Page 104 of Lost Love on 6th Street

Luke braces a hand against the side of my head and presses his face into my curls. “I’ve missed you so much.”

He still feels safe. It’s strange, but he still feels safe even though he broke my trust.

“I’ve missed you too,” I say. And mean it.

We catch up on the whole drive to Harmony Hounds—delicately and slowly. The details come out like breadcrumbs in the forest. He tells me a bit about his gigs, and I talk about the museum. He talks about visiting his mom, and I tell him about going to trivia with Jolene and her friends.

When we get to Harmony Hounds, we’re met by the person who called me, a young guy with gauges named Stellan. He eyes Luke warily. “You’re Eleanor’s partner?”

Luke checks my expression for permission.

I answer for him. “Yeah, he is. Do you think it’d be good for Shortbread to meet him too?”

“Might be. Depends on how he responds. We’ll take it slow.”

It’s hard to take it slow with Shortbread, who bounds up to me when he sees me, clamoring for kisses.

“We gotta work on his jumping,” Stellan says.

But I don’t mind at all.

Luke hangs back, attacked with love from the other dogs. He plops down on his bottom and lets himself be taken by puppy kisses.

As Shortbread and I reunite, Stellan encourages Luke closer until Shortbread clocks him too.

Luke holds his hand out for Shortbread to approach. And the tentative, shy Shortbread doesn’t bat an eye. He goes up and licks Luke’s palm.

“Probably helps that you two smell similar,” Stellan remarks.

It’s an off-handed comment, but it strikes me in the chest. Luke and I have become entangled.

I don’t want to lose that. That settles it for me.

After they get acquainted, we head inside with Shortbread to work on leashing him to see how he handles it, if he’ll be docile.

“It’s possible a muzzle might be good for him,” Stellan says as he harnesses Shortbread. “He’s good with the dogs around here, but seeing other dogs in a new environment might bring about a different reaction.”

Hard to imagine the dog who has his snout in my hand could be snappy. I smooth my thumb down his nose and glance at Luke. “What do you think?”

“Oh, he’s perfect,” he says, beaming ear to ear, in that tone new parents seem to have when they learn their babies have ten toes and ten fingers.

A shiver goes down my spine when I get a flash of what that might actually be like with Luke, how proud he’d be to have a baby of his own, and not just a fur baby. Yep, the feelings are still there. Not going away any time soon.

“Eleanor?”

I look up to the second level to see Claire. She gives me a wave.

“Hi!”

“Let me come down and say hi.”

As Claire descends the steps, I lean into Luke. “That’s Diane’s daughter.”

Luke slides his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, I got that.” There’s an edge to his voice, which I suppose is only fair.

When Claire comes back into view, I take pause.

Blue eyes. Blonde hair.

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