Andrew woke some time later and slipped from the bed to use the bathroom. When he came back into the room, he spotted Rev at the foot of the bed. Something seemed off. The dog was lifting his feet in a funny way and almost looked as if he couldn’t get his legs to work properly.
Andrew shook Jill awake gently and whispered in her ear. “Honey, I think something’s wrong with Rev. He’s acting funny.”
Jill was up and out of the bed in a flash, and on the floor with Rev.
“Shhh, lay down Rev,” she cooed to the dog as she coaxed him to lie down on his side. Rev’s legs stuck straight out in front of him, quivering and tense. His eyes looked glazed and he didn’t fight Jill as she cradled him.
“What’s wrong with him?” Andrew asked over her shoulder as he watched her comfort Rev.
“He has seizures sometimes. It’s not a big deal. He’ll be like this for a few minutes and then he just snaps out of it and it’s over. He might be a little tired after, but that’s it.”
“Can they give him medicine for them?” He sat on the floor behind Jill and wrapped his legs and arms around her and the dog. Even though she was calm and trying to act casual, he could tell she was worried.
“They can, but they won’t do that until he starts to have them more frequently. The meds have some serious side effects, so his vet will only start him on them if his seizures happen more than once a month. As long as they aren’t that often and they stop within five minutes, we don’t need to do anything other than make him comfortable and safe when they’re happening.”
She looked down at Rev as she talked and petted gently until his legs began to relax.
“See? He’s coming out of it already,” she said and smiled up at Andrew.
He felt like he had been punched in the gut when she smiled at him like that.
Somehow, someway, in the short span of just a few days, this woman had reached deep down into his soul, touching a part of him that he had buried the day he found out what Blair had done.
Andrew wasn’t sure he wanted anyone reaching that deep inside him but neither did he want to fight his response to Jill.
He helped her lift Rev up onto the bed with them and they fell asleep with the dog between them. Just before slipping into sleep Andrew wondered how the hell he ended up snuggling with a giant, curly mop of dog hair instead of Jill, but was surprised to realize he didn’t care.
Shit.