Page 44 of Tricking an Introvert

"It's no biggie, really."

"She doesn't wanna leave the dog alone when she's hanging out with her friends Thursday," Lewis told Cole. "As you're always sniffing around, you might as well watch him."

"Sure, it'd be great. Me and my best boy." Cole knelt next to Beau to give him a belly rub.

Watching them, Tessa found herself choking back a protest. Was it a good idea to let Cole babysit?

The dog was already too attached to Cole. What would Beau think when Cole got bored of them and stopped hanging out? He'd already been abandoned once; she didn't want him to suffer through it again.

She entirely expected that Cole would eventually move on to another charity case he wanted to help out. Poor Beau was giving his entire little heart to Cole, not reserving any part of his unconditional love, and he wouldn't understand.

"You know what, I can just stay home. It's no biggie. Maybe I could ask the girls to come over. They've been saying they'd like to meet Beau."

"Sure, if you want, but I really don't mind," Cole said.

She nodded.

She didn't want to put distance between them. Not at all. She needed to nonetheless.

---