Page 64 of Jay Bird

“I think I shocked him.”

Mia giggled. “I would’ve paid money to have seen that. What happened after that?”

“I ran inside.”

Mia laughed harder. “I’m so happy for you.”

Willow’s embarrassment faded slightly. “Why? Don’t you think that is strange?”

Mia shook her head. “No. Because you wanted to kiss him.” Mia reached for her hand again. “Nobody told you to. Nobody expected it. You wanted to, and you did it. Your instincts are telling you something. You trust him.”

Willow looked toward the house again, the thought settling a little deeper this time. Maybe she did trust him more than she was ready to admit, even to herself.

Mia let the silence sit for a moment before changing the subject.

“What are you going to do about work?”

“I was actually thinking about that.” Willow straightened. “As soon as Tink gets my identification squared away, I want to find something. I can’t sit here forever.”

“Well, I wanted to talk to you about a job. I remember that you were taking classes, working toward your degree.

Willow nodded. “I was. I was thinking about maybe continuing it.”

“Well, I own my own clinic now. We also have a rescue and adoption center attached. I need another tech. How would you like to come and work for me? ”

“But I don’t have my degree yet.”

“I know. We’ll work around it legally until you get it. Consider it a paid internship type of thing. And the clinic will pay for all your classes to finish your degree.”

“Are you serious?” Willow asked.

“I’d do it for any employee I thought was worth investing in.”

Willow felt the tears coming again. “Are you sure this isn’t just helping me out of pity?”

Mia’s expression became almost offended.

“Absolutely not. You were damn good at your job three years ago, and unless Chen somehow erased your ability to deal with terrified dogs and homicidal cats, I doubt that changed.”

Willow laughed through the tears. “I want it.”

Mia grinned. “Good. Then the job is yours.”

Willow glanced toward Lily. But I would need daycare.”

Mia waved her hand in the air. “Already handled.”

“What? How?”

“Between the kids of Bravo and Alpha, childcare has basically become an underground operation.”

Willow laughed, and so did Mia.

“I’m serious. The wives and girlfriends with little ones rotate helping each other. Juliette, Derek’s wife, loves having the kids over. There are always options.”

“But I’m not exactly part of the team community.”

Mia made a face. “Nonsense. You’re living with Jay Bird and using his last name.”