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“Sam, it won’t work.” Max stared down Sam as he held the giant pillow. “You know I love dogs, and I have no problem with the dog being inside or hanging out under the table while we eat or included in most of our activities. I love dogs. We are not letting her sleep on the bed with us, though.”
“I let Bones and Riot sleep on my bed with me. Amelia never objected to Riot being there. Why can’t Maggie?” Sam crossed his arms and pouted. Of all the problems he’d anticipated about his new family moving in together, it had never occurred to him to think of this one. Why shouldn’t a family member be allowed to sleep in a bed?
Max wouldn’t budge. “Sam, you and I are both big guys. Our bed’s not exactly the easiest fit for the two of us. Adding a big dog would take it from cozy and romantic to cramped. Besides, we do not want Maggie on there when we’re trying to have sex, and if we just have a rule that dogs are not allowed on beds at all, then we don’t have to worry about breaking the mood by either having to kick her off the bed or having her try to hop on at a bad time.”
“I don’t know…” Max did have good points, but still. Maggie was their dog. In his head, Sam could admit that Max was right, that life would be much easier on everyone if Maggie had her own bed that wasn’t a bed. In his heart, though, he couldn’t make it feel right.
“You know, Dean tried to convince me to put my foot down and say Maggie stayed in the yard,” Max continued. “I told him to go to hell, apologized when I remembered he’d already been to Afghanistan, told him that if he couldn’t handle being in the same house as a dog then he could just not visit us, and hung up the phone. Alicia agrees with Dean and thinks dogs shouldn’t be inside, but knows you and I would never put up with that. She thinks we just shouldn’t let Maggie on any furniture at all. Dogs stay on the floor. Personally, I agree with her, but I know you hate that idea. This is the compromise that seemed like the best one. No dogs on the bed, and you’re responsible for cleaning up dog hair on the couch or chairs.”
Put that way, Sam found he couldn’t argue. It would also be easier to adjust Maggie’s behavior if Max changed his mind later than if Sam did – getting rid of an old rule over breaking a habit. “Okay. Maggie sleeps on her own bed on the floor. I clean up dog hair. But when I’m on a tight deadline, you’ll take care of her?” Most of the time, Sam would be Maggie’s primary handler, since he worked from home as a novelist. When he had deadlines looming, though, Max would often take a week of work from home time from his job in game development to take care of the things Sam usually did to distract himself.
“Of course, babe.” Max kissed Sam’s cheek and looked through the cart. “Okay. I’ll take this and go check out and take it out to the car, you go get started on the paperwork to bring Maggie home with us? I’ll meet you with the collar and leash when I’m done.”
Sam was just waiting while the volunteers made sure the paperwork was in order when Max made it back to him. When Krissy came out leading the puppy – the shelter’s papers called her a Doberman mix, but Sam was almost positive that there was a ton of lab in there, and likely some kind of hound – he took the purple collar they’d picked out and fitted it in place of the shelter’s paper collar. “Hey, girl. You ready to go home?”