I looked down. I'd handed him a ten. “Sorry. Sorry, I—” I fumbled with the cash box. “Long morning.”
He gave me a sympathetic smile and moved on. I did not deserve it.
Blondie laughed again. Loud, delighted, head tilting back. Tucker wagged his tail at her, the absolute traitor.
I sold another dozen eggs and signed two more soap pre-orders. I did not look over there again.
Only twice.
Fine. Three times. But the third one was purely accidental.
When I finally looked up for real, she was gone. Cal stood with Tucker, watching the crowd thin out around the adjacent booths, completely unbothered. Like nothing had happened. Like a beautiful woman hadn't just laughed at everything he'd said and touched his arm and probably handed him her number on the back of a receipt.
I wiped down my table with more force than necessary.
Cal ambled over with Tucker. “What did that table do to you?”
“Nothing.” I set down the cloth. “Just cleaning up.”
“Must've been pretty dirty.”
Tucker pressed his nose against my knee. I scratched his ear and avoided Cal's face.
“How'd it go over there?” I nodded toward where Blondie had been standing. Very casual. A completely normal question.
“Good, actually.” Cal glanced down at Tucker with something close to satisfaction. “Amanda works from home. Has a big yard, a daughter around ten who's apparently obsessed with dogs.”
Amanda.He knew her name.
“Hmm.” I smoothed Tucker's silky ear between my fingers. “How convenient for her.”
“She seemed really taken with him.”
“Not just him.”
Cal tilted his head. “Are you?—”
“Did she fill out the adoption form?”
He blinked at the subject change. “Yeah, she's coming by the clinic Monday.”
“Great.” I smiled. Bright, breezy, completely unhinged. “Tucker deserves a big yard.”
“He does.” Cal studied me for a beat too long. “You're being weird.”
“No, I'm not.” I picked up my cleaning cloth again, mostly so my hands had something to do. “I just hope Amanda and her daughter and her enormous yard make Tucker very happy. That's all.”
The corner of Cal's mouth moved. “Her yard isn't that big.”
“You said?—”
“Big. Notenormous.”
I threw the cloth at him.
He caught it, because of course he did, and held it out to me with a perfectly straight face.
I snatched it back.
