She hit him with the kind of side-eye she usually got from her sisters when she made a corny joke. His eyes crinkled, but she couldn’t tell if it was the makings of a smile or if he’d gotten dust in them.
“I was told this pageant just wouldn’t be the same if a certain poodle didn’t participate,” Thad answered, then held up his phone. “And my grandmother asked me to FaceTime her so she can see Puddin’ strutting across the stage. I couldn’t say no.”
She was reluctant with her admission, but it had to be said. “That’s actually very sweet,” Ashanti told him.
“I’m not trying to be sweet. I really couldn’t say no. She would probably kick me out of her house if I did.”
A laugh escaped before she could suppress it.
Thad shrugged. “It’s not too much to ask if it’ll make my grandmother happy.”
She found his commitment to Mrs. Frances endearing. It was no secret that he wasn’t Puddin’s biggest fan, yet he’d agreed to care for him because he knew what the dog meant to his grandmother.
Ashanti tipped her head to the side and studied him for a moment as an idea began to take shape.
“What if I offered you a way to make Mrs. Francesreallyhappy?” she asked.
His forehead furrowed with his cautious frown. “How?”
“What would it take to get you on that stage?”
“Not for all the free Sprite in the world.”
She plopped her hands on both hips. “Be serious. Do you know how much Sprite there is in this world? And we’re talking five minutes onstage.”
She didn’t necessarily need him onstage. Honestly, it went against her own policy. After two owners nearly came to blows during their first pageant, she’d decided only Barkingham Palace employees would handle the dogs, but she was thinking as a business owner right now. The combination of a hot guy with a cute dog would do wonders for their social media numbers.
The more Ashanti thought about it, the more she wanted to make it happen.
“It wouldn’t be difficult at all,” she said. “Deja can FaceTime Mrs. Frances. All you would have to do is—”
“Not happening,” he said.
“But—”
Her phone chimed with an incoming text message. Ashanti knew it was Kara before she looked at the screen.
Why haven’t you gone live yet?
Because the pageant hasn’t started yet, Ashanti replied.
WHY NOT?????
Colleen poked her head out of the door again and sent Ashanti a thumbs-up. She returned it before texting Kara back.We’re starting now. Get off Instagram and pay attention to your instructor.
She turned to Thad. “All the Sprite in the universe.”
“Nope.”
He pulled his phone from his back pocket and raised it to eye level, then shook his head. His gaze spanned the room, then he nodded toward the opposite side of the stage. “I think I’ll have a better vantage point over there.”
That’s where she’d planned to stand, so that she could catch both the stage and the kids from the youth choir in the frame.
“I’m not following you,” Ashanti said, doing exactly that. “I have to go live on Instagram and had already planned to shoot from that side of the room.”
He glanced over his shoulder, and she was almost certain she’d spotted a grin. So hewascapable of smiling? Who would have thought?
Her elbow brushed against Thad’s arm as she wedged herself between him and the plastic agility bridge. Ashanti refused to acknowledge the brief tingle she felt on her skin. It had nothing to do with him. She’d probably rubbed against poison ivy or something.
