The girl clutches my sleeve as I read her a story about pigs. In a voice sprinkled with sugar, she asks me to leave my shirt behind so she can smell her mother in her sleep.

"What about just having a nice dream about me?" I ask.

"No, that will make me miss you even more!" she shrieks. I pull the pink cotton over my head and leave it on her pillow with a kiss. She shuts her eyes and makes a noise like a snort. I hold the doorknob tight so my exit will be silent. I walk across the hall half-naked and call the dog upstairs for bed.


The dog won't get in her crate. She's sitting on the rug with one paw on my foot and her eyes on my throat. She moves to curl into a nest over both my feet.

"Crate!" I shout-whisper to not wake the man. She shuts her eyes and sighs. My toes can feel her ribs relax under her fur over her lungs.

"Craaaate!" I hiss. She never listens to me like she does to him, even when I try to be firm like he tells me.

My bare nipples sharpen like boning knives in the chill of the house. Maybe the dog is cold too even though her skin is so warm that it dampens my ankles. I peel my blue sweatpants off my legs and throw them into the crate. The dog glances at me sideways and trots through the little metal door. She forms a new nest on my pants and squeezes her eyes again with a grunt.

"Good night," I say but she is already asleep.


I brush my teeth in the dark in my underwear before sliding into bed next to the man. He turns away and snores a sound thick with mucus and two hours of deep rest. The day has almost drained from my body when I feel his hand tearing the last fabric from my hips. It reaches between my legs to find what's softer. I open my eyes but his are still closed, mouth slack, a little wheeze whistling between his teeth. I wonder what he's dreaming about as his fingers blindly seek out more of me.

.