“No. I tell you everything. I’d have told you if I spontaneously adopted a dog.”
“If it’s not your dog,” Yvette said, handing me the vanilla latte she bought me. “Why do you have it?”
I tipped my head toward the direction I wanted to go, the one that would take us near the park. “It’s a shelter dog. It kind of bummed me out when I found out I couldn’t have a dog, so I decided to volunteer to take some of the shelter dogs for walks.”Bandit tugged at the leash, trying to pull me along, but he was twenty-five pounds of fluff.
“Sawyer, you know you’re going to get your heart broken doing that. You’re going to fall in love with a dog that you can’t have.”
“It’s better to have loved and lost.”
“Trust me, nothing can break your heart the way a dog can.”
I gave her the side-eye. “Are we still talking about the four-legged kind? What did my gender do now?”
Yvette nudged her elbow into my side and took a sip of her coffee. “You’re a smartass.”
After a brief pause, she let out a sigh. “I got ghosted. Again. He was really nice too, so I thought.. But it’s been over a week since we went out and not a peep.”
“Maybe he got busy?”
“Don’t make me hit you.” Yvette scoffed. “If he wanted to, he would. Remember that.”
She motioned to Bandit, who had his nose to the ground and was happily sniffing his way along the sidewalk. “So you just take them for walks then take them back to doggy jail?”
“It helps socialize them. It also lets people interact with them in non-shelter settings. It’s a good way to get people interested.”
“And you suddenly want a dog because….”
“That book I’m writing, the memoir? My client has a dog.”
She grinned at me. “You’re trying to impress a boy. I should have guessed.”
“That’s not the whole reason, okay. I’d never get a dog just to impress someone. But I really like Lara. She’s this mellow as fuck German Shepherd. I think she has two settings. Slow and off.”
“You’ve been to the mystery client’s house?”
“For work, yes. A couple of times. Some of the subject matter is difficult to discuss in public. Meeting him on his own turf puts him at ease.”
“And you get to ogle him in private.”
“I do notoglehim.”
Yvette tipped her head back and let out a peal of laughter. “Oh, my God. Sawyer, baby, I was joking. But it’s obvious now that you do very much ogle him.”
“There is no ogling.” I threw her a death glare from the corner of my eye, but I could feel the flush in my cheeks giving away my secret. “There might be a smidge of ogling. Just the tiniest bit. I’ve kept it very professional.” Sticking my nose in the air, I tried to focus on anything else in an effort to bring the heat in my face back down.
“Professional ogling. Got it. I wasn’t aware that was a thing, but I believe you.”
“I hate you.”
“You love me.” She sipped her coffee and followed me as I turned the corner toward the park. It was in a different part of town than the park I’d visited with Lukas, but for some reason, when I saw the swings, I half expected to see him there.
“So, you professionally ogle your client. Is there any return ogling?”
“There is not.” There might have been? In that moment when I’d stumbled and he’d caught me, I could have sworn we had a moment. But I’d been tipsy on wine. My head spinning. By the time I left Lukas’s house, I’d convinced myself that it never happened. There was no moment. Just me and my wine-addled brain.
“Sawyer, don’t you dare lie to me. Considering my own love life is a series of failures to launch, I was hoping for something a little juicier from you.”
“Yvette, he’s my client. I’m doing a job for him. It’s not that deep.”
