Never a Hero

from the sliding glass door in the dining room, which meant whoever was knocking must have come through the shared backyard and up the stairs to my elevated porch. I rounded the corner from my hallway and saw the blond with the big arms waving at me through the glass.
    Too late to pretend I wasn’t home.
    I slid the door aside, painfully aware of the fact that I couldn’t hide the left half of my body from his view. “Yes?”
    “Hey!” he said, holding his right hand out to me. “I’m Nick Reynolds. I just moved in downstairs. I thought I should introduce myself since we’re neighbors now.”
    He was cute. That was the first thought that came into my mind. Really goddamn cute, like boy-next-door cute, but with attitude. The smart-assed altar boy. The kid who always made wisecracks in class, yet managed to charm the teachers into not caring. The kind of guy every girl wanted to date. The kind of guy who radiated confidence.
    The kind of guy I’d never be.
    “Nice to meet you,” he said. His hand was still out in front of him, and I realized with a start that I’d been staring stupidly at him since I’d opened the door. I reached out and let him shake my hand. He was taller than me, but not by much, with a firm grip.
    “Owen Meade,” I managed to say.
    “Owen.” His smile grew bigger. “Listen, I wondered if you’d like to come down and meet the girls. It’s a mess down there, ’cause I haven’t had a chance to unpack anything, and there are boxes everywhere and no place to sit except the floor, but you’ll have to meet them eventually, and probably sooner’s better than later since we’ll be sharing a backyard, don’t you think?”
    I suddenly wished I’d paid a bit more attention when he was moving in. Girls had moved in with him? Not just one, either. Girls, plural. Either he was the luckiest SOB in town, or he was a single father. “Girls?”
    “Yeah. Well, two girls, technically. One boy.”
    “Uh . . .”
    “Unless you’re allergic to dogs or something.”
    “Dogs?”
    His smile disappeared and was replaced by sudden concern. “You’re not, are you? Allergic, I mean? Or scared of them? ’Cause they’re great dogs, really. Although Bonny will get into your trash every chance she gets, so you’ll want to keep it in the garage. Do you keep it in the garage? Not on the back porch, right?” He looked around the porch, which did not in fact contain any garbage. “Good. That’s good. Other than that, I promise they won’t cause you a bit of trouble. And don’t worry about the yard, either. I’ll keep it clean, so you don’t have to worry about landmines or anything.”
    “Landmines?” It was a stupid word to latch onto, but he was talking so fast, and I wasn’t used to talking to people in person. Email was more my speed.
    He laughed, as if I’d made a joke. “Right. So how about it?”
    I blinked at him, trying to figure out what he’d asked me. Several questions, and now I wasn’t sure which one to answer.
    “I’m sorry,” I said, feeling like a fool. “What exactly are you asking me?”
    He smiled at me, and I began to blush for no good reason whatsoever. To my surprise, he began to blush too. “I’m talking really fast, aren’t I?”
    I laughed, feeling relieved it wasn’t just me. “You really are.”
    “I do that sometimes. Especially when I’m tired.” He reached up to touch his hair, a gesture that spoke more of nervous habit than vanity. “Anyway. The real question is, do you want to come down and meet the dogs? Maybe hang out and have a beer?”
    Hang out and have a beer. Such a simple concept, and yet it caused my heart to swell.
    “I’d love to,” I said, and I was surprised at how much I meant it.

    The dogs were named Betty, Bert, and Bonny. Betty was a shaggy white dog, about the size of a cocker spaniel. She ran in circles around my ankles. Bert was a heavy-bodied yellow lab mix. He sat stoically in front of me, his thick tail thumping against the floor. Bonny was about knee-height, colored like a Doberman, but built like a pony keg on popsicle sticks.
    “Humane Society guesses she’s half-shepherd, half-beagle. Can you believe that?” Nick smiled and shook his head, looking down at her. She was the only one who wasn’t interested in me. She seemed far more interested in sniffing every inch of the kitchen. “She can jump five-foot fences without missing a beat and she’s smarter than any dog has a right to be, I’ll tell you that.