Unexpected Liaisons - 24. Sit, Stay, Beg

Training meant just that, and Zupan spent much of his first two hour session confused about who it was exactly who was supposed to be doing the learning, him or Caesar. The woman who had bred the puppy was very down to earth, and very direct. Zupan wondered how anyone ever said ‘no’ to her, because he certainly couldn’t manage it. That first day they covered house rules and Lily went over all the commands that Caesar knew, and all the things she’d started to do with him. She also showed Zupan how to put on his harness which was red, with Working Service Dog printed on the side, and the different way he needed to be treated while he was working.

Sitting was the first task, and Lily placed a yellow pages book next to Zupan’s chair.

“Get him to sit on it.”

Zupan frowned, used the clicker to get Caesar to come over to him, and the puppy sat at his feet, tongue out and looking happy.

“Good b-”

“Don’t praise him.” Lily said quickly.

Zupan drew back his hand.

“What?”

“Well,” Lily folded her arms, “Did he do exactly what you wanted?”

“Well, no.” Zupan felt mean. Caesar was looking at his expectantly, his tail no longer flopping happily from side to side, “But, he came and he sat.”

“And that’d be great if he was going to grow up to be any other dog Mr Standahl. But he’s not, Caesar is the product of a long line of service dogs, giving people help and new leases of life all across the country.” Lily stood up, and went to stand on the other side of the yellow pages. She used her clicker to direct the puppy to the space between them, sitting with his front paws on the yellow pages. The clicked the clicker again and she gave Caesar a small treat. “You might not think you need help now, but you never know what the future holds. He’s gonna be a great companion.”

Lily sent the dog across the room and then turned to Zupan.

“Now, get him to sit next to you.”

It took then three more goes, but eventually they got it, and Zupan managed to get the puppy to sit consistently right beside him. He gave the dog a tiny treat each time and then they moved on. Sitting across the room, sitting at the back door. The fetch game lasted forever as Caesar took items from Zupan to Lily and back again, across several rooms and sometimes even outside.

Lily left him with specific instructions for consistency in his training and said that she’d be back tomorrow.

Zupan had a soda, gave Caesar his lunch, which was a token meal considering the number of treats he ate, and called his mother. He’d put off doing it since the airport, but they’d asked him to set up a dinner, and Zander had said that he was on an early shift. Issac had got him a table for four, and Bay had agreed to watch Caesar since it wasn’t wise to take him out to restaurants just yet.

The phone rang, and rang. Zupan was just deciding that the whole thing was a bust when his mother’s voice answered.

“Hello, Standahl residence?”

“Hey mum.”

“Zupan!” His mother sounded genuinely delighted to hear his voice, “I was only talking about you the other day. You remember Jess Rayleen? Tia’s mother? Well she was saying that Tia’s back from Vietnam and she was asking after you-”

“Ma!” Zupan shout made Caesar whine at his side. He put his hand on the puppy’s head gently, “Mum. Can you stop long enough to take a breath every now and then?”

“Well how long has it been since you called home huh?”

There was a fairly long silence.

“Fair enough. Zander and I wanted to invite you to dinner tonight. We have a reservation at The Fish and Antlers.”

“Isn’t that the fancy restaurant where Issac works?”

Zupan smiled. His mother could remember everything about what Issac did, the last time Zoltan called, but he couldn’t remember the last time she’d asked him about how the games were going.

“Yeah, he’s head chef there.” He took a deep breath, “So will you come?”

“Of course we’ll come,” There was the world’s shortest pause, “Now Tia has been working with children in Vietnam for a year now. She’s full of stories about the kids she’s worked with and the food out there…”

Zupan let his mother talk, holding the phone at an angle away from his ear while he played with Caesar’s fur, the pup had the kind of classical colouring you got in good German shepherds, at his had very expressive tan eyebrow spots. The puppy cocked his head as Zupan sighed, only half listening to his mother wittering on.

“…So anyway I was thinking that you should call her.”

“Huh?”

“You should call Tia Rayleen. What do you think we’ve been talking about for the last half hour?”

Zupan was about to throw his phone across the room, but Caesar’s whine stopped him.

“MUM!”

“There’s no need to shout Zupan!”

“WE are inviting you to dinner. We. As in me and Zander. I want you to come and get to know him mum.”

“Sure, sure. What time do you want us there?”

Zupan sighed.

“Dinner at seven.”

“OK honey.”

He hung up the phone and shook his head at the dog.

“Lord help us Caesar. This might not be pretty.”

*

It was The Fish and Antlers, which meant posh and dressy. Bay showed up at six in full puppy-sitting mode, trainers, jeans, hoodie and a bunch of dog toys.

“I bought presents!” The young man instantly got down on the floor and started messing with Caesar, who yapped and wrestled with the multi-coloured chewing rope, delighted to have someone new to play with. Zupan was jealous. He wanted to stay home with his puppy and his friends, but there was a new shirt hanging on the door of the wardrobe, and he was going to have to talk to his parents.

Zander came home from work, threw a clothes bag at him and leapt into the shower. Zupan found himself getting dressed in another new pair of shiny, lace edged boxers, his new red pearl-snapped shirt and a pair of neatly pressed pin-striped suit trousers. He gave himself a visual once over.

“You look beautiful babe.” Zander dropped a kiss on the back of his neck, “Just remember to smile.”

