Page 19 of Just Another Meet Cute
I laughed. “Her name is Chrissy.”
“Chrissy.” Ryan nodded with satisfaction. “Now I feel better about being so easy.”
Shaking with laughter now, I fell into step beside him and we started down one of the walking paths. It was a little narrow, like it was made for only one person. Every once in a while, the back of our arms or our hands would brush against each other—just for a second or so. And then again. And again.
Whenever this happened in the movies, the guy would always end up catching the girl’s hand and holding it. In anticipation, I’d tense up every time Ryan brushed against me, but he still didn’t make a move.
Maybe he wasn’t a big movie person.
“So, it’s obvious that you like dogs. Do you have any?” I asked to fill the silence.
Shaking his head, Ryan gave me a wistful half smile. “Not right now. I had a dog, Chance, for five years, but he died two years ago. It still makes me sad to think about him sometimes.”
So much for bonding over our mutual love for dogs.I grimaced. “I’m sorry for bringing it up.”
“It’s okay. You didn’t know. The funny thing is, he wasn’t even mine at first. My mom brought him home for one of my siblings.”
“One of your sisters?”
He stopped short. “How did you know I have sisters?”
Crap.“Uh, you mentioned them to me. The other night when we were waiting for the police. Remember?” I crossed my fingers, praying that he didn’t.
“Oh, I guess that night is still a blur for me.” His hand rubbed against the back of his neck. “But no. Chance was for my brother.”
I tugged on the leash to get Chrissy to stop sniffing the flower. “I didn’t know you had a brother.”
“I didn’t mention him? That’s funny. We’re pretty close—”
Before he could tell me exactly how close they actually were, Chrissy let out a low growl and sprinted off toward the trees. The leash flew out of my hand as she chased down a squirrel in the distance.
Ryan and I exchanged alarmed looks and raced after her. “Stop, Chrissy!”
“Come here, girl!”
Completely ignoring us, the sweet-tempered fluff ball became a fierce wolf as she charged at the poor squirrel like it was her mortal enemy. They both ran in circles as we got close to them.
Panting slightly, Ryan lunged forward to grab her leash. And missed. “Does she do this often?”
I tried to block her off on the other side, but she easily ran around me. Man, she was super fast. I whirled around and attempted to slow her down. “No clue. This is the first time I’ve ever walked her.”
“Wait, what? Isn’t she yours?”
“Not really. She’s my cousin’s neighbor’s dog. I’m walking her as a favor.” Something I was definitely never going to do again, I noted to myself with a heavy sigh.
Finally, the squirrel sprinted up a nearby tree and out of danger. All Chrissy could do was stand at the bottom of the tree trunk and bark furiously up at her.
Still breathless, I reached her side and grabbed the leash off the ground. “Bad dog!”
Within a blink of an eye, Chrissy transformed back into the sweet teddy bear. She wandered over to my side and let out a soft whine. Her nose rubbed against my leg. Despite the fact that I was super annoyed, I couldn’t help petting the top of her head.
Ryan came up behind us. “Well, now she’s sad. Poor girl. Luckily, the dog park is right up ahead. Maybe that will cheer her up.”
“Okay.”
Not sure if it was because of my impromptu chase or that the meds were finally kicking in, but I was suddenly exhausted. My head felt fuzzy and my legs were like Jell-O. It took all the energy I had just to shuffle my feet along the path to follow Ryan. I turned my head and hid a yawn with my hand. Twice.
Apparently, I wasn’t very subtle, because he turned and gave me a concerned look. “You look a little tired. Do you need me to take you home?”
