Page 15 of Heart Me Up
I thought about it for a minute. “You mean they might be offended you were pretending to be in their lifestyle?”
He nodded. “Essentially.” He gave a cocky grin. “But they’re friends with me for a reason—they’ll laugh, I promise.” I must’ve still seemed troubled because he patted me on the arm. “Will it make you feel better if I give their play group a free evening in the daycare room at the resort?”
I was momentarily distracted by the image of adult humans on their hands and knees romping around the pet resort. Then I shook myself and told Craig, “It’s up to you, but when you tell your friends about this, please let them know I’m eternally grateful for your rescue.” I moved closer and leaned in. “You turned a shitty blind date into a night I’ll remember forever.”
Craig started to meet me halfway when my fucking phone vibrated in my pocket. My ringtone for Dispatch blared out above the bar noise. Just like that, my hopes of spending the rest of the evening with Craig crashed and burned. I wasn’t on call tonight but they wouldn’t contact me if I wasn’t needed.
“I’m sorry, Craig, but it’s Dispatch. I have to answer this. I’m gonna dash outside so I can hear. Please don’t leave.” I gave him what I hoped was a significant look. We had unfinished business, he and I.
Craig nodded and saluted me with his drink as I answered, “Walkoviac here; hang on one sec.” I walked through the front doors. What I heard on the phone sent fear through my heart.
“Shots fired at Travis and Dickinson. We have report of officer down. All available officers requested on scene.” Fuck. I ran toward my car. I’d have to make it up to Craig later.
Chapter7
Craig
I hadn’t wornJasper’s collar more than ten minutes, but it was a relief to remove it and rub at the slightly damp skin on my neck. Daren had been over-effusive with his praise of my improvisation skills, and it had taken longer than I’d liked to pay the tab and extricate myself so I could go find Foster. I’d been watching out the big window behind the bar but he must have walked in the other direction to take his call.
I was still reeling from the kiss. No one had kissed me since Drew, and—Drew aside—I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it. Damn Lisa for being right. Greg and Callie too, I admitted to myself, though I wasn’t planning on telling them that anytime this side of ever.
I wanted to go out with Foster. I could do it. Ideservedit. I deserved some fucking happiness. And maybe Foster wasn't my forever person, but at the very least he could be a one-date person. Lisa was going to be so proud of me.
I could do it, I repeated to myself. Iwoulddo it. I burst through the restaurant’s front doors hummingEye of the TigerfromRocky III.
But Foster wasn’t there.
At least, he wasn’t in front of the restaurant. I walked down to the corner where I thought he’d gone, but there was no sign of him. And even though I hadn’t seen him pass by the window, I went down that side of the building as well. No Foster. The parking lot was empty of people.
Well, fuck.
Foster had left without saying goodbye. I stood on the sidewalk outside the restaurant for a good minute absorbing this. My skin went hot with humiliation. When a group of laughing people exited the restaurant, I jerked into motion, heading for my car. I got inside and shut the door, then I sat and stared out the windshield while I tried unsuccessfully to squash the giant waves of disappointment and mortification filling my chest. I’d taken a risk, and Foster had ghosted me.
I was overreacting, and I knew it. But I let all those negative emotions crash through me for longer than I wanted to admit before I remembered Lisa had given me coping methods for exactly this kind of situation.
Okay, take a step back. What if Foster had done this to a friend? What would you tell that friend?
Right. Okay, what were the facts? Foster had taken a phone call from Dispatch. Which meant his job. He was a detective, so something bad had happened, probably something really bad.
So if someone I knew was whining over Foster leaving without saying goodbye, what would I tell them?
I sighed and put my head on the steering wheel. The cool vinyl dug into my forehead as I mentally slapped some sense into myself.Stop being a drama queen. His disappearing only meant there was an emergency he had to get to. It had nothing to do with you.He wasn’t just playing with you. He liked the kiss too, and he told you not to leave, so whatever he had to go do must’ve been important to make him run off without coming back.
I tried to visualize a cartoon emergency, maybe a bomb in the middle of the town square with a timer counting down to zero, and only Foster would know whether to cut the blue wire or the red one to shut it off.
I exhaled a long steady stream of air and sat up.Name your feelings.Okay, I was still disappointed Foster had had to leave, and I hadn’t been able to ask him out. The ugly, clawing feeling that Foster had deliberately ghosted me and laughed while he did it hadn’t vanished completely, but now I could push it aside and ignore it.
I started the car and drove out of the parking lot.Think about what went well tonight.I snorted. Pretending to be puppy and master with Foster had been the best laugh I’d had in ages.
Then I remembered I needed to tell my friend Jonathan about my improvised skit. He ran the local puppy and kitten play group, and I didn’t want him to think I’d been making fun of anyone’s kink. I pictured different ways he might react, and then I started castigating myself for even thinking about using someone’s kink as a joke. I was in a full-on guilt spiral before I was halfway home, and this time it took me a lot longer to recognize what I was doing and step out of my head to deal with it.
Fuck my life. Lisa was right. I wasn’t ready to have my therapy sessions less frequently.
The sign for Amy’s Ice Cream glowed in the distance. Precisely what I needed. The ice cream gods were on my side, and one of the daily specials was that rarest of flavors, Key Lime Pie.
I bought two pints.
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