Well, this is just like Christmas to Maggie. She sets aside the tube of cream and reaches out again with her good hand to give Velcro a damn good scratching of the ears. Her mother's not here to yell at her so she can get her own dog, right? Or maybe a cat. No, she should wait until she gets a paycheck past the first few. Or until she has some savings. Pay her bills and don't by anything she doesn't actually need like an animal.

Oh, how Marisol still has her daughter right under her thumb and she's not even in the same universe.

"How old is he?" Clearly she is more interested in getting to know the dog than the owner.