of already paid for him,” she said, words coming out in a rush.
“Well unpay for him.”
Riley was already moving toward the door. “You’ll thank me later. Women love
guys with dogs.”
“Riley!”
He caught up with her on the sidewalk. The good news? He was still carrying the
boy dog. Bad news?
He looked pissssssed.
“Riley, you can’t just go buying people dogs they don’t want.”
She pointed at the puppy. “But you do want it.”
He rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “This is over the top, Riley.”
It was. It really was. But …
She lifted her chin and pointed a finger at him. “Thanksgiving, two years ago.
Megan and Brian were contemplating adopting a dog. And you said you’d always
wanted a dog but didn’t have room in your current place.”
“I was in a studio.”
“Well, you’re not in a studio now.”
His eyes narrowed on her. “That was two years ago. People can change their
minds.”
“Fair enough. Have you?”
He glanced down at the dog then, and she knew there was no way the puppy
was going back. “Look, Sam. I know I overstepped. Majorly. And I’ll take the little
guy back if you want me to. But I think he’d be good for you.”
“Good for me?”
“You know. A buddy.”
“I have a buddy. Liam.”
“Yeah. Because he’s cuddly.”
“I have you for that.”
But how long are you going to keep me?
She kissed her own puppy on the head before moving toward Sam and giving
the boy puppy a matching kiss. She was rewarded by a gentle lap on the chin,
and the sweetly instinctive gesture had her eyes watering.
Sam noticed. “Easy there, softie, you’ve got your own.”
Her eyes flicked up. “You’re keeping him?”
He ran a big hand over the tiny puppy as he studied her. “Tell me something,
McKenna. That Thanksgiving two years ago … Why’d you remember my dog
comment?”
Little alarm bells went off in Riley’s head.
“I don’t know,” she said with a careless shrug.
He didn’t release her gaze. “I think you do.”
She pursed her lips and focused on a spot beyond his shoulder while she
considered her response. “My birthday four years ago … you got me concert
tickets. Why?”
Sam shifted his weight, immediately wary. “Because you always liked obnoxious
poppy boy bands.”
“No, I liked that boy band. Only. Back when I was nineteen.”
“Too old to be liking boy bands, by the way.”
“My point is,” she said with exaggerated patience, “I didn’t even know that they’d
gotten back together for an anniversary tour, and yet you knew and bought me
tickets.”
“So?”
“So you remembered my favorite band from years before. And sought out tickets.
Want to talk about why?”
His jaw clenched. “Not really.”
“And I don’t want to talk about how I remember the dog thing.”
They stared at each other for a long minute in mutual understanding. In mutual
fear.
“I’m no good at things like this,” he said as she started walking again and he
trailed along beside her, staring in confusion at his new furry companion.
“At what?”
“Taking care of things.”
Sure you are. “Give it a shot. If you screw it up, we’ll find another home for him.”
Sam gave a reluctant nod.
Riley pretended not to see when he very slowly, very subtly brought the puppy
close to his face and pressed his lips against its tiny head.
Not good at taking care of things, my ass.
* * *
“How long until the puppies go to sleep?”
Riley paused in the process of tossing a stuffed squirrel for the two dogs. “They’re
not toddlers, Sam. I don’t think we get to establish a bedtime.”
He held up the iPad that he’d been studying carefully for the past twenty minutes.
“Says right here. The most effective crate-training technique involves
consistency. We’re supposed to put them in their crates at the same time every
evening, take them out at the same time every morning.”
Riley pouted and glared at the twin crates Sam had insisted they buy. “But what
if they want to play after we put them in there?”
Sam gave her a look. “What if I want to play?”
Riley scrambled to her feet. “Okay, puppies! Bedtime!”
But first there was outdoor puppy business to attend to.
“Well, I think we can rule out Dauntless as a name,” Riley mused as they watched
the boy dog attempt to move past the big, bad, scary dragonfly to the grassy area