sides of the state.
She buried her head in her hands, realizing she couldn’t call anyone for help.
“Do you need to get to work?”
She picked her head up to look at him. “I am off through next Friday, using up vacation days I didn’t use this past school year.”
“You’re a teacher?”
“Art department secretary, at the University.” Taking a deep breath and letting it out, she considered calling Amber. She had said to call in case of an emergency.
“When the sun comes up, if you want, I can go into your apartment with you. And I can see if whatever was in there is still in there.”
“You would do that for me?”
He nodded. “If it was a bird, it should be easy to find.”
Grace tried to remember if she had said it was something flying. Or was he guessing? “And if it wasn’t?”
He took a deep breath and let it out. “I’m guessing it was something flying because of the way you keep looking up at the corners of the room. Do you know where you saw it?”
“In my bedroom.” And the memories of it made her start shaking again.
“It’s possible it was a bat and you would need rabies shots.”
“What?”
“According to the CDC, if you wake up to a bat in your bedroom, you should assume you were bitten and get rabies shots.”
She held back tears, wishing her mom was around to help. “How do you know that?”
There were two reasons. He went with the one he was willing to share. “I’m a doctor.”
“Overnight shift. That makes sense.” She shook her head. “That explains why you’ve been so nice to me. Because you’re a doctor.”
Sam laughed. “No. I’ve been nice to you because that’s how I was raised.” He slipped an arm around her. “We can check to see where your insurance would want you to go and I can take you, if you’d like.”
“I’m going to owe you dinner by the time the day is over.”
Two hours later, after they had both fallen asleep on his couch, Grace opened the door to her apartment. Sam was behind her and could see the mess her apartment was.
She was embarrassed. His apartment was immaculate compared to hers. It was obvious he cleaned it regularly. “I haven’t had a chance to clean. My asthma has been a little out of whack lately, so I know my place is a little messy.”
He surveyed the room and considered it to be an organized mess. “I can tell you’re the creative type.”
“You can?”
He nodded. “That is clearly Crochet Corner.” He pointed toward a corner of the room where a few open storage bins were overflowing with skeins of yarn. And next to those were storage bins containing blankets and a few items he couldn’t quite make out. He stepped into the room a little more. “And do I see needlepoint?”
“And probably cross-stitch, too. I make needlepoint belts, pillows, and keychains. Crochet blankets, scarves, and Christmas stockings. Cross-stitch is mostly for fun, since I haven’t been able to sell any of that online.”
“You sell your stuff online?”
She nodded. “And some of the paintings.” She pointed toward her painting area before pointing to another corner of what should’ve been her living room. “And the blouses and dresses I’ve sold in a friend’s shop.”
“I thought you said you were an art department secretary.”
“I am. I need insurance. So when I was about to be too old to stay on my parents’ insurance, my mom got me a job at the University. I was secretary of her department. But that was a nightmare, with her always there. So I made a few friends, encouraged someone to retire early, so that someone else could slide into her job…and I was able to get into the department that I wanted.”
“Your mom works at the University?”
She nodded. “Marketing professor.”
“My mom is a geology professor back in Knoxville.”
She turned to him, smiling. “What does your dad do?”
“Teaches high school English.”
“My dad teaches high school math.” Grace was surprised to learn how similar their backgrounds were. She wondered how many siblings he had. How much did they have in common?
He noticed the photos on the wall and crossed the room to them. “Is this your family?”
She nodded.
He pointed at one. “Is this…”
“Me and my sisters. Hope, Faith, and Joy.” It was a photo from Hope’s wedding. “Hope is four years older than me. Faith is five years younger than me. And Joy is seven years younger than her.” Her baby sister was definitely not planned.
He laughed. “You and your sisters look so much alike.”
That was true. They looked like carbon copies of each other, all with the same long dark auburn curls they’d inherited from their dad, the brown eyes both of their parents had, and their mom’s dark golden skin. The only way to tell them apart was the fact that each one was one inch taller than the last sibling. They might’ve looked so similar, but that was about all they had in common. And she definitely wasn’t ready to share certain family stories with Sam.
