She sighs and looks away. “Also… it’s not going to happen now.”
She keeps saying that. I swallow and will my dick to deflate. “Maybe I should get a dog,” I joke.
“Yes!” Her eyes widen. “You should! Right now!”
I laugh.
“Seriously. We could check animal shelters right now.” She pulls out her phone.
“Calm down, diva. We’re not adopting a dog today. And if I ever do, Archie’s girlfriend Andi works at an animal shelter. I’d go see her.”
“She does?” Nikki straightens, intrigued. “That’s cool.”
“She loves dogs, too.”
We watch the dogs play for a while longer—well, she watches the dogs; I watchher—Nikki laughing when one of the men hooks a golden retriever to the leash and heads toward the exit. The dog plants all four paws firmly into the ground, refusing to leave. Then he sets his butt down. The guy tugs harder on the leash, but the dog then lies down and rolls onto his back.
“Oh my God,” Nikki says, giggling. “Look at him. He doesn’t want to go home.”
The man tries to figure out what to do. Finally he gives up and walks away like he’s leaving. What’s the dog going to do? For a while he doesn’t move, but when the man gets out of sight behind some trees, he rolls up to his feet and runs to look for him.
“Ha! It worked.” Nikki shakes her head, her face beaming. “Dogs are wonderful.”
If a dog makes her this happy, I’ll get one. Immediately.
We move back to the stone-paved walkway and amble farther along the river toward the marina. We walk out onto one of the piers and sit on a bench for a while talking.
I tell her about Alfie and his wife, and what they went through when they were in a car accident last year and their baby died.
“Oh my God, that’s terrible,” Nikki says, wide-eyed. “And now they’re splitting up? That’s so sad.”
“It is. He was crazy about Ayla. They met at Uncle Ernie’s Café. We hang out there all the time. It’s a lot for one guy to handle.” I shake my head. “I hope he’s okay. I’ll check in on him tomorrow.”
“That’s nice of you.”
I shrug, although her words create a glow in my chest. “Are you getting cold?”
“A little.”
“There’s a coffee place across the road. Let’s go get warm.”
She purses her lips briefly, then says, “Okay.”
We walk into Coffee Haven, immediately surrounded by warmth and the delicious smell of coffee. “Let’s grab a table first.” I scope out the place to find an inconspicuous spot and proceed to a small table right at the back. I hold a chair for Nikki so her back is to the café, then take off my jacket and drape it over the back of the other chair. “What would you like?”
“Latte. With oat milk if they have it.”
I nod and go to the counter. There’s no line and it’s not busy here, so that’s good. I order drinks and a couple of scones because it’s been hours since lunch. Also, shit, who even knows if Nikki ate lunch today. She tends to forget things like meals. Jesus.
When I set things on the table, she looks up at me. “Scones?”
“Yeah. I’m hungry. One’s for you.”
“Thank you.” And she devours the whole thing.
“Did you eat lunch? Breakfast?”
She scrunches her face up, thinking. “Yeah, I did have a smoothie for breakfast.”
