Page 77 of Just Friends Forever
Fifteen minutes later, we pull into the parking lot of a non-descript gray building.
Stevie’s brows are pulled together as she looks around for a sign. It’s pure luck that we’re parked on the side of the building without any visible signage.
“Where are we?” she asks.
“You’ll see.”
She gives me a wary look as she opens her door while I bask in the joy of anticipation.
We head toward the front of the building together. “I know you’ve been feeling guilty for neglecting Mavis and Swinger and Furzy,” I say. “I figured coming here might make you feel a bit better.”
She stops as the big letters above the front doors come into view: Harmony Haven Animal Sanctuary. Her jaw slips open, and her head turns to me.
“They’re always looking for volunteers to help give the animals some love while they wait to be adopted. What do you say? Want to go snuggle some real animals?”
Eyes wide, she nods her head.
For the next two hours, we play with dogs, cats, bunnies, guinea pigs, and an iguana. Stevie is in her element, and being the sucker I am, I can’t help watching how sweet she is to the animals without thinking what she’ll be like as a mom. It blows my mind that Curtis wouldn’t have jumped at the chance to have a family with her.
“Don’t be strangers,” the woman at the front desk says when we head for the front door.
“We’ll definitely be back,” Stevie assures her.
I open the door for her, but once we’re outside, she stops and turns to me, looking at me in a way that makes my heart stutter.
“What do you say?” I ask. “Was it as good as virtually petting Mavis’s scaly back?”
“It was a million times better.” She throws her arms around me, her cheek pressing against my neck. “Thank you, Troy,” she says in a muffled voice. “That was amazing. So much more fulfilling than deworming my virtual pets.”
I chuckle, trying to keep my tone light when my world feels so completely right with her in my arms. “I’m not sure who got the better end of the deal, the animals or us.”
She pulls back and meets my gaze with another grateful smile. “Definitely us.”
“You know the worst part?” I say as we walk to the car.
“What?”
I rub my head. “How much I identified with that hairless cat.”
It’s only when we get to the car that she reminds me she has to go back in the trunk for the last bit of the ride. I grumble while she claps in delight.
When she emerges from the trunk in my driveway a while later, it’s with a huge smile.
“Last time I give you any ideas.” I slam the trunk shut.
“I sure hope not,” she says as we head for the back stairs. “Today is the best day I’ve had in a really long time.”
I glance at her, wondering if that’s true. She lived the life of a movie-star for a few years, flying to foreign places, schmoozing with other rich people, and being pampered by a fleet of people who catered to her every whim. Is she really saying being thrown into a trunk, going to an open house, and petting random animals beats all that?
“Care if I borrow your sweats again?” she asks. “I still have them.”
My brow hitches.
“What? They were really comfy.”
I open the back door into my apartment. “They’re from Walmart.”
She shrugs. “Comfy is comfy.”