A few minutes later, they both explored the other rooms and didn’t find any sign of whatever was flying around earlier.
"Good news, bad news."
“I’m not sure what I want first.”
“We didn’t find anything, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not here. And even if we had found something, there’s no guarantee it would’ve been whatever you saw this morning.”
“And the good news?”
He looked at her. “That was kind of both.”
“I’m going to be sick.”
“If you want to call your insurance, I can take you to get the rabies shots.”
She groaned, not wanting any shots. “Is it like a thousand shots in the stomach?”
He shook his head. “No. You’ll get a immunoglobulin shot that’s based on your weight. The actual vaccine is given over several days - day 0, which would be today, day 3, day 7, day 14, and day 28.”
“Great.”
“You're not afraid of needles, are you?”
Grace shook her head. “No. I kind of got used to them when I did allergy shots.” She paused. “Do you mind if I take a shower and get dressed before I call my insurance?”
“No. Not at all. I think I’ll take a shower.”
Four hours later, they were on their way home from the hospital, where her insurance had told her to go. She had to go back on the 4th of July to get her next shot and the rest could be done in an Urgent Care clinic. They were both hungry, so they stopped at Shakespeare’s Pizza to pick up lunch.
Sitting on his couch, they split a Natalian salad before digging into their pizza.
“I would’ve paid.”
Sam nodded. “I know. But I thought since your day has already sucked so much, I’d pay. Growing up with my brother Jake, our pizzas were always half what I wanted and the other half what he wanted. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to just order a pizza that wasn’t half and half when I’d be sharing it.”
Grace smiled. He had started with hamburger and cheese. And she had said that if he didn’t mind bacon and extra cheese, she would love a bacon cheeseburger pizza. When he said that was his usual order, it seemed like fate had brought him into her life. Not a bat.
If she had woken up five minutes earlier or five minutes later, she wouldn’t have been sitting on his couch.
“Was it just you and your brother Jake? Or do you have any other siblings?”
“Just me and my brother.”
“So how did you end up here in middle of nowhere Missouri?”
He laughed. “Columbia isn’t middle of nowhere Missouri. It is the middle of Missouri.” He shook his head. “I did my internship and residency here. My friend Cameron went to Vet school here. He met his now-wife here and she either wanted to live here or back in Italy, where she was from. So they stayed. Having a friend here when I finished my residency made it easier for me to stay when I was offered a job.”
“I’ve kinda always wanted out. I thought I’d move to Paris and paint. But I haven’t quite made it to Europe.”
“Haven’t made it out of the country?”
“No. I have my passport. My mom might’ve been an only child, but she has cousins in Florida, St. Croix, Jamaica, and Curaçao. So we were always traveling to visit family for summer vacations growing up.”
“What about your dad’s family?”
“Trying to figure out my family roots?” She smiled. “He was an only child, born in South Carolina. But he has cousins back there and in Pennsylvania and Oregon. From what little I know, his family roots come from England, Scotland, or Wales. But they’ve been here since before we were a country.” She took a sip of a soda she had grabbed from her refrigerator. “What about your family?”
“My mom was an only child, born in Texas, where she has family. But she also has family in Bermuda and the Dominican Republic.” He paused and took a sip of the soda she had grabbed for him. “My dad was also an only child, born in Virginia, where he has a lot of family. But he also has a few cousins out in California.”
“Born in Virginia and born in Texas? How did they ever meet?”
He laughed. “Funny story, really. My dad was in New Orleans with his best friend the summer after college. It was one last vacation before they started their first real jobs. My mom went to school in New Orleans, working on her undergraduate degree. My grandparents had died during her sophomore year, so she had made the decision not to go home to Texas. Without them there, it wasn’t home. She needed a job, so she was working at Cafe du Monde. Have you ever been to New Orleans?”
