“It was Milan,” Bryson said to Odessa. “And I was only there for the food.”
“Nonsense.” Odessa gave him another slap. “You were there because everyone wants you as their keynote speaker.”
“You haven’t changed a bit, Odessa,” Bryson told her with a laugh.
“Neither have you. You still don’t like bragging on yourself.”
Barking broke out from somewhere beyond the lobby, and Odessa threw up her hands. “Let me go check on these dogs before they tear this place apart.”
“Well, you may not like bragging on yourself, but I brag on you enough for the both of us,” Doc Landry said. “In fact, I just sent the write-up on you fromToday’s Veterinary Businessto an old colleague of mine.” He patted his pockets, then looked around at the floor. “Dammit,” he said, snapping his fingers. “I left my phone in my car again. I’ll be back in a minute.”
And just like that, Bryson found himself alone with Evie Williams for the first time in eight years.
An awkward silence fell over the lobby and his clothes suddenly felt too tight, too itchy. That long-forgotten sensation of feeling uncomfortable in his own skin had made an unwelcome return. It shouldn’t surprise him. He’d turned into a tongue-tied mess the first time he’d met her.
Bryson jammed his hands into his pockets and squeezedhis fists tight, trying to relieve the tension in his muscles and the knot that had formed in his stomach.
Evie glanced his way, then quickly averted her eyes to focus on the dog in her arms. Rubbing her thumb on the crinkly spot between the dog’s eyes, she said, “So, how are you, Bryson?”
“Alive,” he answered with a grin. But the smile died on his lips when she didn’t return it.
His reply had been a running joke between them back when they both volunteered at The Sanctuary. Whether it was after a late night of studying or, on the rare occasion, partying, they always answered the morning greeting in the same way. Given the rigor of Louisiana State University’s Veterinary Medicine program, they’d felt lucky just to live to see another day.
Maybe she’d forgotten about their silly greeting. Or, more than likely, she was uninterested in tiptoeing down even the most innocuous parts of memory lane where he was concerned.
“What about you?” Bryson asked. “How are you doing, Ev?”
“Fine,” she answered with the cordiality of someone speaking to a complete stranger about the weather.
After all these years with zero contact, theywerestrangers. They had only spent one summer together. But they’d shared so much in those months, it was hard to imagine they would ever find themselves in a place where they could barely speak two sentences to each other, where this cloud of unease hung over them.
That regret-filled knot tightened in the pit of Bryson’s stomach.
Both he and Evie turned at the sound of Doc opening the front door. Its squeaky hinges screamed for a shot of WD-40.
“How have things been going, Doc?” Evie asked.
“Good, good,” his mentor answered with the exuberant gaiety Bryson always associated with him. True to form, Doc seemed oblivious to the tension hovering in the air.
“It’s been a long time since you’ve dropped by,” Doc continued. “I gather things have been busy over on Maple Street?”
Bryson flinched at the mention of Maple Street. One of the reasons he’d pushed thoughts of Evie out of his mind these past eight years is because the thought of her working at Maple Street Animal Hospital with her boyfriend—no doubt her husband now—made him sick to his stomach. Literally. He would need to find the nearest trash can if anyone so much as mentioned that asshole’s name.
“Things are always busy there,” Evie answered. “And at Barkingham Palace.”
“I bet they are. That boarding place has been all over the news.” Doc turned to Bryson. “Remind me to show you the video with the poodle and the French bulldog. What’s their names again, Evie?”
“Duchess and Puddin’,” Bryson answered at the same time she did.
Evie looked over at him, her brows arched high over eyes that were even more beautiful than he remembered.
“I should have known you’d seen that video,” Doc said. “I watched it over and over for a week. Couldn’t help myself.”
Bryson doubted there was a single person in the country who hadn’t seen the footage of those two dogs that went virallast year. He didn’t realize Evie worked at the pet daycare center where it had been taken. Interesting.
There was so much he didn’t know about her, which was a damn shame. At one time his every thought had been consumed by this woman.
“That daycare—what’s the name? Barkingham Palace?—it seems pretty popular,” Bryson said.
