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The small white dog presses his nose into my pants. “I don’t know when dogs started to like me. They never used to.”
Vanessa’s voice rings through the forest again. “Cocoa, you nut! Where are you, Bear? Come back to Mamma.”
The dog won’t stop nudging me.
“Dogs get it,” Gwen says in her gentle, warm way. “They see straight past all the outside stuff, you know? They sniff out what’s true about a person.”
I stoop to stroke the dog’s fur. He wriggles faster.
When I straighten up again, I point out toward the trees. “Go on back to your person.”
He trots off.
Gwen takes a step closer to me. “You’re saying it was a mistake, firing me?”
“A mistake I take full responsibility for. I’ll do whatever it takes to make it right.”
“Maybe we made a mistake, crossing lines we shouldn’t have.” Even as she says it, her eyes reveal the truth—she doesn’t think it was a mistake. Not really.
She’s happy I’m here. I can see it.
As happy as I feel.
“You don’t think it was a mistake,” I say.
“Is that an educated guess?”
I nod. “I’m good at them. Not to brag.”
“Oh, go on and brag. I might try to brag a little from here on out, too. And you’re right. I don’t think it was a mistake. I think—I think it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Typically, I have a lot to say.
When it comes time to record a podcast, I can talk on and on. Public speaking is no big deal, either, and the same goes for interviews and videos.
Usually.
Right now, no words come.
I’m speechless—too busy reveling in what she’s just said to come up with a response of my own.
Her eyes are warm as they search mine. “So, you’re really here, in this park, on this path… ‘cause of me?”
“I went to your place first. Then, the dog park in East Windsor. Jordan finally told me you were here.”
“Well, I’m glad you found me,” she says.
“I wish I could take credit. But I didn’t find you. Not at the beginning. We were thrown together.”
Her lip twitches again, and this time, the smile catches hold. It reaches her eyes. “We were, weren’t we?” Her hand feels so good when she places it on my lower back.
I wrap my arms around her waist.
She looks up into my eyes. “I don’t need to understand everything that happened. All I need to know, you’ve already said. You messed up, and I forgive you. Want to know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I’m glad my path crossed with yours. It was just another Monday morning until it wasn’t.”
