AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tabitha smiled. “I’m having a hard time picturing Hobbs with a pet.” Well. She had a hard time picturing the Hobbs who showed up at the gym with a pet. The Hobbs who’d kissed her behind the gym and the Hobbs who had visited the motorcycle shop—that Hobbs she could 100 percent picture with a sweet, goofy golden dog like Gracie.
“I know, right? I can’t imagine him with any kind of baby, furry or otherwise. He seems like he’d have a hard enough time taking care of himself.”
“Well, I don’t know about that.” Tabitha spoke too quickly. “I mean, I think he puts on a good cover. I think there’s more there than meets the eye.”
“Oh, really?” Clementine clapped her hands together and Gracie came barreling inside. She waggled all around Clementine’s legs, then did the same to Tabitha’s. George strutted in last, sat nearby and waited for the raucous behavior to settle. Trinity, who’d taken over their spot on the dog bed by the fire, watched like a patient nana. Clementine glanced up from a wave of blond hair that had fallen over her eye as she bent to pet the puppy. “You like him, don’t you? Just a little?”
Tabitha, who’d leaned over to try to pet George, rose back up as he flinched away from her. “He’s cute in a grumpy way. I’m sure he’d grow on you. And probably ease up on his attachment to Gracie after he was in a secure environment.”
“I meant Hobbs.”
Tabitha’s coat suddenly felt too warm. “Oh, sure. I mean, he’s a little too rowdy for my tastes, but...” Tabitha trailed off into a shrug. “I got to know him a little better before he went out of town last week. He came into the bike shop on his way out. He’s got an older brother who’s like...” Tabitha stood on her tiptoes and reached a hand high over her head. “He’s as reserved as Hobbs is rowdy. You’d never know they were related but for the hair.” Tabitha twirled a lock of her own. “But I got the gist there’s a lot going on there—with Hobbs’s family and his past.”
“Oh, I see.” Clementine straightened up and pushed the sliding door closed. “You like him more than I thought.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Hmm. Okay.”
Gracie ran over to the pet bed and got into down dog in front of Trinity, her butt in the air as she leaned into her front paws. She gave a playful woof. George circled around behind her and settled by her left side.
“I kissed him,” Tabitha admitted. Something about Trinity, her calmness in the face of the puppy’s boisterous moves, gave Tabitha courage. “Well, he kissed me. On my birthday. It didn’t mean anything, though. It was just a birthday moment.”
Clementine kept her face straight. It was probably a mom thing she’d learned over the years—how to not react. Tabitha figured moms had to learn how to read the room really well in order to be good at their jobs. “Was it good?”
Tabitha wasn’t expecting that question. “I haven’t kissed a lot of guys. There’s Thaddeus, my high school boyfriend, who I saw the other day, actually. He wants to have coffee. He always kissed the same way.” Almost like a routine, Tabitha didn’t add as the thought struck her. Lots of tongue shoved in her mouth with little buildup. Too much spit. “And then there are a couple of guys when I was in the navy.” She didn’t add what their kisses were like because she didn’t remember enough about them to care.
“Which doesn’t answer my question.”
Gracie had a ratty stuffed mallard that she was shaking in front of Trinity, trying to get her to play. “Trinity, break,” Tabitha said, glad for the interruption. Trinity grabbed the other end of the mallard and shook it back and forth, just hard enough to give Gracie a challenge but not enough to steal the toy. Gracie growled good-naturedly. George reached up one long, pink leg and batted at the mallard, hooking it with his nails and pulling it in a third direction, which made the toy’s neck bend.
“Typically, guys like Hobbs, who put up a lot of talk, don’t have so much walk.” Clementine shrugged. “So I was just curious if...”
“Kissing him was like finding another person buried inside. I still knew it was Hobbs, but I completely forgot what he typically acts like while I was kissing him. In fact, I couldn’t think at all.” Tabitha had never been kissed like that. With such care and sweetness. Tabitha had felt like she was something special, something worth savoring.
“Oh, wow. He made you forget how to think?” Clementine smiled so big she got a couple of laugh lines around her eyes. “That good, huh?” She tucked in her bottom lip, thoughtful. “Interesting.”
“I should get going.” Tabitha’s cheeks were hot, not because she’d told Clementine about the kiss but because she was now reliving it in her mind, which made her feel like she was naked in front of her friend. “Come, Trinity.”
Trinity released the mallard and Gracie fell backward on her butt.
“So this Thaddeus.” Clementine followed behind as they headed for the front door. She seemed to have picked up on the fact that Tabitha needed to stop talking about kissing Hobbs. “What’s he like? Are you going to have coffee with him?”
Tabitha slipped the foot lotion into her coat pocket. “Thaddeus was a geeky jock in high school. Really smart but also on the track team. He had brains and brawn. We dated for a year. Then he went to school and I enlisted in the navy. I hadn’t seen him in years. He came over to Auntie’s brunch last weekend, which I know she planned. He’s a lawyer now.”
“Wow. Sounds perfect for you.”
Tabitha shrugged. Clementine was right. He did sound perfect for her.
Clementine studied her face in silence for a moment. “It’s just coffee,” she finally said. There went that mom magic again.
“Good point.”
“Thanks for coming. My feet are very appreciative. Once Lily’s home from dinner with her friends, I’m hitting the sack.”
“Great idea.”
The sound of something plastic hitting the floor rang out from the kitchen. It sounded suspiciously like a dog bowl.
