Not to mention, I’d never been able to cut loose like I had today.
I’d never experienced happiness like this, and it was a bit overwhelming.
“You gonna fall asleep?” Gentry asked as he ran his scruff along my hair.
I smiled and hummed, not answering.
There was a very distinct possibility that I would be asleep any second.
Warm, drunk and safe in his arms, I felt like the outside world couldn’t touch me.
Gentry wouldn’t let them.
Twenty
No weenies allowed.
—Bumper sticker
Gentry
I watched her on the back porch steps, talking to Neo, her shoulders slumped.
I pulled open the sliding glass door and listened as she spoke.
“Come on, you know that you want to crawl into my lap,” Sage cooed at him.
Neo did look like he wanted to come closer.
Fear was forcing him to stay still, though.
“Please, big boy. I just want some kisses.”
Neo stayed where he was.
She sighed and got up, brushing the dirt off her bottom before she turned around and started to come inside.
She blinked and came to a stop when she saw me already standing there. “How much of that did you hear?”
“The begging?” I teased. “Just the last little bit.”
She looked over her shoulder at Neo. “He almost let me touch him today.”
“I saw,” I said. “Maybe if you bribed him like I told you, he’d have gotten closer by now.”
She held up the half-empty bag. “He’ll eat them all, as long as he doesn’t have to come closer than a foot and a half.”
“But it was three feet two days ago,” I pointed out. “You’re making progress, honey. He’ll get there.”
Just as I said that, my phone alerted.
I pulled it out of my pocket and frowned.
“What is it?”
“They think one of the missing toddlers was found on a popular hiking trail,” I said as I shoved my phone back into my pocket. “I gotta go.” I eyed her. “Are you going to be able to get to work?”
She sighed and eyed the snow on the ground. It wasn’t much. Just a light dusting. But it was enough to give you pause.
