Page 50 of Nice Guys Don't Kiss Like That At Christmas
“You’re not crating him at the shelter,” I say before I can stop myself.Maybe I’m like Blanche, anxious about crates.She stayed so long at a vet before getting adopted again that she panics when she thinks she’s going to be crated.Or Dorothy and the carriers.
Adam pauses.Our eyes meet.
“Okay,” he says.Quiet.Measured.“I wasn’t going to crate him there.I was going to double check if anyone had any more information.We had all his paperwork, so he’s up on his vaccines but his new owners who cannot find didn’t register him.And his old owners cannot take him back as they’re in a facility that doesn’t accept animals. A foster family brought him back the other day because he kept escaping.I’ll bring him back with me to my practice.We have a daycare there.Then I’ll figure something else out.”
A knock breaks the tension.Blanche groans but doesn’t move.I grab a robe and wrap myself in it.
“Hey!”Sally’s voice carries in.“I’ve got carbs, gossip, and mild logistical panic!”
Adam opens the door just wide enough for her to slip in with a tray and clipboard.
“Alright, lovebirds,” she says cheerfully, “plumber’s coming tomorrow.Pipe’s cracked deep in the wall, behind the tile, because the universe is hilarious.He says four to five days, maybe a week.Latest until the tree lightning.We’re not booking that suite again until it’s fixed.”
I blink.“I’ll go somewhere else.”
“You can’t,” she says, blunt.“Every other room’s taken.Engagements, the Santa brunch crowd, and one very real reviewer from Travel Lovers in Birch Suite.Do you know what happens if she clocks ‘plumbing disaster’ at a B&B during peak season?”
She holds up her clipboard like it’s a sword.
“I get dragged on Instagram, our winter bookings tank, and I cry into my crockpot until January.”
Adam steps in quickly.“I’ll sleep in my truck.”
“You will not,” Sally says.“Nor will you sneak off to the clinic and traumatize my favorite stray by leaving him in a kennel.I heard your starting date has changed and you’re staying with us for a bit longer.”
“How?”Adam shakes his head.
“Well… I heard it from Jill who told Sarah who told Jen who told me.Jill’s beagle was due for a checkup and she called Dr.Chen very early… her private number and she found out she wasn’t here, yet and had to delay her arrival.”
LoverBoy whines on cue and flops against the bed dramatically.
“Anyhoo.The bed is big enough to fit the cast of a why choose novel,” she continues.“But if the couch is occupied by the dog mafia, I’ll bring up a spare mattress.Late.Quiet.No reviewer eyes.You’ll figure it out.”
I look at Adam.He looks at me.
Neither of us says anything.
Sally raises one brow.“Unless you’d like me to decide where you sleep?”
Adam lifts a hand.“Nope.We’re good.”
Sally winks.“Thought so.”
And then she’s gone, the door clicking shut behind her like punctuation.
I finally let myself exhale.
One week.
One room.
With a man I wasn’t supposed to see again, let alone sleep with, or talk to, or feel anything this dangerous around.
I pull on the hoodie I left on the chair last night.Papet’s heart ornament sits untouched on the desk beside it.
Still intact.
Still here.
