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“Oh, yeah, of course,” I said, then dollar signs blazed into my head. Middle of the night visits couldn’t be cheap. Overnight observations didn’t either. “Umm, but can you tell me how much it’ll cost?”
They both chuckled this time. “You get the family discount, Gigi. Any friend of Trey’s is a friend of mine.”
A sense of dread shot through my body. I wasn’t charity. I could pay—maybe. Eventually. “If you have a payment plan, you can set me up on, I’d appreciate it. I can’t possibly accept your generous offer. We bothered you in the middle of the night and you opened up especially for us.”
“He was two clubs down from where I was.” Trey laughed, then handed the puppy to me. “Take his offer. He won’t let you pay anyway.”
I snuggled the puppy as he growled at me. “Why are you so grouchy?” I asked the warm, soft puppy.
“Gigi,” Dr. Barnes said, squatting in front of me, his hand on my back. “Trey’s correct, I won’t let you pay. If you’re friends with Trey, I should be paying you to hang out with him. He’s sent me pictures of your dog’s a few times already.”
That news more than surprised me. Trey didn’t seem like a puppy picture type of dude.
“Whatever,” Trey said to his brother, “you’re lucky I hang out with you at all.”
“See? He’s thirty-three and still a child. You’re doing our whole family a favor by being his friend,” he said, then stood up. He pulled a card from the holder on the counter. “This is my card. Call my cell around nine and I’ll let you know how he’s doing.”
The gentle Dr. Barnes took the growly puppy from me. We said our goodbye’s and I said thank you so many times, Trey finally pulled me out of the office and took us home.
It took me half an hour to get to sleep after we got home to an empty apartment. Still no Beau. No messages.
Horrible dreams had plagued what little sleep I did have, making me feel even more tired than if I’d just stayed awake. My mind played back scenes of sweet puppies choking and me being unable to help them. And of course, images of Beau out at various clubs, scantily clad women clawing at him while he enjoyed every single minute of it.
I flopped my legs over the side of the bed, feeling an urge to cry as I sat up, feeling emotionally exhausted over the puppy. And Beau.
The puppy would be fine, Dr. Barnes had assured me.
But as for Beau? I wasn’t quite sure. My new feelings for him that had emerged during our phone call yesterday hadn’t disappeared. Unfortunately. Instead, my heart felt like it had been chopped up, tenderized with a very large mallet and set to boil for hours.
A sad laughcame out as I stood. Cry? Over what? A fake relationship? Yeah, he said some kind words to me last night. Words I probably twisted inside my head to make them sound and mean what my heart wanted them to.
Finally, I forced my tired legs to move to the bathroom and get ready for yoga.
“Stretch up to the sky,welcome the new day as we slide into savasana,” Jillian said in her yoga voice. It was her voice, but much softer. Yet also oddly authoritative.
The sound of a vehicle pulling into the parking lot caught my attention. I couldn’t see who it was, but I still felt it deep in my stomach. Sure enough, seconds later, Beau strolled around the corner, swinging his keys on his finger like he was fucking Frank Sinatra or something.
What really made me ill was seeing the top two buttons on his shirt unbuttoned. Thoughts of him dancing, chatting, then going home with some faceless woman played through my head, making it difficult to breathe.
“Hi, Beau,” one of the girls said as he passed by us.
“Morning, ladies,” he said with a knowing smirk. A smirk that I wanted to go rip off his handsome face right now.
We all watched as he walked up the stairs to our apartment. When he shut the door behind himself, Jillian ended our session.
As I rolled up my mat, I stepped in her direction. “Can I get a ride with you to the rink?” I asked, my heart and stomach fighting each other for who felt worse.
Jillian’s gaze fluttered to mine. “You sure? Why don’t you go talk to him?”
“Thanks, I’ll be down in five minutes. If we could leave early, I’d love you forever,” I whispered to her.
A sadness shadowed over her face. “You already do. But I’ll meet you in the car.”
I thanked the heavens above that Beau was in the shower when I walked through the door. I hurried around to get my food out of the fridge and throw what I needed into my bag.
And, in the spirit of being a complete and total idiot, I set Beau’s food on the counter with a note on it. I’d made it and put it into containers last night. If he didn’t eat it, all of that food would go to waste. So, I sucked up my feelings, kissed my puppy goodbye and closed the door as quietly as I could.
Beau:Where are you? We need to leave.
