Wait a minute…what was the connection between her and my pal Arnie?
“Thanks for grabbing him,” she said.
I slowly rose from petting the dog. She was a full foot shorter than me. A petite ball of fire. “No problem.”
Brax glanced from Ani to me as we stared at each other awkwardly. “I—um—yeah, hey, thanks for the wood, Adam. I’ll come back for the rest of it after I pick Mia up, okay? See ya, Ani.”
He got into his truck and left, even though we still had a lot of wood left to load. I respected that he gave me some space. But I also hoped that when he came back, he would bring lunch.
“Well,” Ani said,“I’d better get back.”
I frowned. “Get back to where?”
She nodded in the direction she came from. “I’m dog sitting until the end of the week. The McClellans are visiting their new grandchild in Georgia.” She looked around at my wild-looking landscape, my nondescript brick ranch. “This is your place?”
“I bought it for a project,” I said. “I just moved in.”
“Tyler and I bought a house across the street from the McClellans. I loved it; he hated it. So I bought him out and decided to repaint the whole inside. That’s why I’m dog sitting.”
I nodded. I understood trying to make a place your own, only I hadn’t gotten there yet. Just leaving my former house in Chicago had taken a lot. All the memories. Knowing I was leaving forever. It had felt like saying goodbye to Liv all over again.
“Hang on a second.” I jogged into my garage and returned with an old dog leash a friend had left once and snapped it onto Arnie’s collar.
“Thanks. I ran out so fast I forgot his leash.” Ani took the loop end from me, our fingers bumping. Her hands were soft but cold. She’d also clearly run out of the house without dressing properly, plus it was drizzling. “I’ll make sure you get this back.”
“I don’t have a dog anymore, so keep it.” As she turned away, I realized that this was it. I would lose my opportunity unless I spoke up. “Listen, about last night—” She turned back halfway. I only had a moment, and I had no idea what I was going to say, but I gave it my best shot. “I did a lot of things wrong. I-I knew you’d be working, but when I saw you, I was thrown. And—I didn’t want my staff to see that we have a personal relationship.”
“Do wehavea personal relationship?” she asked, steel in her voice.
I searched for the words to let her know how much my time with her had meant to me. How I still thought of her. But I didn’t know how I could put any of that into words and still be professional. Or maybe the real truth was that I was afraid to take that leap. The result was that I was completely tongue-tied.
When she saw that I wasn’t going to say anymore, she said, “That was a strange time.” She paused. “For both of us.” She took a breath. “I think it’s better if we don’t discuss it. That way we can maintain a working relationship.” She flicked her clear blue gaze up at me. “That’s what you want, right?”
Oh. Thatwaswhat I wanted, right? “Yes, of course.”
“After all, you’re in charge.” She gave me a tight smile. “See you in the ER.” Then she and Arnie took off, the dog casting me a single glance that seemed to say,What a loser.
I’d gotten what I wanted. Our time together last summer had been effectively erased.
Order was restored. No one would know about the night I made an impulsive, desperate choice. My reputation was intact, my ER orderly.
Then why did I feel so bad?
Ani
“Hey, Mom,” I said that evening as I entered my parents’ kitchen with my somewhat fishy-smelling trays and set them on the expansive island. “Do you have the oven ready?”
My mother lit up with a smile, like she was genuinely happy to see me. She gave me a big hug, which felt nice. “Thank you, sweetie. Oh, those look wonderful!” She turned to one of the two women dressed in black and white who were setting out champagne flutes on gold trays. “Terry, look what Ani brought.” She examined each scallop thoroughly. “If you see some loosely wrapped ones, just pin them a little tighter before you put them into the oven, okay?”
There was the mom I knew. She was really good at finding flaws. She hated anything less than perfect.
That was why I drove her crazy. I was inherently flawed. Divorced and with my recent marriage debacle, I was the ultimate flawed daughter. The daughter she was stuck with.
She turned her eagle eyes to me. “You look lovely.”
Ah, we agreed on something. I really did like my silver sparkly dress with red heels and matching lipstick. “Thank you. You look nice too.”
She was dressed in a simple black sheath dress with a silver neck wrap. Cute. I did not inherit her flair for style either, but at least I’d made an effort tonight.
