“Well, I was worried about where you’d gone off to, and now your grumpy expression is confirming that something’s up. So tell me.”
“It’s fine. I handled it.”
I only realized that the words had come out unintentionally brusque when her face fell, and she stepped away from me. “Okay. Whatever.”
I huffed out a sigh. On the one hand, opening up about my hurt and confusion while we were in a crowded party surrounded by people sounded like a special kind of hell. But on the other hand, it didn’t feel right to leave Gwen in the dark.
Maybe there was a middle ground, where I could update her on the facts but keep my feelings to myself for now? And definitely get away from all these damn people. I grabbed her hand.
“C’mere.” I pulled her to a quiet area of the party and explained what we’d just learned.
“Harrison, how scary,” she clutched her hand to her chest at the reveal. “I’m so sorry. You must be feelingallthe feelings.”
I grimaced. “Yeah, I’ll admit, I’m not feeling great.”Understatement of the century.
“What are you going to do?” Gwen asked.
I narrowed my eyes as I scanned the room. “Not sure, but things are going to change.”
Despite the positive outcome, I was still on a precipice and about to fall. How had I missed the signs? And just how close had I come to almost losing my father?
I didn’t want to focus on it. Luckily, I had a raucous party and a beautiful woman to keep me occupied for the night.
I’d eventually have to sort through my baggage. Just not tonight.
23
GWEN
Everywhere I looked, photo ops. A senior citizen snuggling a labrador with a white-dusted face, a family trying to decide which puppy in the pile was the cutest, a woman sequestered in the corner of the parking lot with a skinny, trembling dog camped out on her lap. The adoption event was nearing the end, and my guess was we’d nearly cleared the shelter.
The additional star power and press that came along with Scarlet’s endorsement was a big part of the turnout, despite the fact that Scarlet was with us only in spirit. She was busy kicking off the European portion of her tour, but she’d taken the time to highlight the adoption drive in one of her Insta stories, which was enough to send crowds of potential adopters to the furniture store parking lot.
I scanned the gathered people, trying to find Harrison. He’d been distant in the week between his father’s party and the adoption event, which I chalked up to general stress over processing his dad’s health scare. At least that’s what I kept trying to convince myself when our hugs were cut short and heseemed to default to sex whenever I was on the verge of pushing for a real conversation.
“How wonderful is this?” Susan asked. She held her hand over her eyes to shield them from the bright sun as she gazed at the happily ever afters currently underway.
“I’m ecstatic,” I answered. “And I bet Harrison is too.”
I watched her expression, eager to see her response. Susan was about as close to Harrison as you could get. She could probably pick up on behavioral nuances I wasn’t aware of.
She nodded. “If he could stop obsessing about that dog Monty, I’m sure he’d be thrilled by the turnout.”
“Isthatwhere he is?” I asked.
“Oh yes. He’s like a one-man marketing agent for the dog. And the pup needs it, poor thing.”
I’d become familiar with all the available dogs in the lead-up to the event, and Monty was the hardest hard-luck case of the bunch. We all knew the puppies would be first to go, followed by the well-mannered adult dogs, then the seniors.
Which left Monty.
What the dog didn’t have in good looks he made up for with personality, but the problem was no one could get past hisface. His boxer and pit bull mix left him with an underbite that made him look like a reverse vampire, with fangs hanging out on the bottom instead of the top. He was squat and short-legged, with a sturdy tank-like body. To make his chances of adoption even worse, he was a dark black-gray, which made him look a little sinister even though his vibes were one hundred percent goofball.
All of thatplushis diabetes diagnosis meant that poor Monty needed the perfect person to come along and recognize the diamond in the ruff.
I finally spotted Harrison under a tree, holding Monty’s leash.
“Hey, you, has anyone shown any interest in him?” I asked as I joined them.
