“Every night I should be on my knees, Lord knows how lucky I’ve been. I’ll never say near enough, thank God for this woman, amen…”


Charlotte should've known that something big was going to happen the day she and Darcy were attended a correspondent’s dinner for Sundance. Her film hadn’t yet been accepted to the festival, but this was an event that would hopefully get it there. If she shook the right hands and talked to the right people, maybe she’d get there. She had been lucky enough that the dinner was held on a Sunday night just before the Kings began a four game home stand, which was going to be followed up by a six game road trip. She didn’t exactly know what that meant or what it would entail for him, all she knew was that he was going to be away for a week and a half… But at least it wasn't to China.

She and Darcy got all fancied up again; her in a long navy lace dress, and him matching her in a navy suit. Together, they looked like the ultimate power couple. When she stepped out of his bathroom all ready to leave, Darcy was standing in front of the TV, remote in his hand like he was waiting until the very last moment to turn the football game off.

Charlotte came up behind him and spanked him gently until he paid attention to her. He shut off the TV and spun around, admiring her in full. She reached up and straightened out his tie, humming out in approval of the way they looked as she smoothed out the shoulders of his suit jacket. And when they made it out to his car, he helped her up into it so she didn’t step on her dress, and then they were off for the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.

“You know this place is haunted,” she stated matter-of-factly as he got onto the freeway. They were in for a bit of traffic.

“With the ghosts of Marlon Brando and Cecil B. DeMille?”

Charlotte’s jaw dropped and she put her hand over her chest. “Look at you spouting out names from Old Hollywood. You’re turning me on,”

Darcy looked over at her and smiled, reaching over to take her hand and hold it over the center console. “Do you know who we’re supposed to be talking to tonight?”

She shook her head and looked out the window, “if they’re old and look important, we’re talking to them.” She paused and went into a deep yet brief thought. Hollywood had turned on its head today, with Harvey Weinstein being fired. People were starting to take a stand. Charlotte looked back at Darcy, “and if anyone comments on the whole Weinstein thing, we’re nodding our head and agreeing with them, but not saying anything.”

“What if they say something in support of him? Still nodding?” He knew well enough what had gone down. Charlotte had filled him in.

“No, we’re telling those people to get the fuck outta here. I’m ninety-nine percent positive no one is going to be in support of him. I’m nervous to comment on it though… might lose a position I don’t have,”

“If you’re asked a question about it, I’ll bore everyone with a long winded explanation of the new icing rule,”

Charlotte looked back up at him jokingly, “you’re a godsend, you beautiful boy.” She glanced back out the window and murmured, almost to herself, “how in the world did this get so political?”

Darcy tagged along in these conversations, standing beside or just behind Charlotte as she spoke. He gave her reassuring touches every once in a while to let her know she was doing more than fine. And he even got a little spotlight of his own, as more than a few people there were Kings fans. As they left one conversation where Darcy had been able to talk a little hockey, Charlotte questioned him about it. How did these two worlds somehow blend in the middle? He explained that after winning the Stanley Cup twice in three years, hockey began to see a more accepting following that was helped along by the support of different actors.

She nodded, thankful that that was the case. For as awkward as she felt in conversation with these people, it seemed like second nature to Darcy. He was charming and witty and overwhelmingly polite and gentle. Every step of the way, with every social event she’d taken him to, he’d made it exceptionally easy to assimilate into the lifestyle. It was that much easier to create this life with him. And so when they waited on the steps of the hotel for their car to be pulled up, Charlotte tugged on his hand until he looked at her, and then she took his face in her hands and kissed him. It didn’t matter to her that some of the important people she’d just been talking to were now watching her get involved with a very public display of affection. The feeling overwhelmed her and just wanted to make it happen then and there. And Darcy was more than willing to go along with it. He smiled against her lips and wrapped one arm around her lower back, pulling her in and up to him.

In the car, she wiped her lips and grinned as he took off. It would be a minute before he’d reach the on-ramp to the freeway, and until then, Charlotte would get a front row seat of the insanity that was Hollywood boulevard at one o’clock in the morning. But it wasn’t the drunk crowds, or the people dressed up in knock off costumes that caught her attention. No, this was when something big happened.

