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She kept walking.

“Larissa, I’m serious—”

She turned to me with her arms crossed. “What if it’s a kitten?”

“It’s growling. What if it’s distemper?”

She laughed and turned back around and kept going.

“Larissa!”

She ignored me. I slumped and jogged after her. “You know it’s six rabies shots for animal bites—”

“Good thing we’re already at the hospital.”

Then the creature popped its head out. We both came to an abrupt halt.

It was a small, absolutely filthy dog.

When it saw us, it ran over, cropped tail wagging, and bounced happily off our shins.

She gasped. “Oh my God! Chris, a puppy!” She bent over to pet it, and it made excited whining noises.

I crouched, relieved it wasn’t a wild animal. “Hey, little guy…”

His fur was crusty and smelled terrible.

She glanced over to where he’d come from. “He was eating a turkey leg.”

I couldn’t even tell what breed because his fur was so matted. A Yorkie or a Maltese maybe?

The dog ping-ponged between us. Larissa was close enough that I could smell her again. Tangerines. I watched her smiling at this dog a moment longer than I probably should have. I cleared my throat and forced my gaze away. That’s when I noticed the bleach stain on the cuff of her U of M hoodie.

“Where’d you get your sweatshirt?” I said, ruffling the dog’s ears.

She looked down at it. “It’s Mike’s.”

“I think that’s actually mine…”

She blinked at me for a second. Then her cheeks flushed pink. “Oh my God—I’m so sorry. I found it in Mike’s truck. I didn’t even really look at it—”

She was already pulling her arms out of the sleeves.

“No no, keep it for now or you’ll be cold. Just give it to me later.”

She stopped, one empty sleeve dangling pitifully. “I can’t.”

I laughed a little. “You can. Seriously. Just hang on to it. Give it to me whenever.”

She looked mortified.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I don’t care.”

I picked up the dog and stood. “I can take him to Xavier and see if he’s chipped.”

Her cheeks were still pink, but she put her arm back into the sleeve. “What do we do with him in the meantime? We can’t take him into the hospital.”

And then, like it was his cue to magically appear, Mike pulled up in his truck, tapping the horn. He rolled the window down. “Hey, there you are. I made it!”