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“He has a dog to look after.”
“Oh? What kind of dog?” Mom asked Daniel, eyes wide with interest. “We lost our dear old Harry this past summer. It was hard on us all, wasn’t it, Peter? He was mixed-breed but had terrier in him.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Daniel said. “Milky Way is a shih tzu. She was my friend Bobby’s dog, but he passed away and…” He shrugged. “Now I’ve got her.”
Mom’s expression softened. “Ah, you’re a sweet one.” The word processor stopped clacking and the room seemed a lot quieter despite Billy’s crooning continuing in the background. “And that’s my deadline met,” she said with a grin. “Cheers!” She drank the rest of her wine in a gulp, and then whirled away. “I’ll get this in the mail to Saundra tomorrow and that’s one more romance down, a hundred more to go.”
“Lovers Reunited?” I asked, still wishing Daniel would come up the stairs with me and leave her behind. “You finished it?”
“Lovers Returned,” she corrected. “And yes.”
“Congratulations, Mom,” I said, reaching my hand toward Daniel. “We’ll celebrate tomorrow or the next day.”
Daniel put his foot on the first step, and I wanted to cheer. “Yes, congratulations, Mrs. Mandel. I know Peter’s proud of all you’ve accomplished.”
Was I? Had Ieversaid that? I didn’t think so, but it was true enough, and it made my mother smile.
“Is he now? I have my doubts.” She waved us off. “Go on then. I wouldn’t want you driving even later because I kept you, and we don’t want to keep your dog waiting.”
“No, ma’am,” Daniel agreed, and finally followed me up the stairs to my bedroom. “She’s great,” he said, shutting the door behind us, and looking around the room. “You’re lucky.”
I blinked, a memory of Adam saying something quite similar racing through my brain, but I dismissed it. “She’s okay,” I said. “Could be worse, could be better. At least she’s not popping pills these days. Okay, so, let me just…” As I searched for and found a duffle bag and stuffed a few shirts and a couple of pairs of jeans, some socks, and underwear inside, I watched Daniel walk around the room, looking at my things.
He paused by my desk, looking at the pinboard there, and with a small smile he reached out to touch the picture I had placed in the middle—the very first shot I’d ever taken of him, a blurry one from the Hill at UT after he’d jump-started my car.
“Wow, you still have this, huh?”
“Our origin story,” I murmured, coming up behind him and wrapping my arms around his waist. I was too short to hook my chin over his shoulder the way he did to me, but I rested my cheek against his back and held him, listening to his breathing and his heart. It was steady, strong.
“I wish I had a picture of you the way you looked that night, too,” he said. “You were…”
“I was what?”
“Beautiful.” He turned then and wrapped his arms around me, too.
“No,” I whispered. “Not me.”
“Yes, you.” He kissed me then and the room melted around me; I went soft in his arms, and his tongue moved against mine, making my head spin.
“Let’s go,” I said, ending our kiss. “My mom will wonder what’s taking so long, and I really want to get back to your place.”
“Why’s that?”
“I just want to be alone with you,” I said, nudging my nose against his and pressing another kiss to his jaw. “I feel like we need that tonight.”
“Yeah,” he said.
I released him. “Let’s go, then.”
Daniel paused again by the pinboard and put his finger on a picture of Minty.
“He’ll be okay,” I said, sliding a hand down Daniel’s back.
“No, he won’t,” Daniel said. Grief slumped his shoulders. He put his arm around me and tugged me close again. “But you and I will be.”
After that, we left my room and headed back downstairs. Mom was still awake, looking over some of the printed pages, and smiling. Billy Joel was now movin’ out, and the music was no longer romantic. She rose as we reached the last steps and started toward the front door, past the Disney World picture that Daniel had admired on his first visit.
“It was good to meet you, Mrs. Mandel,” Daniel said again, lifting a hand to wave goodbye.
