Annie feels a jolt of alarm.
“I may simply set her there,” Doug says. “That’s simple sufficient.”
“I do know, however it might be higher if she may do it herself.”
“Why?” Annie asks.
“Our sexuality is an integral a part of who we’re,” Monica says. “How tapped in you might be to your sexual needs will be each a reflection of and a stimulus of your general psychological well being. In case you make a aware effort to be aware about what turns you on and when, it would enable you really feel extra alert and alive in different methods too.”
Annie doesn’t need to really feel stimulated. She doesn’t need something to do with that aspect of herself. It’ll damage.
“She’ll work on it,” Doug says.
“Annie, what are you considering?” Monica says. “What is it about my suggestion that’s troubling you?”
“Nothing,” Annie says quietly. “I can do it. I can strive.”
Monica doesn’t say something. Annie has realized that is Monica’s technique, her approach of ready for extra, and she will resist it. From the sting of her imaginative and prescient, Annie watches for cues from Doug to see if he’s displeased, however he’s sitting on the sofa beside her, his posture revealing no uncommon stress. Maybe he has realized Monica’s strategies, too, and is healthier at hiding how he feels round her.
When they stroll the canine, they go in silence alongside the paths of the park. It’s often twilight by the point they begin out, and true night time by the point they return, chilly as solely April will be. Paunch, who has change into much less timid, has a proclivity to cease and nostril out each potential tree trunk, lamppost, and plinth earlier than gracing it with a tag of his urine. Doug indulges him up to a level, and the canine appears to perceive when to knock it off.
They’re rounding the pond when a goose wanders up onshore. With one sharp quack, it sends Paunch scrambling backward, and his leash wraps round Annie’s legs.
“He’s such a dubber,” Doug says fondly, disentangling the mess. He thumps the canine’s aspect in reassuring pats. “You’re OK, Paunch. Good canine. It’s simply a goose.”
Paunch pants, wagging his tail.
“Did you could have a canine whenever you had been a child?” Annie asks. “Sure, a beagle.”
She considers a second. “I had a golden retriever.”
“Is that proper?” he asks. “Named what?”
“Rover.”
“You’re going to have to do higher than that.”
It’s an precise dialog. Not good, however not hostile both. Annie decides not to push her luck, and they circle again towards their constructing.
Ten minutes later, they’re ready at a nook for the sunshine to change. As Doug shifts to step off the curb, Annie hears an approaching rush of noise and reaches out to catch his arm, restraining him simply as a bicyclist flies round a parked truck, inches from Doug’s face.
“Jesus!” Doug says. “That man wants a fucking mild.”
“Sure.”
Half a block later, he provides, “Thanks.”
She, too, continues to be considering they’d a shut name. It’s unnerving, what might need occurred, however they’re superb. They’re superb, all three of them. “After all,” she says. “Do you assume perhaps Paunch wants a coat? A doggy coat?”
They have a look at him collectively. Certain sufficient, the canine is shivering. Doug picks him up. “I’ll order one,” he says.
Excerpt tailored from Annie Bot, by Sierra Greer. Revealed by association with Mariner Books, a division of HarperCollins Writer. Copyright © 2024 by Sierra Greer.