Page 24 of Forget About Me

It’s almost like he’s hiding. But from what?

“Well, you tell him if he’s bored and he wants a fun night out, I know all the good clubs. I’d show him a good time,” she says, waggling her eyebrows up and down.

“I’ll let him know.” I do a final check of the cabinets. “Looks like everything’s ready to go.”

“Time to make the donuts.” Cindy mimics the sing-song voice of the Dunkin’ Donuts ad.

“Yep. I’ll check the kennel this morning if you’ll make sure the exam rooms are ready to go.”

“Sounds good. And hey, you gotta get me some gossip on Ben. Find out if he was serious with any of those actresses. Or if he’s”—she sighs—“available.”

“I’ll see,” I throw over my shoulder.

Now I’m even more confused. I can’t reconcile the Ben I knew with the guy Cindy just described.

As I dispense morning meds to the animals recovering from surgery and check their suture sites for signs of infection, I remind myself that I’m training Puck for the money, and to challenge myself. As a trainer. That is all.

Static hisses over the intercom. “Lucy? Can you bring Ribsy to exam four?”

I push the talkback button. “Got it. On the way.”

Grabbing a leash, I locate the patient—a scruffy mutt obviously named after the dog in the Beverly Cleary books, one of my favorites as a kid.

He limps a little as we walk to the front. “That’s a good boy,” I coo. When we reach the exam room and I open the door, Ribsy whines excitedly and his entire rear end wags. The waiting woman holds out her arms, her smile wide with joy.

Probably just what my face looked like when Ben would drive up seven years ago.

I can’t help myself. I wait by the window every afternoon like one of our patients waiting for its owner. When Ben pulls up in front of the animal hospital, I’m out the door, and hauling ass down the walk faster than you can say Jack Robinson and yelling “See ya tomorrow” over my shoulder to the receptionist.

“Hey, gorgeous” is the greeting I get along with a tantalizing kiss so hot I don’t know if I’m gonna make it home without ripping my clothes off. Only the blare of a horn from a car behind us can tear us apart.

And that’s only the appetizer. For the full course, we have to get back to Ben’s apartment. Thank god they keep me running at the animal hospital, otherwise I’d go crazy waiting until I could get naked with him again.

“You drive; I’ll get the party started,” I say, breathless from the kiss as much as from my sprint to get to him.

He laughs as he puts the van in gear. Shifting in his seat, he looks pointedly at his lap before pulling out into traffic. “As usual, you started the party the minute you got in the car.”

Grinning, I dig in my bag for a mixtape decorated with colorful magic-marker swirls. “I stayed up late last night to make this.” I’m squirming now, remembering how hot the songs made me, even on my own. At least I know I’ll have an outlet with my own personal sex god this afternoon. “I think you’ll find it inspiring.”

I slide the cassette into the stereo and press play. I can’t not move to the funky beats of Grace Jones’s “Pull Up to the Bumper.”It’s the only way I can survive the twenty-minute ride to his place. Yeah, I’m going to blowsomebody’shorn later.

Sometimes I can’t believe we’re getting away with this. Everyone thinks I’m such a good little Catholic girl teaching a motherless neighborhood boy how to cook.

How to sizzle, maybe. And oh, is he a good student.

My dancing might be a little distracting. We’ll be lucky if we don’t get into an accident.

Scratch that. We’re lucky in every way. But mostly, we’re going togetlucky minutes from now.

By the time I’m walking up the steps to Ben’s place for our next session, I’ve banned all sexy thoughts and have a professional—that is, friendly but distant—smile plastered on my face. I’ve agreed to do this so I’m going to do the best job I can. One suggestion from Ben, however, and all my good intentions fly out the window.

“What would you think about going to Menotomy Rocks today? I’ve practiced a ton around here, on the sidewalks and the backyard. The field in the park might be a good place to branch out, don’t you think?”

When we were little, my brother Tony and his friends spent just about every day after school playing at Menotomy Rocks Park. I usually tagged along. Sometimes another girl would join us. Sometimes the boys just had to put up with me because I was Tony’s little sister.

One day Ben joined us. He was the new kid. Tony pulled him into the group, and he never left. Well, until he left and never came back.

“Lucy?”

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