Daphne figured out when she was quite young that she was much smarter than the other puppies. The other puppies were mostly interested in chasing balls and sticks, and she enjoyed that, too, but she usually got bored with it pretty quickly and went off to read a book instead. She realized after a while, in fact, that the other puppies didn't read books at all, which she thought was rather odd.
People mostly didn't want to talk to her, since she was a dog (and only a puppy at that), and the other puppies weren't interested in the things she liked.
Then she met Pete and Katherine, and they seemed to understand her. They took her in and gave her a home. They took care of her, and her only complaint was that they didn't clean very often. But that wasn't that important, since they clearly wanted her there.
But then Pete and Katherine became a couple, and Daphne started to worry. She was happy for them, they were very good together, but she wasn't sure how she fit in. Would they let her stay? Did they care about her as much as they had before? Or would they get so caught up with each other that they'd pay less and less attention to her? She was a little scared, since nobody else had ever understood and accepted her as they had.
And then, one day when Pete was out, Katherine threatened her, and then Daphne started to worry more. Where would she go, if they kicked her out?
Daphne had opened her eyes at this point, and she was looking at Perry quizzically. He paused, and she asked, "How did you know about that?"
"SarahBeth told me. Katherine told her, and it made quite an impression on SarahBeth, as you can imagine."
Daphne nodded. "That's all she said? She left out half of the conversation. She said she'd shoot me if I did anything with Pete, but then I told her that, if she ever hurt Pete, I'd kill her." She bared her teeth and growled. "I don't mean hurt him emotionally, I mean for real. If she shoots him or something."
"What did she say to that?"
"She said that was fine with her." She smiled, the first time since he coaxed her into the room. "It's no big thing to keep from having sex with Pete. I mean, I love Pete, but not like that." She laughed. "He's kind of skungy-looking, really. Not my type. I remember starling and I were laughing once about how much we didn't want to have sex with Ray, and I didn't mention that Ray and Pete look a bit alike. But not to her, I guess."
"Love blurs the vision," he said. "Which is probably a good thing."
She pressed her cheek against his stomach, closed her eyes again, and put her arms around him. "Is there more to the story?" she asked.
"Of course."