I was feeling as territorial as Edith yet I’d done nothing to claim the vacant space. I’d run the numbers a few billion times and expanding made sense. I knew I could handle the financial aspects of an expansion, and even though I didn’t love the idea of dealing with construction, I could appreciate how amazing itwould be once Frolic had more room. Now was my moment, to swoop in and grab it before anyone else could.
The problem was I no longer had my business adviser to sign off on the whole thing.
My dad was a corporate man, but he loved my entrepreneurial spirit. His advice ranged from practical, like helping me negotiate parts of my lease before I opened Frolic, to a little woo-woo, like encouraging me to listen to my gut if I couldn’t make up my mind on something. His advice was the reason why I closed early on Fridays and took Sundays off. Even though all signs pointed to expansion, I still felt paralyzed since I couldn’t get his blessing on it.
The guy finally noticed me shooting darts at him from across the parking lot and watched us for a few beats longer than I liked. Maybe he was a Boston terrier fan and he was admiring Edith, or maybe he was trying to figure out if he could chloroform me and get me into his BMW before anyone showed up. I glanced toward Andrew’s building. Of course today was the day he wasn’t around.
Edith finally found the perfect place to squat. “Good girl. All done? Let’s go.”
I squared my shoulders and headed for the building right as Andrew’s Jeep turned into the lot. Why did relief spread through me at the sight of it? I didn’t need him to rescue me from Creepy Beemer Guy. In fact, he’d been the trapped party in need of rescuing lately.
I swear, his damn car was so loud that it made me want to cover my ears as he pulled in. I squinted as he got out of it to see if Dude had come with him, but he was solo for the day. Andrewnoticed the interloper guy and gave him a wave, but he hurried to get into his car and leave.
“See?” I muttered to Edith. “Suspicious behavior.”
Andrew was so focused on unloading boxes from his Jeep that he didn’t notice me walking up behind him.
“Hey,” I said. Edith was doing her little “I’m nervous but curious” dance of scenting the air while pulling away, attempting to put distance between her and Andrew while at the same time trying to figure him out.
Andrew turned quickly. “Oh, hey,” he said. His eyes immediately dropped to Edith. “Well, good morning, little pup!” His voice went higher than I thought was physically possible for him. “Is your mom finally going to let me meet you? Huh? I’ve been admiring you, but she never lets you come over to say hi to me!”
It was true. I didn’t want Edith to decide that she liked him and then force me to interact with him when we were in common spaces. But now it was too late. She was marching in place, her head bobbing up and down as her little stump of a tail fanned the air, her entire body wiggling in excitement.
Edith was under his spell and he didn’t even have to use treats to bribe her.
“She can be a little skittish,” I said even though she was acting like a well-adjusted, outgoing puppy. “Men sort of freak her out.”
It was a bald-faced lie. Her original anchor human had been a man.
“Well, then let me change her mind about my kind,” Andrew said, setting down the boxes he was carrying. He folded his massive body in half, plopped to the ground, and crossed his legs. Edith kept high-stepping.
“If your mom doesn’t tell me your name soon I’m going to give you one,” he singsonged, lowering himself even more and beaming at the puppy. “You look like a ‘Bug’ to me.”
“Edith,” I said quickly. “Her name is Edith.”
“Ed-i-i-i-ith.” He drew it out in a low, goofy voice. “Will you come say hello to me?”
She marched in place but still didn’t move.
“What if I dothis?” Andrew flowed from crisscross applesauce into push-up position and held it for a second like he was trying to prove that he also did yoga and was king of Chaturanga pose, then dropped to his stomach on the asphalt. “Now, come give me a kiss.”
The weaponized charm. I knew it wasn’t directed at me but damn it if his sweet talking didn’t tempt me to take a half step closer too.
Seeing the giant brought down to her level was more than the puppy could take. Edith lowered herself into a play bow and wiggled over to him, then rolled on her back right in front of his face.
“Aww, there’s a good girl!” Andrew said, reaching out to gently rub her belly. “See? I’m nice. Don’t listen to what your mom says about me. And wait till you meet Dude. He’s going to love you.”
I cleared my throat, about to remind him to keep Dude on leash, but I managed to shut myself up and let the moment unfold. Andrew’s hand seemed impossibly gentle on Edith even though it was bigger than she was. He trailed his fingertips on her belly with one hand and cradled her with the other, cooing to her softly. This giant of a man was reduced to a baby-talking dork and didn’t seem to care if anyone pulled in and saw him.But then again, Andrew always seemed to understand that he was hot enough to get away with nearly anything. I never allowed his looks to work onme, at least not usually, but the rest of the world gave him a Get Out of Jail Free card no matter what he did.
“She’s amazing,” he said, glancing up at me.
His smile was so warm, so genuine that I found myself incapable of not smiling back, as hard as I tried to avoid it. He held my gaze a few beats longer than necessary, sending a wave of heat to my face. I looked away and felt his eyes linger before he turned his attention back to Edith. He cradled her head and kissed her on the nose, then set her back on her feet.
“Who was that guy?” he asked, finally standing back up.
I tried not to notice as he brushed off the front of his gray workout pants. They weren’t sweatpants exactly, they were more fitted at the bottom and were a little looser toward the waist. But not so loose that it left any mystery as to what he had going on downstairs. I remembered. I’d seen it firsthand. I looked away quickly.
“I’m not sure, I think he might be interested in seeing Roz’s space.”
