AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Logan came through the gate and followed me over to the kennel building. His four dogs immediately peeled away from the others and followed him in a pack. It reminded me of a mother goose leading her babies.
He’s definitely a good owner, despite his bluntness.
“Here’s the standard waiver,” I said while handing him a piece of paper to sign. “I already verified their vaccines with their vet, so we’re all good there.” I picked up four sheets of paper from another stack on my desk. “These are the extras we offer here. If you want to add them onto your dogs’ stay—”
“All of it.”
I gave a start. “There’s a lot of services on here, are you sure you don’t want to take a look and make sure…”
“All of it, for all four dogs.” He idly scratched one of the mutts behind the ear. “Is there anything else?”
My office wasn’t very large, especially with the four dogs that had followed us inside. It meant Logan and I were uncomfortably close together. He towered over me, sturdy and resolute, like a brick wall. “Um. I had a question about the food. On your intake form, you wrote that they have a special diet?”
“It gets delivered every night,” he answered. “I gave them your address.”
Food that gets delivered? What is he feeding them?
I smiled. “Usually, we charge extra for special feeding requirements. But since this is your first—”
“That’s fine,” he rumbled. “Cost doesn’t matter.”
“Okay then.” I grabbed another form. “If you don’t mind, can you write down how much food they get? Just in case I get confused.”
He took the sheet of paper and a pen and bent over the desk to write it all down. I glanced at his arms bulging out of his T-shirt; it was impossible not to look at them, but I made myself stop.
He’s a customer. What if the roles were reversed?
Suddenly I heard a familiar sound out in my driveway. I poked my head out the door and groaned at what I saw.
Trip.
7
Beth
I shouldn’t have been surprised by Trip showing up here randomly. In fact, I had kind of expected it when I started ignoring his texts. But of course, he had to show upnow, while I was dealing with a customer.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, leaving the kennel.
I strode across the field with a cluster of dogs by my side, playing and nudging each other as we went. Judging by his clothes, Trip had come on his lunch break. He opened the gate into the smaller enclosure, and then came into the larger field area.
Although I hadn’t expected it to happentoday, I had prepared for this confrontation. Trip was going to ask me to get back together with him. He was going to be on his best behavior, full of apologies and promises. He would be gracious, and tell me I was right about everything. He would insist that he could be a more supportive boyfriend in the future.
But it was too late for that. I had seen therealTrip, and it wasn’t the kind of man I wanted to be with. I cleared my throat and prepared to stand my ground.
“Here.” He handed me a slip of paper.”
“What’s this?” I frowned. “Sixteen hundred dollars for hockey tickets… Trip, what is this?”
“My receipt from the game,” he said, pursing his lips. “Your half is eight hundred.”
“Wait a minute… are you asking me to pay for my ticket?”
“Of course I am,” he replied. “I’ve got Venmo or PayPal, but I’ll take a check if that’s easier for you.”
I sputtered a laugh. “I’m not paying you, Trip.”
“Why not?” he demanded. “Youoweme. If I had known you would break up with me a few days later, I wouldn’t have taken you.”
