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“Looks like Boo will have a good home with you.”
“Yeah. But I don’t know the first thing about dogs except that they’re awesome.”
“You’ve come to the right place. After all, the history degree didn’t happen.”
“The veterinarian one did.”
She nods. “Boo looks healthy. What is he, twelve? Seen some battles, buddy?” she asks, roughing up his coat.
Under the cover of her beach bungalow’s porch, we talk about the dogs for so long that I don’t even notice when the sun drops through the clouds over the water.
“On the disaster scale today, so far, it comes in at moderate,” I say, figuring it’s probably time to go.
“Are you expecting a crisis?”
“I’m always prepared.”
“In that case, the first thing you’ll want is a better collar, preferably one embroidered with your info so if Boo escapes again, there’s no question where he belongs.”
“Thanks for the tip.” I give Madame and General each a pet goodbye.
Glancing up, I catch Lally gazing at me with a small smile on her face as if she’s trying to restrain a larger one...or the setting sun might be in her eyes. I can’t be sure.
“You look—”
“Surprised,” she says. “Surprised that you’re a dog person...and not a cake person.”
Straightening to my full height, I know what I need to do. “About that. I have to admit that I rarely make good decisions or good first impressions.”
“Technically, I think I, um, take the cake for the botched first impression.”
I chuckle at the pun, but the space between my brows pinches in question.
“The text.”
I snap my fingers. “That’s right, the text.”
Lally gazes at the painted wood planks of her porch. “No need to rub it in.”
Unable to take my eyes off her, she picks her gaze up. Ours meets for one fleeting moment. Her eyes spark green like that little flash that occasionally appears on the horizon over the water at sunset.
“That was a first for me for sure.” My phone beeps in my pocket as if on cue, startling us both.
“Being proposed to by a stranger? Yeah, me too. Er, I mean asking someone to marry me. Nope, it’s just these two and me.” Lally points to the dogs and her cheeks pinken.
My phone beeps with several messages, likely coming from Emmie. She’s the only one who spams me with single-word texts so I'm annoyed enough to check my phone if I don’t respond right away.
“I mean, I’m single. I’ve never proposed to anyone or been proposed to is what I meant.”
Pulling my phone from my pocket, the nameEmmiewith a heart emoji beside it scrolls across the screen. She added that in my contacts when she was sixteen and I can’t be bothered to erase it.
Lally cringes slightly and then adds, “I should head inside.”
Phone in hand, I check to make sure Emmie is okay when the device rings. “Yeah, I have to take this. Boo thanks you for the biscuit.” Taking a few steps off the porch, I answer. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, of course, Mag. You’re always on high alert. I just needed to ask a military question for a project I’m working on.” She inquires about Brazil’s military history.
“You’re better off asking the internet. My memory of that is foggy.”
