My cheeks burn. “Yeah. Now we just need to find you someone, though.”
He rolls his eyes. “Nah. I’m not in a hurry.”
“Mm-hmm. That’s what I thought before I met Vince. Trust me, brother, life is better with someone to share it with.”
He chuckles, a weird knowing glint to his eyes. “So you keep telling me.”
My phone buzzes on the table.
I glance down without thinking—then everything in me stills when I read Vince’s text.
Vince:Hey. Can you come get me? I took Bones out for a walk and my leg cramped up. I wouldn’t ask except it’s been forty minutes and I still don’t think I can walk back.
My chest tightens immediately.
Me:Where are you?
Vince:The park at the entrance of our subdivision.
Me:I’m on my way.
Pocketing my phone, I grab my soda and get to my feet. “We gotta go. Vince needs me to pick him up.”
Darren doesn’t argue. Just gathers his drink and we head to the truck.
My heart thunders in my chest. It’s not panic exactly—Vince asking for help doesn’t scare me anymore—but it still flips some internal switch in me where the world narrows to only him. Everything else can wait.
When I pull up to the park ten minutes later, I spot Vince right away.
He’s sitting on the low stone wall near a tree, Bones pressed against his side. One hand is resting absently on the dog’s head. I can’t read his expression, but he seems relaxed.
Darren waits in the truck while I jog over to him.
“Hey,” I say. “You okay?”
Vince rubs his left leg. “Yeah. Just pushed it a little too far.”
I crouch in front of him, checking his face, his leg, cataloguing every sign like I’ve trained myself to. To my surprise, the black cane Georgie had picked out for him last week is sitting beside him. I don’t comment on it.
“You should’ve called me sooner.”
He waves me off. “I knew you were busy. Besides, I figured it would pass.”
I roll my eyes. This stubborn, beautiful man.
I help him up slowly, slinging his arm over my shoulders in a way that still makes something warm bloom in my chest. Vince steals a kiss before we walk, and I grin. I’ve never loved someone as much as him.
Bones trots ahead of us back to the car, wiggling excitedly when he sees Darren.
Darren climbs in the back with the dog, and Vince gets into the front passenger seat.
When we round the corner toward home, I frown. The neighbor must be having a party; cars are lined up and down the street.
I pull into the driveway.
“I’ll take Bones in for you,” Darren says.
“Thanks.”
