Lauren:Great. I’ll read it. I’m beat. Going to bed early. Night.
Me: Night.
I find the article and cut and paste the link into a text. I click off the television and throw the empties that held my dinner into the garbage can. I crawl into bed and pick up my book. After reading only a few minutes, I start to doze, but my buzzing telephone wakes me. Assuming it’s Lauren responding, I pick it up and press the little green button. “Hello?”
“MacKenzie?”
Oh, it’s Sam. “Yes. Hi, Sam.”
“Hi, sweetheart. How was your day?”
Ah, dang. When he says sweetheart, it makes my undies melt. “Good. Long. I’m pooped.”
I hear his deep chuckle come from my phone, and it happens again, melted panties. “I bet you are tired. Working retail is hard work.”
“Plus, the dogs were especially big pains in the ass today.” Oh, crap. I don’t know if I told him about my dog-walking gig.
“Dogs? At the store?”
Now, it’s my turn to laugh. “No. I walk dogs over my lunch break.”
“Wow. You do? You make jewelry and walk dogs on top of your full-time job? Why do you work so much?”
I’d like to confess it’s because I need the money, but instead I say, “Oh, well, the extra money allows me to buy the materials for my jewelry. Platinum and gold aren’t cheap. I buy precious gems as well.”
“I didn’t see any of your pieces with gems. What are they like?”
“I’ve got some pics on my phone. I’ll send you a few photos.”
“I can’t wait,” he says, sounding sincere. “So, these dogs… how many are we talking? Ten?” He chuckles again. His voice is so rich and deep. Damn.
“There are three of them. One of them is a golden retriever. Her name is Daisy Duke. There’s a poodle named Brutus and a sheltie called Maggie.”
“What’d they do today?”
“Well, Maggie never does anything wrong. She’s perfect,” I coo. “It’s Brutus. That silly poodle is a pain in my backside. He got off his leash and ran. For such a little dog, he sure can move. And Daisy does whatever Brutus does. So… I was running after Brutus when Daisy got the jump on me. She wanted to chase Brutus full-tilt and started pulling me down an icy sidewalk. I almost went ass over tits a couple of times.”
I stop, embarrassed that I’m rambling. Then I hear the laughter coming from the phone. That stops me cold. He’s laughing—hard. I can almost see him, bent over with tears in his eyes, laughing at me.
I smile. “So, you like laughing at me, huh?” It’s the first time we’ve talked that I actually feel like myself.
“Not at you, babe. But that’s a great story. Did you catch the little bastard?”
Now, it’s my turn to laugh. “He is. He’s alittle bastard. That’s the perfect description. Yes, I finally caught him because he stopped for an abandoned hot dog on the grass. Yuk. He was too engrossed in that to see me coming.” I sighed. “I was almost late getting back to work again.” Oh, shit, I saidagain.
“Again? Are you late a lot?”
“Enough. My boss is cool, but that’s not gonna last forever. I need to make more of an effort to get up earlier so I can get to work on time.”
“You don’t work next Saturday, right?”
“Nope. I only have to work one Saturday a month.” I wonder at the abrupt change of subject. Well, maybe it’s because we have a date Friday night. “Yeah, so I can stay out past my bedtime on Friday.”
“I was hoping we’d have bedtime together,” Sam says in an uber sexy voice.Dayum.
Flustered, I mutter, “Oh, um, well, uh, I’m tired. I need to get to sleep so I’m not late tomorrow.”
“All right, darlin’. I’ll talk to you soon. Sweet dreams.”
