She pulls herself up and tucks a pillow between her back and the headboard.
“Bread and Butter breakfast bowls with a side of bacon to share with the pooch.”
I set the bag and the tray with coffees down on the nightstand and sit on the edge of the bed beside her, leaning in to kiss those perfectly plump lips.
“Morning.Did you sleep okay?”
Her mouth pulls into a little smile, and I like the faint blush suddenly putting color in her cheeks.I’ll bet she’s remembering what came before we both crashed hard.
“Yeah, I did.”
“Good.”
I hold her eyes a bit longer, enjoying the view and the connection, when Ragnar announces the end of his patience with a woeful howl.
“All right, boy.I promised.”
I hand Bess her coffee before unpacking the food.
“Sit,” I order the dog, who, to my surprise, immediately drops down on his haunches.
“Good boy.”
I toss him a piece of bacon he snatches right out of the air.
“You’re going to spoil my dog.”
“Nah.”I hand her one of the bowls and the bamboo cutlery it came with.“It’s called training.He gets nothing for free.”
To demonstrate, I repeat my earlier command and wait for the dog’s compliance before tossing him another piece.
“You lucked out,” I tell her as I dig into my own breakfast.“He likes his food enough to do just about anything to get it.He’s a pretty smart dog, which means he’s going to enjoy you training him, but the downside is he’ll probably bore easily as well.You’ve already experienced the outcome of that.”
“Yes.One I don’t care to repeat,” she points out.
If I’m honest, I enjoy having the dog around.But not as much as I enjoy having his owner around.Both of them can stay as long as they’d like.
The whining of a drill firing up outside is a sobering reminder of why Bess is here in the first place.
Then my phone rings.
Bess
I’msurprised to see Nate’s truck parked in front of Strange Brew, and the front door of my coffee shop wide open.
I spoke to Savvy earlier and she never mentioned anything about Nate coming.Mind you, she had other things on her mind, like yelling at me for not calling her immediately after Ken showed his face.She’d already given Hugo the same treatment.
Savvy isn’t a yeller; she doesn’t usually get fired up to the point she’s almost in tears, but she did this morning.My guess is it’s probably pregnancy hormones, although that wouldn’t explain my own wobbly emotions.
I glance over to catch Hugo’s profile.He’s noticing the truck and the door as well.
“Did you know he was going to be here?”
“No idea,” he rumbles, as he pulls into a spot two away from where Nate’s truck is parked.
Hugo is already not too happy being here.I insisted on coming, pushing forward with my plans to get the place as ready as I can for when the cleaners show up on Monday.He would’ve rather I’d stayed holed up at his place, hiding out until all of this blows over, but I have a business to run.At least, I hope I still have one when all is said and done.
I didn’t tell him yet.
