How in the world had she heard about that already? It just happened.
I shifted my weight, suddenly feeling like I was under some kind of benevolent interrogation. “They needed food, and I knew where to get good Chinese takeout.”
“Mm-hmm.” She studied me with the sharp eyes of someone who’d seen enough of life to spot sincerity from a mile away. “And I suppose it was just coincidence that you showed up right when they needed rescuing from peanut butter pasta?”
“How did you—”
She grinned. “Like I said, word travels fast. Plus, Debbie told me all about her ‘Willie Wee blessing’ and how you knew all the words to theAladdinsongs.” Her smile was warm but assessing. “That’s not the kind of thing a man does unless he’s serious about . . . well . . . unless he’s serious.”
I opened my mouth to respond, then closed it again.
What was I supposed to say?
That I was falling for a man I’d barely known for two weeks?
That his five-year-old daughter had somehow stolen my heart as well?
“They’re good people,” Mrs. Chen continued gently. “Been through enough heartache for one lifetime. I’d hate to see them get hurt again.”
The warning was delivered with grandmotherly kindness, but it was a warning nonetheless.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, and was surprised by the conviction in my own voice.
Mrs. Chen studied me for a long moment, then nodded as though I’d passed some kind of test.
“Good,” she said simply. “They deserve someone who knows what they’re worth.”
I nodded, unable to form a reply because of an annoying lump forming in my throat.
Then something in Mrs. Chen’s expression shifted and turned serious, almost dark. It made my breath catch, and I felt the sudden urge to wrap my arms around her and tell her everything would be okay.
“Actually,” she said, her fingers resuming their rhythmic stroking through Cuddles’s fur, “since you’re here, there’s something I need to ask you. A favor. A big one.”
I adjusted my grip on the gate, suddenly wary. “Okay?”
“I’m having surgery in a couple of weeks,” she said matter-of-factly, as though discussing the weather. “Nothing too dramatic, but I’ll be in the hospital for a few days, then recovery at home for a while after that.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything—”
“I need someone to take care of Cuddles while I’m gone, maybe for a few days while I’m recovering here, too,” she interrupted gently. “Feed her, let her out, make sure she doesn’t destroy the house from loneliness or boredom.”
I threw my hands up, taking a step back from the gate. “Oh no. No, no, no. Mrs. Chen, that doghatesme. She’s tried to eat me alive multiple times. You should ask Theo, or one of the other neighbors, or literally anyone else in the entire city who isn’t Cuddles’s favorite chew toy.”
As if on cue, Cuddles crept up to the fence where I stood. I took another step back, waiting for the familiar growl and bared teeth. Instead, her ears drooped down in what looked almost like submission, and she sniffed through the slats of the fence, her tail giving tentative, uncertain wags.
Mrs. Chen simply smiled and shook her head, like I was a child who’d just said something adorably naive.
“See?” Mrs. Chen said softly. “She’s warming up to you.”
My brain went into complete overdrive.
This was insane.
Absolutely, certifiably insane.
Mrs. Chen wanted me—me—to take care of the one creature on earth who’d made it her personal mission to destroy my work wardrobe. Sure, Cuddles wasn’t actively trying to maul me in that exact moment, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t go back to her old ways the second Mrs. Chen was out of sight.
“There has to be someone else,anyoneelse,” I said weakly. “What about Theo? He lives right across the street. Debbie loves Cuddles.”
