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“Yes, I do recall that. When I saw you last Sunday, I immediately thought of Dolly.”
“And why is that?” I was curious how these dog-matches worked.
“Because you are both very cute.” He gave a sheepish grin and his cheeks turned pink, pale in comparison to the raging red mine were turning.
“Oh, is that so.” I laughed and felt at a loss for words.
“Good evening, group. Welcome back to Newtown! Thank you for joining us for this class. I promise to keep it short and sweet, just like your new animal companions!”
A small clap took over the crowd and Tommy, still half turned in my direction, moved his arm so it was bent on the top ofmychair. I could feel my heart racing as I sat next to him. Something about hispresencethat made me feel faint.
Dear Jesus,
Please guide me. I don’t know what I’m feeling. Is there something more to this?
In your name,
Amen
I prayed hard for the next several minutes and completely missed Samantha’s first three topics. When I was back and refocused, my feelings were no longer intoxicating in Tommy’s favor, and I felt a little more in control of myself. Samantha’s scrawl across the board read:
Must Haves: Nutrition, Playtime & Love
Funny, because those are the three things I wanted, too.
She was finishing up a Venn diagram of how the three of them equaledhappiness when Tommy whispered to me. “What are you doing after this?”
Yikes, I had no plans, but I’d already done something. Now, to do more? “I don’t know yet. No plans.” I whispered back, not making eye contact.
“Do you want to come over to my house?”Red flag.
“No.” I blurted out, at normal, talking volume. Samantha cocked a smile at me before continuing with her class.
“I mean, I just barely met you.”And I wouldn’t come to a strange man’s house at night anyway.
He nodded, not deterred in the slightest. “How about dinner?”
“Just ate, I’m afraid.” I didn’t mean to keep striking out, but I wasn’t about to eat twice, plus I was slightly bothered about the first invitation. Was that the kind of girl he thought I was? Or was that thekind of guy he was?I didn’t know which was worse.
“Well, how about this—tomorrow I will take you out to an early, proper dinner.”
I shook my head, smiling. “Going out of town first thing tomorrow.”
He laughed. “Okay, when do you get back? Now Ireallywant to take you out!”
“Next week.”
I didn’t want to get too specific because I knew if he wanted to go out, he would make it happen. But also, since I prayed about it, I didn’t feel peace. The only person I found myself focusing on now was Eli.
Dolly stood in her carrier, and I whispered I was going to take her outside for a moment and excused myself. It was the perfect moment to get some air and analyze my thoughts without his pressure.
To my surprise, he stood up as if he was going to accompany me. From the POV of my mother, this was good to fend off potential nappers and killers that could be hiding outside behind a parked car or defunct dumpster, but if he was the killer of the story, it was his perfect chance.
“That’s okay, I’ll be right back.” I put my hand up, showing I did not need orwanthim to accompany me. He paused, then sat back down.Whew.
I stepped outside, picking up Dolly from her carrier and taking her leash, and we walked around for a while. She hadn’t had much exercise today and she didn’t need to go to the bathroom. I think she needed the air as much as I did.
“Thank you, Dolly, for getting me out of there.” I pulled out my cell phone as we walked around the large yard next to Newtown.
