“Come on, Jamie, you know you want that fairy tale ending,” Silas teased gently.
I scoffed. “And you’re the one who always tells me it’s wishful thinking.”
“Maybe, but only because I want to protect you from shit like this.” He sighed. “But you wouldn’t be you if you gave up on love entirely.”
“Maybe not,” I murmured. “But maybe I’m tired of being me.”
Maverick hopped off the stool and wrapped his arms around me. “It’s going to get better. It is. If you need to take a break from matchmaking, fine. But there’s someone out there for you.I know it.”
I closed my eyes, soaking in the warmth of his embrace.
“Okay, enough,” I said, shrugging him off. “I need to start another batch of biscuits.”
Maverick looked around. “Seriously? Two dozen seems like plenty.”
I shrugged. “Baking is my happy place.”
Silas lifted his glass then. “Well, then, cheers to baking. Feel free to throw in a few human cookies while you’re at it.”
I went to my pantry and pulled out a package of Oreos. “Here. Have at it.”
Maverick’s eyes lit up, and Silas tore into the wrapper like he’d been starving all night.
I held out my glass to Maverick. “Top me.”
He smirked. “Sorry, I’m taken. Maybe you and Silas can make a pact to get together if you’re still single when you’re fifty.”
I picked up a banana biscuit and threw it at his face. “Fifty? Just put me out of my misery if we’re having pity parties at that age.”
Silas laughed. “I’ll drink to that.”
CHAPTER 7
Hank
“Ricky!”I swore under my breath as Iola’s little terror—er, terrier—humped Diva, causing the husky to wail dramatically.
Diva could easily bite Ricky’s head off, but she fell over onto her side, mournfully crying, while Ricky assaulted her.
I jogged across the doggy daycare and pulled him off, his little hips still pumping thin air. “You’re such a horndog,” I scolded. “What would your mommy think of this behavior?”
Ricky yipped and licked my chin, drawing a reluctant smile.
“Yeah, you’re a pain in the ass, but you’re cute.”
He wiggled, eager to get back to the ground and harass other dogs. I’d already had to break up one fight, though, and I wasn’t eager for a repeat, so I carried him toward the door.
“I think you need a time-out.”
There were no grooming jobs right now, so I took him out front and set him on the counter. Sammi raised an eyebrowfrom her spot at the computer, where she was catching up on some accounting work.
“Ricky, are you being a naughty boy again?”
“He’s rotten to the core,” I said in a light voice that made him wag his tail as if I’d praised him. “But he looks cute doing it.”
Sammi laughed. “He does, and Iola probably lets him get away with murder at home.”
“But surely she doesn’t let him hump her leg all day.”
