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I just didn’t realize it would be this difficult. I thought I’d be stronger. That I’d remember her for what she was to me. A tool. Nothing else.
Because right now, as she cupped my cheek, she felt like so much more than someone I planned to use, then toss aside.
She felt real.
Ifelt real.
“You’re…,” she said again, her chest rising and falling in a quicker rhythm.
“Yes,” I exhaled as I framed her face with my hands, my fingers digging into her hair.
“You’re—”
A sharp tug around my legs forced me to drop my hold on her, both of us snapping our eyes to our feet, Ollie’s leash now wrapped tightly around us.
While that wasn’t disastrous in and of itself, that was the precise moment a seagull swooped in front of Ollie.
In the seconds before he had a chance to charge, instinct took over and I barked out, “Ollie! Heel!” at the same time as Imogene shouted the same command.
Her body tensed as her widened eyes locked onto mine, suspicion swirling within. “How did you?—”
“I guess he knows some commands after all,” I responded, stepping out of Ollie’s trap as he sat at Imogene’s side, waiting for the treat he knew would follow upon successfully obeying a command.
Imogene reached into her pocket and held out her palm, but her gaze remained fixed on me, the crease in her brow growing by the second.
“How did you know he’d listen tothatcommand?”
“I grew up around a lot of dogs.” I shrugged nonchalantly, praying she’d buy my story. “It’s one of the first commands you try to teach.”
Silence hung heavy in the air for what felt like an eternity before she let out a long sigh and broke her gaze from mine.
“Of course. Right.” She untangled Ollie’s leash and held it taut, increasing the distance between us. “I should get home and feed this guy his breakfast.” She averted her gaze, pushing a few wayward tendrils of hair behind her ear. “ You’d think he hasn’t been fed in days the way he acts if I’m even a minute late.”
I nodded, remembering that all too well. “I won’t keep you. I’m just glad to see you out and about.”
She studied me for several protracted moments, then spun, tugging a reluctant Ollie along with her.
After a few feet, she paused, glancing over her shoulder, her analytical gaze sweeping over me once more. Luckily, it only lasted a second before she continued on her way.
ChapterEleven
Imogene
I sat on the floor of my office Saturday morning surrounded by boxes, doing my best to finally unpack my life. Maybe if Liam saw my townhouse actually looked lived in instead of being a collection of unpacked boxes and makeshift furniture, he’d stop pestering me to move in.
Going through these boxes also helped me take my mind off my conflicted feelings about Gideon.
I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him all week. About the way his voice thundered the command for Ollie to heel.
It stole my breath.
Brought me back in time.
He sounded so much like Samuel. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was there with me.
But that was impossible.
Samuel Tate died five years ago. A fact I kept reminding myself of more and more since I first met Gideon Saint. I went through this very thing around the anniversary of his death every year. It was natural to think about him more. That was all this was. A natural part of the grieving process.
