"It’s never too late to try," I say instead, squeezing his hand and looking up at him.
"It’s not that simple."
A thought crosses my mind, and even though I can hardly bring myself to say it, I still need to know. "Is that why you have that tattoo?Guilty? Because of what happened with…"
He doesn’t look at me as he answers with a curt, tonelessyes.
Knowing that he thinks of himself that way only makes me sadder. But I don’t want to torture him any further about it, so I remain silent until Cole suddenly curses loudly and lets go of my hand to walk into the brush beside to us.
"What’s wrong?" I call after him, following him with my gaze. The undergrowth is too dense for me to see Buster from here, but Cole is much taller than I am, so he was able to keep an eye on the dog the whole time.
Another curse follows before Cole replies, "He found a dead deer and rolled in it."
I grimace and turn away as Cole grabs Buster by the collar and pulls him back toward the path.
"Goddamn… He smells like death."
I pinch my nose just in case before glancing over my shoulder at the two of them, but as soon as I see Cole’s expression, I can’t help myself. I burst out laughing, causing him to glare at me angrily, still holding Buster’s collar.
"You’re going to help me bathe him. Let’s see if you’re still laughing then."
THIRTY-TWO
SOPHIE
Buster literally stinks like death, but sitting in the truck with him was almost harmless. Bathing him, on the other hand…Heavens!Either he doesn’t like water or he’s not ready to take off his new scent under any circumstances because he’s just jumped out of the tub for the third time.
"If he keeps doing this, I’m going to hose him down outside." Cole is visibly annoyed, and I can’t blame him. He is soaked from head to toe, the bathroom looks like a war zone, and the disgusting stench of rot hangs in the air.
"That’s enough," he orders sternly and lifts Buster, who immediately starts kicking his legs frantically as if we were leading him to the slaughter. "Get in there and fuckingstaythere!"
As soon as the dog stands in the bathtub, I spread more of the shampoo in his fur while Cole holds him by the collar with an iron grip. As he does so, he curses again and again and tells me tohurry the fuckup.
I try with all my might to hold back my laughter, but when Buster shakes and sprays us with everything clinging to his fur, I can’t hold it in any longer.
"Glad you’re having fun." Cole glares at me, which only makes me laugh harder.
"I’m sorry," I say breathlessly. "But you’ve got a piece of deer on your shirt."
He squints before grabbing the showerhead and rinsing the remaining foam from Buster’s fur. When he lets go of the collar, the dog immediately jumps out of the tub and runs out of the bathroom as if the devil himself were on his heels.
"And now to you," Cole threatens, turning to me.
Before I realize what he’s up to, he grabs me by the waist and puts me in the bathtub. I squeal as the spray hits me, and I’m soaking wet within seconds.
He raises an eyebrow at me, continuing to drench me with water while suppressing a grin. "Well? Still think it’s funny?"
Laughing, I try to protect myself from the water with my hands, but it’s pointless. "Stop it," I plead. "Please! I can’t breathe."
"Sorry, little darling. But you got a piece of deer in your hair."
I can hear him smirking at this, which makes my laughter even more uncontrollable. It’s not until I hiccup from all the pleading and gasping that Cole finally turns off the water, leaving me slumped in the tub with limp limbs.
Gasping for air, I open my eyes and look up at him. The grin on his lips takes my breath away even more than my laughter did, which is why I just stare at him and wish it would never disappear from his face again.
After Cole helped me out of the tub, he left me alone so I could shower. As I wrap one of the large towels around my naked body, I realize that I don’t have any clean clothes here with me. I chew on my lower lip as I weigh which is more uncomfortable: Walking past Cole like this or asking him to get me somethingto wear. However, with just my legs and shoulders exposed, I decide he doesn’t need to dig around in my underwear.
I take one last deep breath and open the bathroom door. Cole is standing in the kitchen looking at his phone but raises his head when he notices me.