Grace nodded. “Freshman year spring break with my friend Amber. We had breakfast almost every morning at Cafe du Monde.”
“Very touristy place. My mom brought the beignets out to my dad. And he knew the moment she put them down at the table, that he was going to marry her. And six years later, after she’d finished her PhD, he did.”
“Aww, that’s romance.”
“You said your dad was born in South Carolina.” He paused and she nodded. “Your mom was born…”
“In Florida. So how did they meet?” She laughed and he nodded. “My mom had flown back from St. Croix after visiting family. She only had a short drive home to Clearwater from the Tampa airport after which she was heading over to Clearwater Beach with friends. My dad was in Clearwater, helping my grandparents get settled into their new condo. They had decided to retire to Florida. He was staying in a hotel on Clearwater Beach because he wanted to have some space at night. Or, as he put it, after being out of the house for four years during college, he couldn’t sleep under the same roof as them anymore.”
Sam laughed. “I can understand that.”
“He was getting dinner at a restaurant over on Clearwater Beach and realized he’d left his wallet in my grandparents’ condo. My mom was there and was getting ready to leave. She passed by his booth and my dad stopped her and asked if she could lend him money. My mom laughed at him initially until she realized that he was serious. He explained his situation and my mom said she’d give him the money and would meet him at the restaurant the next night for dinner. She meant just so that he could pay her back. He thought she had asked for a date. So he showed up for a date. She showed up with friends. My dad was only in Florida for one more night. And that night they went on a real date. They got married exactly three years later, on the anniversary of their first date.”
She took a sip of her soda. “My sisters met their husbands in college. Their stories are not as interesting.”
“My brother wanted to be a veterinarian. But he met his now-wife and decided he didn’t want to be in school that long because he wanted to marry her sooner. So he ended up just getting a masters degree.” Sam had always thought his brother was crazy to change his plans like that.
“I take it you don’t approve.”
He shrugged. “I thought he was crazy. Why not wait three more years? He’d make more as a veterinarian. But he loves his job and Skye. I thought he was crazier when he decided to buy two crazy expensive cats a month after their wedding. But if they hadn’t gotten married when they did, I probably wouldn’t have my niece. And I do love my little niece.”
“How old is she?”
“Wyatt turned 2 in January.”
“She’s the same age as my sister Hope’s daughter Vanessa, who turned 2 in January. Hope had her second daughter at the end of February.” She noted the time, realizing it was after 1:00. “Wow. I didn’t realize how late it is. Do you have to work tonight?”
He shook his head. “I just did three back-to-back night shifts. So I have a couple days off before three back-to-back day shifts.”
“I’m exhausted. But every time I close my eyes, I just keep picturing that thing flying around.”
Sam took a deep breath and let it out. “How about every time you close your eyes, you just think of puppies.”
“Puppies?” She paused as he nodded. “I’m allergic to dogs.”
He laughed. “I am, too. But they are still cute.”
“True. Puppies. And kittens, even though I’m also allergic to cats. And guinea pigs.”
“My friend Cameron has rabbits for pets. Are you allergic to those?”
“Cameron Forrester?”
He nodded. “Do you know him?”
“I know his wife. I sell my blouses and dresses in her shop. I thought that story sounded familiar.”
“I didn’t think she sold anyone else’s designs in her shop.”
“I’ve helped on a few wedding dresses.” Grace paused. “My sisters’. They were crazy bridezillas when planning their weddings.”
Sam shrugged. “That happens.”
“They are why I’m single.” She shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong. I love them and if anyone else said a bad word about them, I’d have to beat them up. My sister Faith, she was always the nerdy one. All she ever did was study. So it was a big surprise when she decided to move in with her new boyfriend at the end of her freshman year. It was an even bigger surprise when she had a baby that December. But she swore she didn’t want to get married until after she graduated.”
“Faith is the one five years younger than you, right?”
