Oh, it’s a carrier.
“What can I carry for you?” I ask as I near. Another hiccup.Crud.
Her eyes, those gorgeous, blue-green oceans, meet mine at last, and I swear my heart stops mid-beat.
She breaks her gaze to look down at the carrier, but quickly shifts her attention to the bags on her other arm instead. “Maybe these,” she says, “if you don’t mind.”
I hoist the straps off her shoulder and hike them onto my own. The carrier wobbles and jumps. I picture her puffy cat, Muffin. Maybe she’s senile now.
“I can take that too if you’d like,” I offer. “Looks like somebody wants out. Is it Muffin?”
“It’s Muffin, plus one. I took on a new cat. Moonshine. He’s a little…”
“Feral?” I fill in for her.
Brinley grins and meets my eyes once more. This time my heart breaks into a race at full speed. “That works.” She laughs a little, a noise she makes just under her breath. I remember that laugh. “Thanks for saying they could come,” she adds.
I’m not about to tell her that nobody asked me, but if she’d asked to bring every animal from LA’s pet pound with her I would have said yes, so I give her a nod. “Of course. I always…kindof liked Muffin.”
Brinley walks ahead of me. “No, you didn’t.”
She’s right. Muffin was always cuddling up to Brinley, which made it hard for me to cuddle up to her. Plus, she made claw marks on my leather jacket and got hair on my clothes. Another hiccup escapes. Either Brinley isn’t noticing or she’s just ignoring it.
“Brinley,” Daisy cheers as we near. “Welcome to Time Warp, Celebrity Edition.”
I hate that I’m distracted by the stupid hiccups, but I am. I just want them to go away so I can act naturally in this anything but natural situation.
“Happy to be here,” Brinley says. “It’s great to meet you two. I really enjoyed your season.” She shakes Daisy’s hand, then moves to Ian’s next. “You two look so happy. I heard you got married.”
“We did, thank you.” Daisy shows off her ring before continuing. “We spoke to Dawson about coming on the show, and now we’d like to hear from you.”
Ian takes over. “What are your thoughts today as you’re about to step into the LA home behind me and spend six full days with your famous ex, Dawson Cain?”
My insides go haywire at the question. I will hang on to Brinley’s words like thread on a spool. Another hiccup threatens to come.Oh no, this is not good timing.I recall how my first attempt to restrict the reaction went.
“What are my thoughts?” Brinley repeats with a laugh. She scrutinizes me, her gaze moving up the length of my body and landing on my face, causing a fresh wave of heat to move up my neck.
The nerves trigger what I was hoping to hold back, and suddenly I hiccup so hard it's film worthy. It’s the clip they play when a drunken cowboy wobbles out of a saloon in the arms of his chuckling friends.
“Don’t mind him,” Ian says coolly. “He probably just snuck in to sample the mini bar.”
I chuckle, determined to laugh this off when another hiccup stops me short. This one sounds like it came from a five-year-old girl in pigtails and a princess dress. I can feel my face turning as pink as the punch they think I’m drunk on.
“Excuse me,” I say under my breath. “I think that’s the last of them.”Lord, let that be true.
Brinley is quick to pull her eyes off me when I look at her.
“I think I forgot the question,” she admits with a laugh.
“How do you feel about spending six full days with your famous ex?” Ian prompts.
“Right.” Brinley nods thoughtfully. “He’s not just thefamous Dawson Cainto me. He’s my ex-boyfriend, one I cared very deeply for, so naturally, I’m torn and terrified all at the same time.”
I stare at her, surprised by her candor, though I shouldn’t be. Brinley Ray is the same person no matter the situation, and as much as I should expect that by now, it never fails to amaze me.
Still, the ego monster in me has latched onto one very important word—cared—as in, past tense. She cared very deeply for meback then. But how does she feel now?
“That makes perfect sense,” Daisy says. “Now, before we unleash you and the jumpy animals in your carrier, we’re told you run a charitable organization that gives youth a chance to explore their artistic side.”