She screamed in a quick, high pitched tone that Darcy flinched in the drivers seat and looked over at her. His eyes were wide like he’d just watched her get shot, but ultimately had no idea why she was screaming at all.

Charlotte grabbed onto his hand and tugged on it, “stop!”

“Why? Are you okay?” He was so confused, but also didn’t stop driving.

“There’s a dog! Pull over here!”

Darcy laughed, “I’m not pulling over so you can pet a dog.”

“No, it’s running in the street. Pull over,”

“Char,” he argued.

“Darcy Kuemper, you pull this car over. I’ve never been more serious about anything in my whole entire life.”

He relented and pulled over to the curb at an empty meter. He put on his emergency lights right as Charlotte flung her door open and jumped out. She had gathered the end of her dress in her hand so she had more room to run, and Darcy swore he’d never seen a girl run so fast in four inch heels.

Charlotte took off down the street towards where she’d seen the little dog dart across traffic. He was running down the street away from her, and when he looked back and saw a mad woman running behind him, he took off through the street again. “No, puppy, come here!” She followed him out into the street, being honked at as car’s slammed on their brakes. “Fucking hell, quit honking, you’re scaring him,” she yelled at the driver. She was sure Darcy was watching her from the rear view mirror, holding his breath as she recklessly went after the dog.

When she followed him to the other side of the street, he stood panicked, holding his back leg up off the ground. Charlotte crouched down and held her hand out, cooing to him softly. The dog stared at her for a long while until something else spooked him and he came closer to her. Then she began talking to it like it was a small child that could actually understand what she was saying.

The little gray and white pitbull eventually got close enough to sniff her hand. “Hi puppy,” she whispered. After giving him time to sniff her hand, she turned her hand over and scratched behind his ears. He cowered at first but didn’t go very far as Charlotte noticed he was still favoring the same back leg. “Did you get clipped by a car?” She moved her hand to his side and waddled closer to him, “yeah? That’s no good. Are you gonna let mama pick you up?” She moved her hands around his stomach, “yeah, that’s a good little guy.” She stood up, little puppy in hand, and ran back across the street when there was a lapse in traffic.

Still watching from the side view mirror, Darcy stared at her walking back up the sidewalk, dressed to the nines, and now carrying a stray puppy that she’d just chased across the street. He fell in love a little more with Charlotte that night, and she pulled open the car door and slid into her seat with the puppy like nothing was out of the ordinary.

“We’re gonna have to take him to the vet. I think he got hit,” she said, rubbing her hand down his back leg gently. When he didn’t react too violently, she assumed nothing was broken.

“In the morning?” Darcy asked, pulling away from the curb.

“There’s a twenty-four hour emergency hospital by us. If we wait until morning, and something’s broken, they’ll have to re-break it to set it,” she hugged the puppy tighter as he began to shake, and looked up at Darcy, “and I don’t want this little guy to have to go through that.”

“It’s one in the morning,” Darcy pleaded. But when he looked back over at Charlotte, she had angled the puppy at him so they could both look at Darcy with big, sad puppy eyes. “I’m weak with you, Char,” he smiled.

---

“X-ray looks good. Nothing’s broken. He’s probably just in a little shock, a little bruised up. So he’ll be sore for awhile.” The vet held a small treat out to the puppy as Darcy and Charlotte stood across the table. “I checked for a chip, per your request…”

Charlotte felt Darcy’s eyes on her. She’d asked the vet to check to see if the puppy had an owner when Darcy went back to the car to hang up his jacket.

“He doesn’t have one… Looks to be about seven weeks, pretty undernourished, so my best guess is that he was born a stray or was left on the street shortly after birth because someone didn’t want another pitbull.”

“So we can keep him?” Charlotte asked, again feeling Darcy staring at her.

“California law says you have to wait a week to see if an owner comes forward to the closest shelter to where you found him, before you can legally adopt.”

“We have to take him back to a shelter?”