She nodded. “My sister Hope, who is four years older than me, had moved to St. Louis, where her boyfriend was from, after they graduated. They had been dating for almost ten years when they finally got engaged. Once Hope had a ring on her finger, Faith decided she needed one, too. And then she went and stole the June date Hope wanted to get married. So Hope and Peter had to settle for August. Hope had heard of your friend’s wife Chiara. She took a sketch of a dress she wanted to her and asked if she could make it. So then Faith decided she had to have a dress by her.”
“I think I was in Columbia at the time. This sounds familiar. 2017 or 2018?”
“Right. Both engaged in 2017. Both planning to get married in 2018. Growing up, we always talked about how we’d be each other’s bridesmaids. They both thought that asking me to be maid of honor would hurt the other one. But if you want to guess that the only one it hurt was me, you’d be correct. I wanted them both to have their dream weddings and dream dresses, so I went to Chiara and volunteered to help her with the dresses. My sisters still have no idea that I’m the only reason she didn’t tell them both what they could do with their sketches when they both wanted everything done at the same time.” She shook her head. “My boyfriend at the time broke up with me because when he saw how crazy they were both acting, he told me he didn’t want them as family.”
“Ouch.”
She shrugged. “It hurt at the time, but I kind of understood. I’m stuck with them as family. Hope and Peter live in St. Louis, close to his family. After Faith graduated, she moved to Kansas City, where Christopher’s family is. She had my nephew that summer, before they moved. And now she’s expecting their third kid this December and trying to come up with a good Christmasy baby boy name. Because she’s convinced it’s a boy, despite the fact she doesn’t know yet.”
“Nicholas, for St. Nick?”
Grace shook her head. “That’s the boy name Hope has always had in mind and she has already said that she wants to try one more time for a boy. Faith promised she wouldn’t take it. I’m sure she’ll come up with something. She’s got at least five months. I think closer to six.”
“And your baby sister?”
She laughed. “After watching those two act like idiots, Joy swears she’ll never get married. She’ll be a freshman at the University next month. And she wants to travel the world, teaching English to anyone who wants to learn it. One of her hobbies is teaching herself new languages. She can speak about five, six if you include English.”
Sam was impressed. “I can speak Spanish, but not fluently.”
“I can speak French.” She paused. “You know, the whole Paris dream.”
“Speaking of dreams…”
“I know. I’m tired, too. But I’m just so afraid to close my eyes.”
“Just think of puppies.” He smiled at her. “Trust me. It works.”
“Right.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “Just think of puppies.”
Grace slept on his couch for a week and then he slept on her couch for a week, until she was comfortable enough to sleep alone in her apartment. They went on their first real date a week later, when she insisted on buying him dinner. He accepted the date and insisted on paying for dinner. During the date, he confessed that there was another reason he knew all of that information about bats - he’d had a bat in his apartment during his second year of med school in Nashville.
He met her best friend Amber when she returned from her weekend in St. Louis, while Grace was sleeping on his couch. Her friend had offered to let her stay with her family, but she had to turn down the offer because of her friend’s dog.
Sam met her parents and baby sister when they returned from their vacation. They thanked him for helping her through her crisis.
Her sisters came home for Christmas with their families because they wanted to meet Grace’s new boyfriend. Sam revealed to Hope and Faith her role in making sure their wedding dresses were perfect. They both told her that she’d found “a good one.”
Grace and Sam’s leases were up at the end of June, so they decided to move in together and start looking for a house. He asked her to marry him on the second anniversary of the day she had fled her apartment into his arms.
They married the following year on October 4, 2025. They spent their honeymoon in Paris, making another one of her dreams come true. She gave birth to a son, Ezra Theodore, on March 1, 2027, and a daughter, Honor Sophia, on June 30, 2029.
When their daughter was born on the day before the seventh anniversary of the day she had fled her apartment into his arms, Grace wondered what life would be like if she had woken up five minutes earlier or five minutes later. That day could’ve been the worst day of her life. But instead, the best thing happened. She met the man she’d marry.