Zander swept back his hair, put on some cologne and gave Zupan his most winning smile. He was dressed in a dove grey suit with a white shirt and a crisp, very colourful tie. He looked perfect, serious, delicious. Zupan found himself running his fingers across Zander’s abdomen, tugging the shirt from the belt of his trousers, wanting his skin.

“Babe…” Zander stepped back, straightening his clothes, “We don’t have time.” He smiled, kissed him, and fiddled with the ring on his finger, “I promise when we get home…” He flicked at Zupan’s pearl-snap buttons, “I’ll rock your world baby.”

Zupan growled, and tried to catch him, but Zander swivelled out of the way with a sexy little smile.

“Tease.”

“You bet. Come on big man. Dinner time!”

*

Micky led the boys to their table with a rather smug expression, and helped Zander into his seat. Zupan’s space was empty already, and he did not have all the cutlery sets that the other place settings had.

“I still don’t get to order huh?” Zupan couldn’t dare be annoyed about it, since very little on the menu made sense to him anyways, and Micky smiled.

“Wine?”

“Sure. “ Zupan smiled at his fiancé, “Whatever the pretty boy wants.”

The parents arrived ten minutes later. Zupan’s father was dressed in a dark suit, his mother in a well fitted two-piece skirt and blouse with pearls. Micky sat them too, giving them the restaurants little spiel, a little of the history and the current menu. He left them with three menu’s and sent a waiter over with Zupan’s beer.

“Beer? Really Zupan?”

Zu stared at his mother levelly over the top of his bottle. Then sipped again.

“So unrefined.”

Zander took a sip of his wine, then curved his hand around the back of Zupan’s neck.

“Unrefined works for Zu.” He glanced at his menu, “So what does everyone want to eat? I like the sound of that chicken with the parmesan crisp that Micky was talking to us about.”

Zupan drank his beer, looked at the menu over Zander’s shoulder and was generally pleased to be getting another surprise meal. His father managed to make small talk about the drive down and the hazards of parking in the city, namely lack of spaces and the expense of paying when you did find one, and Zander complimented his mother’s jewellery, talked a little about his work, and was generally incredibly polite and a very good host. Zupan felt like a grumpy teenager by comparison.

Food arrived. Zander and his father had the same thing, something involving complicated chicken and cheese. His mother had a salad that had apparently been forged from about twenty different ingredients and Zupan got… mini burgers.

“They’re called sliders.” Zander attempted theft of a one of the sticky little barbeque burgers got his hand promptly blocked by Zupan’s arm, “Oh babe…”

“Nuh-ah pretty boy. You stick to your fancy chicken stuff.”

“Where on the menu did you find those?” Zupan’s mother frowned at him, “Doesn’t really match the other food?”

“Issac cooks for him special,” Zander smiled sweetly and reached for Zupan’s hand, “It’s very good of him, and it’s so lovely of you both to join us.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you too,” Zupan father nodded over the table, “Though I can’t say you’re the usual kind of company our son keeps.”

“Dad!”

“Stop jumping the gun Zupan.” The older Standahl waved with his fork over the table, which earned him a stern look from his wife, “I was going to say that Zander seems to be a big improvement on your usual sort of company. I like him.”

“Well thanks.”

Zupan found himself playing with the ring around Zander’s finger. Now would be a good time. Now he could tell them. He smiled at Zander, reached over and cupped his face with one hand. Zander kissed his palm, rough with callouses, like he didn’t care who was watching. Zupan cleared his throat.

“Mum, Dad. We’re engaged,” He pushed their jointed hands across the table, making sure Zander’s ring was on show, “We’re getting married.”

There was a moment where Zupan thought it was all going to blow up in his face, and then some natural instinct in his parents took over and there were hugs and kisses, claps on the back, manly handshakes and congratulations all round. His mother cooed over the ring, told him what good taste he had, and his father ordered brandy in a loud, jovial sort of manner. When dessert arrived, Issac came out along with it, and that got another round of hugs and drinks and celebration.

Through it all, Zupan sat back, smiled, and realised that everything was indeed going to be alright. The panic was over, his parents had come around to his way of thinking, everything was going to be OK. When Zander excused himself to use the bathrooms, his mother took his hand and smiled.

“I’m really pleased for you Zupan. He’s a special guy.”

“Thanks mum.”

“I still think you should give Tia a call though honey.”

Zupan growled.

“What the hell ma? You just said that you were happy for me!”

“And you never did have the attention span to listen did you?” His mother smiled at him and sipped her wine, “I said to call Tia about her trip to Vietnam. She was working with kids with disabilities out there and her mother was telling me all about a sports centre she was working at. I thought it would be cool if you hooked her up with some of your guys. Might be a nice place for one of your sponsors to send some of you guys.”

“Mum…?” Zupan could barely believe what he was hearing.

“You know, all those PR things you guys do. Like when you went to Israel along with the ‘Football of Peace’ people? I thought it might be a great opportunity for you.”

Zupan drained his beer.

“Jesus… I thought you were trying to set me up!”

His mother clipped him around the skull.

“Zu! You’re such a fool. He’s good too you right?”

“He bought me a puppy…”

And as it turned out, Zupan could talk, sensibly, enthusiastically, and without swearing, about Caesar for hours.