The vet looked back and forth between them, “or he can stay here under our care for a week. And we’ll let the shelter know that we have him incase anyone comes in looking for a dog that matches his description.” He must’ve seen Charlotte’s face fall because he amended, “but my professional opinion is that he should be in a warm home getting some proper food. You give me your number, address, and promise not to flee the state, I’ll let you take him home and let the Hollywood shelter know he’s in my care. But if an owner does come forward, you’ll have to bring him back to me.”

Charlotte grinned and reached over the table to hold onto the vet’s hands, “thank you!”

He smiled, “I also drew some blood. At this age, he’s just inside the range for vaccinations, so I gave him a rabies shot and his first round of Parvo, Adenovirus, and distemper vaccinations. He needs two more doses of each, so if you end up keeping him, come back, and we’ll finish his vaccinations. I also gave him a dewormer… the lab takes a few days to find out if he has heart worms, but there’s no harm in taking a dewormer even if he doesn’t.”

“Thank you so much, seriously…” Charlotte smiled wider.

“I’ll be in touch if an owner comes forward; just leave your information at the front desk.”

Darcy set his hand on Charlotte’s back, “alright, grab your foster son. I’ll square up,”

The vet watched Charlotte pick the puppy up off the table, being extra gentle about his back leg. “Oh, you’re square,”

Darcy looked confused and stared at the vet.

“He’s in my care, remember? You’re just two kind people who brought him in and dropped him off.”

“You gave him all those shots,” Darcy argued.

The vet shrugged, “if we charged people who just come in to drop off a stray, no one would do the good service. We take this one on the chin for the well-being of the animal.”

Darcy nodded and thanked him for helping out, and then walked out of the room and into the reception area. Charlotte stayed a bit longer to thank him over and over again. She knew he was taking a risk by letting them take the puppy home. He was banking on their good will. When she made it out to the reception area, she walked up beside Darcy. In front of him was a piece of paper where he’d written down all their information, and now had his checkbook out. Charlotte watched him write out a thousand dollar check and wrote thanks in the memo line.

Back in the car, Charlotte cradled the dog like he was her new baby, “what should we call you?”

“You shouldn’t name him,” Darcy mentioned, looking over. He had to admit the puppy was really cute. “It’ll make it that much harder to give him up if someone comes forward.”

She shook her head, “you heard the vet. And look at him. He’s a bunch of bones and all dirtied up…” she ran her hand over the white fur over his foot; or what was supposed to be white. It was more of an oily black. “Someone left this guy on the street, and I ran through traffic to get him, so I’ll name him, and I’ll question the hell out of anyone who comes to take him.” Charlotte bent down and kissed the top of the dog’s head, and then looked back up at Darcy, “don’t you want to be a fur daddy?”

He giggled, “please never say that again.”

When they got back to her place Charlotte immediately went for the kitchen and searched through the fridge for something to feed the puppy. They hadn’t gone home with any actual dog food, but she figured the leftover roasted chicken from the night before would be fine. It wasn’t anything to extravagant, and thought it would suffice for the night until she could go to the store tomorrow and get some puppy chow.

He nervously approached the bowl she set down and sniffed around before fully committing and eating the chicken. Charlotte went into her room to get changed as soon as she realized he’d be there awhile, finishing his meal. She slid out of her dress and let it fall to the floor before picking it up and putting it back on the hanger. She’d have to get it dry cleaned eventually. That night, she decided on just an oversized t-shirt; it was too hot in the tiny apartment for bottoms. And when Charlotte walked back out to see how the puppy was doing, and in that moment, she fell a little more in love with Darcy. He was sitting on the floor with his back propped against the kitchen cabinets, dog in his lap. They stared at each other with loving eyes, both relishing in the attention they were giving each other.

Despite him being pretty dirty, Charlotte didn’t think twice about having the puppy sleep with her and Darcy in the bed that night. She’d wash her sheets in the morning. This was the first night they were spending as a family, despite the dog not actually being theirs. Charlotte was choosing to be optimistic about their chances on keeping him, mostly because she didn’t want to let herself believe that there was a probability that they’d have to turn him in.

Notes

"Woman, Amen" by Dierks Bentley