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You are invited to spend Saturday touring our town on your fabulous bicycle, with your guide Galan to show you all the places you’ve never known existed but will be delighted to view. Goodies provided. Fun guaranteed!

Dog’s read:

You are specially invited to tour the town on Saturday in your brand-new-and-exciting transport created especially for you. There will be fire hydrants to mark, other dogs to bark at, and homemade snacks. Fresh water available at all times.

Half an hour after I sent the invitations, I received a call from Lake. He was laughing, but he said, “Exciting transport for Dog?”

“That’s right. He’s going to love it.”

“Can I see it? I’m so intrigued.”

“On Saturday. It’s not quite done yet. Are you accepting my invitation?”

“For a biking day and my dog can come? I’m in!”

“How about Dog? Is he in?”

“I just sent you a video with his answer.”

I checked my texts and there it was. Dog bouncing and wagging his tail so hard, I knew Lake had to be holding up his leash in the universal symbol for we’re going for a walk. But it was so adorable.

“That’s a big yes, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Uh-huh. He can’t wait to see his brand-new-and-exciting transport.”

“If I had to guess, he’d be more excited about the snacks.”

“Galan, we are both glad to accept your kind invitation. It doesn’t say what time though.”

“This is the first invitation I’ve written in a long time. How is ten o’clock?”

“Perfect. Thank you for giving us something to look forward to. It feels very special.”

“Spending time with you, it’s bound to be.”

Chapter Ten

Lake

We were going on our second date, or maybe first date, depending upon how you counted them, but I was seeing Galan again. And best of all, I was getting to bring Dog.

Dog was an important part of my life, and I was more nervous about Galan liking him than anything else. We were a package deal.

I woke up early, like it was Christmas when I was five years old and wanting to see what Santa brought. My first order of business was looking at the invitations again. It was so stinking cute how Dog got his own invitation.

Dog was not even close to as excited as I was, being a lazy little slug, sleeping in the sun like he was a cat and not a dog.

It was much easier to decide what to wear since we were going for a bike ride. I wasn’t a serious bicyclist, the kind who wore the spandex and hunched over with their water bottle attached. I gave those people credit, but they weren’t me. Jeans and T-shirt with sneakers worked for me.

I packed a little bag with a bottle of water and a collapsible dish for Dog, along with some bags in case he had needs and some treats because he deserved to be spoiled. All dogs did.

“Okay. We gotta go outside for a quick walk because we are going on a date.”

Dog wouldn’t care about the whys, but when I grabbed that leash, he was up and to the door at lightning speed. We walked around the block. Rico was out picking up a package that had been left for him when we passed by.

“I hear you’re having a fun day today.”

My heart wanted to explode. He knew we were going on a date, which meant Galan was maybe not as excited as me, but he was ready.