Page 77 of After Midnight

He’s holding one of the puppies now, letting it lick his nose as he laughs.

“I’m not home enough,” he says. “I wouldn’t want to leave a dog alone all the time. They’d be family, you know?”

He sets the puppy back in the playpen, then pets the two others who jump and nip at his hand. I can picture him on the beach, a dog running at his side, both grinning under the sun. The image makes me smile.

Seb straightens from the playpen, then takes my hand again, guiding me toward the tent.

“Jo!” he says when we step inside.

A woman with braided blond hair glances up from a table where she was writing on a clipboard. She sees Seb, and then her gaze slides slowly to me. And the smile that crosses her face is as warm as the Cali sun.

Immediately, she comes out from behind the table and pulls Seb into a hug, then turns to me. “Hey. You must be Remi. I’m Jordan.” She holds her hand out, and I take it, giving it a small shake.

“I’m surprised you know who I am,” I say, somewhat playfully.

Jordan’s gaze flicks up to Seb. “Yeah, well, this one has been glued to his phone since the Sin City Sound Festival, and every time I ask him who he’s talking to, it’s you.” She bumps Seb lightly with her elbow. “Kind of hard not to notice.”

Seb’s cheeks go a slight pink hue, and he quickly bends down and presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Hey, I gotta go. I’m late enough already.” He turns to Jordan. “Can Remi hang out with you?”

“You can put me to work,” I volunteer. “I love dogs.”

Jordan grins. “That would be awesome. A couple of my volunteers couldn’t make it, so I’m a bit short-staffed. You would be a big help.”

I turn to look up at Seb. “Go on. I’m fine.” I wave him away, but he pauses for an extra moment in the tent’s open doorway, looking back at me from beneath his ballcap. He meets my eyes and gives me a small smile, then ducks away, and the crowd swallows him up immediately.

For a moment, I stare after him, looking at the spot where he disappeared. Then I turn to face Jordan.

And she’s looking at me, head tilted, strands of blond hair clinging to her cheeks. “He likes you a lot, you know,” she says softly. Something in her tone sounds . . . unsure, like maybe she’s testing me, wanting to determine for herself if I’m serious or just leading Seb on.

I hold her gaze as I say, “I like him a lot too.”

At this, she nods, as if that’s good enough for now. Then she gestures to the table, where there’s a mess of clipboards, pens, and photos of Wag’s adoptable dogs. “Could you help me organize these? They’re adoption interest forms, and there’re so many, I don’t want them to get misplaced. I would hate to be the reason that one of these pups doesn’t get a home.”

Jordan’s brow furrows as she stares down at the disorganized chaos, and I decide I like her already. I’m pretty sure she’s Michael’s wife, based on what Seb has told me, and I recognize her from that photo he sent me of everyone sitting on the patio one night.

I definitely never thought I’d be meeting her—or any of them—in person. It’s weird how life unfolds.

“Sure,” I say. “How do you want them organized?”

“Alphabetically by last name, please. Then we can put them here.” She slips behind the folding table and taps a box with file organization tabs up top.

“Easy enough,” I say.

But once I get started, it’s actually not that easy, because people are filling out interest forms almost as quickly as I can organize them. I tie my hair up on top of my head, needing to get it off my neck; it’s getting warm in here as the setting sun shines down on the tent, making my skin sticky.

At one point, a woman wearing a Wag T-shirt steps into the tent to talk to Jordan, and from the corner of my eye, I see them both turn to look at me. I glance up, and something about the woman looks familiar. She has long light brown hair, brown eyes, and a scattering of freckles.

Jordan leads her over to me, and I straighten up from hunching over the clipboard table. “Remi, this is Nora, Dex’s fiancée. Nora, this is Remi, Sebastian’s . . .” She pauses, casting a questioning glance at me.

With a smile and a shrug, I offer Nora my hand. “I don’t really know what we are. But it’s nice to meet you.”

Nora slips her hand into mine and gives me a shy smile. “You too. Seb was really excited about you coming to visit.” Outside, a few dogs start barking, getting rowdy, and a child laughs. Seeming a bit overwhelmed, Nora takes a breath and says, “And thanks for helping. We were really short-handed today. Our friend, Alisha, was going to help out, but . . . something came up.”

She glances away, and Jordan’s smile flickers briefly.

Now that I’ve been reminded of who Nora is, I remember her from the gossip headlines last year, and she was in that group photo with Jordan as well. She’s softer and smaller in person than I expected.

“Happy to.” I roll out my neck, which feels kinked from staring down at all the interest forms. “Do you know when the band goes on? I’ve never seen them live.”