Oh, well. Tobey would simply have to come with me later. I found myself grinning as I pulled into the South Denver Humane Society. Excitement. Anticipation. Something I hadn’t felt since the morning before the story erupted.
Laura met me at the front desk and made up a nametag for me. She said I might want to walk Tobey around a little bit before making my final decision. “He’s in Kennel Number twelve. She pointed down a long hallway and left me to find it myself.
I took my time checking out other dogs along the way. A basset hound. A few labs. A chihuahua… And then I looked into number twelve.
I blinked hard.
I wasn’t imagining him.
Sitting on the floor beside Tobey, was Hunter DeLuca. And he was watching me cautiously. Those Key West Eyes of his were warm though. I swallowed and tried to find some air.
As thrilled as I was to see him, my first instinct was to flee. I couldn’t do this again with him. I couldn’t…
I just couldn’t.
“Wait.” He jumped to his feet as though reading my mind. His hands fumbled with the latch and he pushed the kennel door open. Not sure what to say, I dropped my eyes to the sweet little dog on the floor.
“I came to adopt Tobey.” Tobey let out one bark. As though he knew I was talking about him.
With a mind of their own, though. My gaze travelled right back to Hunter. “What are you doing here?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out my phone and my…
“My journal!” I took it from his hand, not even thinking of what this meant.
“I ran into Star.” He’d taken a step closer to me. I edged around him and knelt down to pet the little dachshund I’d come for.
Hunter closed the kennel and sat down beside me. The last time I saw him he’d told me to go home.
I couldn’t quite bring myself to say the words to him. Despite everything, I couldn’t blame him. He’d thought I betrayed him. The evidence made me look pretty damn guilty.
I flipped through my journal. What an idiot I’d been to let this thing out of my sight. Getting comfortable on the floor, I opened to my last entries and heat moved up my throat. “Did you read it?” I sounded bitter.
I was bitter.
We were sitting beside one another now. I felt him only inches away. How could I still feel that magnetic pull? I wanted to touch him. I wanted to see him smile.
He cleared his throat and then nodded.
“I know we’ve already been through this. Me jumping to conclusions.”
I cut him off. “That’s not what hurt, Hunter. What hurt was that you wouldn’t let me explain. You wouldn’t even…” Shit. I didn’t want to cry.
I watched him. He closed his eyes for a second, looking almost as though he was in pain. “I know. I know.” And then he pinned me with his gaze. “I’m hoping you’re better at this than me.” He flinched a little at his own words.
And then he dropped his hand on mine. Beneath my palm I felt the cold concrete. On top of my wrist, the warmth of his touch.
“I made a mistake and I know it ended horribly, but I didn’t do any of it on purpose.” I couldn’t stop the short burst of laughter at the irony of my words. “That’s the way I roll, you know. When I mess up I go big.”
He squeezed my fingers. “I should have known, right?”
I wasn’t sure where he was going with this. “So, you don’t hate me now? Now that you’ve read all that?”
“I tried to hate you,” he confessed. “I wanted to. It killed me to send you away that night.”
“Yeah. It sucked for me too.” I’d cried all the way home, drawing unwanted stares on the light rail and invasive questions from my mom when I got home. “What do you want Hunter?”
The minute I spoke those words I saw that vulnerability I’d thought I’d seen that first day. Not just a hint though. He was putting himself out there. I wasn’t imagining it this time. “A second chance? A third one?”
