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“Sure.”

“Does he really talk?”

“Oh yeah,” he said. “Grandpa taught him to say ‘Help! I’ve been turned into a parrot!’”

I laughed.

“They have a cat too,” he said, straightening. “Maybe we can find it.” He looked at his watch.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Ten. Look at this one.” He pointed to some lizards dressed in Victorian clothing mounted to look like they were dancing.

I came up next to him.

He was wearing that cologne that I liked again. He smelled good.

I wondered why Chris didn’t invite a date. I don’t think he’d gone out with anyone since I knew him. Or maybe he did and he didn’t tell me? But I feel like it would have come up during our custody conversations about Woofarine. There had to be a night where he didn’t want the dog so he could go out.

Or stay in.

For some reason I didn’t like the visual of Chris with a date.

I gazed at him while he examined the taxidermy.

He looked really handsome today. And then I felt gross for thinking it—and for being weird about the thought of him sleeping with someone while I watched our dog.

It was completely and utterly none of my business if Chris had sex with someone. It was none of my business if he smelled good either. I walked to the other side of the room so I couldn’t breathe him in.

“Did you see the deer’s head over the fireplace?” I asked.

His eyes slid to mine like he knew I was about to tease him.

“What?” I said innocently.

The deer had been taxidermied with shark teeth in its mouth.

“I think this is the first time I’ve seen a deer the way you’ve described them,” I said.

“You are not a nice person.”

I gaped. “That is statistically untrue.”

“I told you that story and you promised you wouldn’t make fun of me.”

“I don’t think I did promise that.”

“It was implied,” he said.

“It was implied that I would make fun of you.”

He gave me a look and I grinned.

He really should date. He was a great guy.

Chris had self-control. He was not impulsive, not the kind of man who said he wasn’t going to drink and ended up having three drinks in under an hour. He didn’t seem to have any vices actually.

It’s funny how different best friends can be. Lexi and I were polar opposites, too, but this felt bigger than that.