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A slow smile crept over his face and looked me in the eye and probably, for the first time, actually saw me. “I think you’re right.”
“But your dad,” I said. I couldn’t ignore it any longer. We had to talk it out and get past it because we now shared puppies together. For the next few weeks, we were stuck with each other until they were ready to go to homes of their own.
“Yeah, my dad.”
“I like him, Danny.”
Mallory piped up. “Shereallylikes him.”
“Mal!”
He scratched the side of his head, uncomfortable.
“Before anything happened, I told him I wasn’t interested in you, and he told me that you two talked and you said you weren’t into me. Did he?” God, did Daniel lie?
Fred shifted in her sleep and Danny glanced down. “Yeah, while I was still away. He asked what was up with us and I told him the truth.”
“That there was nothing between us,” I clarified.
He nodded. “So it’s over then? You and my dad?”
I shrugged.
“You like him though.”
“She really does,” Mallory offered.
I glared at her again. She grinned back, so I turned to Danny and ignored her. Or tried. “Yeah. I really do.”
“Why him, if you don’t mind my asking.”
I shrugged. Daniel had stormed into the vet’s office, accusing me of trapping him with a baby. I should hate his guts. But there was something about him in that moment, right from the very start, that drew me to him.
He wasn’t gentle. He was gruff. Bossy. Dominant. Cranky. He snarled first, asked questions later.
He was also sweet and filthy and safe. And for a few days… mine.
“It was never meant to be permanent,” I said, sadly. I’d been kidding myself that I wouldn’t get attached. That it wouldn’t be hard when he left.
“You’re okay with that? I mean, you seem like a permanent relationship kind of person, although I might have gotten that wrong, too.”
“I don’t want permanent,” I said at the same time Mallory said, “She wants permanent.”
I set my hands on my hips. “I do not!”
“You do, too. Your mom stole more than those fans off the wall.” She pointed again to where the bare spot was. “She stole your chance at finding real happiness with a guy. Not all men are like the creeps she brings around.”
Danny frowned. “Creeps?” Now the look he had on his face matched his father’s. Angry. Glaring. “What creeps?”
“Don’t fire up the woodchipper just yet,” I said, holding my hand out to slow his roll. “They’re gone.”
“For now,” Mallory clarified. “Until the next time she rolls into town wanting something and trying to get you to fuck her man.”
“WHAT?” Danny shouted. Yup, just like his dad.
“You are not helping,” I said, pointing at Mallory.
She pushed off the floor, wiped her hands on the front of her pants.
