Page 79 of The Other Guy

“I did. And she’s really excited to offer them to her customers.”

“You two are just friends, huh? And she’s willing to offer pet clothes in her boutique?” I’ve been in the store and I would never imagine my stuff alongside her high-end merchandise.

He rolls his eyes but doesn’t respond.

“We’ll get together with them, talk things over. Introduce you and Mallory. I’ve met her a few times, comes into the bar with her husband. I think you’d like her. She speaks fluent sarcasm, too.”

“My kind of lady.”

He smiles and nods his head. “Want me to see if they can come to the bar tonight? Maybe we can have dinner?”

“You don’t mind?”

“Not at all.”

I bet he doesn’t. Just the mention of Rebecca makes him sit up a little taller, speak a little more confidently, his eyes sparkle. I like seeing him this way.

“Thank you, Kyle. Are you going in this afternoon?”

He shakes his head. “No. I’ll go in tonight. See how the other half lives being a customer.”

“Oh, good! Do you have plans for today? Need my help with something?”

“Don’t you have work to do?”

“The benefit of being self-employed is that I get to make my own hours. Give me a list.”

He lifts his cup and drains the last of his coffee. “Alright. We need to get a better set up for Toby. When you made your escape, you didn’t really bring much for him. Figure if he’s here for a while, we need to get him some stuff. Then a grocery run and I need to get the chains sharpened on the chainsaw so I can get more wood cut. I also have to get some more gas for the snowblower because they’re predicting another storm this weekend.”

“Errands! Yay!”

Kyle chuckles. “I’ll never understand your love of running errands. Probably only person in the entire universe who does.”

I shrug, used to hearing it. In fact, Jack said something similar when I begged to tag along with him on errands, too.

“I’ll take you to lunch. I need to go to the bank in Liberty to sign some papers.”

“Errands and a road trip? My, my, Rebecca’s a lucky lady.”

“Friend.”

“Right. She’s a lucky friend lady.”

“You’re such a pain in the ass.”

“So I’ve been told. I don’t need much time to get ready. Give me fifteen minutes?”

“You got it.”

I slip my feet into a pair of light brown ankle booties and apply a little bit of makeup. I throw on a mustard yellow knit stocking cap and grab my coat and purse, tossing my phone inside. When I get back to the kitchen, Toby is just coming in from outside.

“He have accidents?”

“Nope.”

“So we can just leave him inside? Or do we need to lock him up in the laundry room?”

“We can just let him roam.”

---