But I had other, far more important things to worry about right then. Ben had placed the dog bed on the floor next to the sofa, just as I’d requested, and the heating pad was plugged in and covered by one of the blankets. The little pups were already snuggled up on it, their eyes half closed in pleasure. They probably hadn’t been that warm since they were born; late January in Southern California of course wasn’t as cold as it could be in other parts of the country, but neither was it all eighty-degree weather and sunshine.
I extended two of the bottles toward Ben. “One last favor? I want to get these little guys all fed as quickly as possible, and it’ll go a lot faster if you help. After they eat, they’ll sleep, and then they should be okay for a while.”
A very short while — dogs as you
