Darcy/Clint 12
“We’re just going to look.” Yeah, okay. Famous last words. And really, Darcy knew better. But… It made her feel better about it, especially given the look Clint was giving her.
It was his house. Sure she was living there and she was his domestic partner or whatever, but it was still his house. He was rarely there, though, and she was getting awfully lonely just talking to her gigantic belly all the time.
He pulled the truck up to the county ASPCA. It had been a little bit of a drive- the drawback of living out in the middle of nowhere, going anywhere was an actual adventure. Opening the door revealed the noise common to animal shelters of all varieties- dogs barking and making noise.
They were there to get- look at- a cat. Darcy had thrown in that a cat would be able to help keep the mouse population down when it got to be a little warmer out. There were bound to be mice.
Clint moved quickly around the truck to wrap his arm around her. He tried to make it look like he was just being affectionate, but she knew that he was just making sure she didn’t slip. There were still patches of frozen ground in the shade, and he was… protective. She tried not to be irritated by it, she really did, but everything seemed to irritate her lately.
He opened the door for her, and they moved into the building. There was one person sitting at the front counter, who greeted them with a smile and asked if they were looking for anything specific. Darcy let Clint do the talking, walking towards the door that was labeled “dogs.” The barking was noticeably louder inside, even moreso when she pulled the door open.
This was the other way she’d talked Clint into it. She could look at cats, if he could look at dogs.
She heard his boots on the concrete floor behind her and held the door open for him, continuing forward when she felt him take the weight of it.
He stepped up beside her and took her hand as they walked through among the dog-occupied kennels.
“Hey,” he said, tugging on her hand, pulling her to a stop. “Get a load of that dog.”
Darcy obligingly turned to look. She let out a sigh as she saw a dog that was that was the epitome of mutt. It was kinda beige in color and it was missing an eye. A look over showed that Clint was already well on his way to falling in love with the thing, and she had to smile, her heart filling with tenderness. Clint had a ‘secret’ care-taking habit, it was one of the things she loved about him. “I guess we’re getting a dog.”