I nodded, and we set off a few moments later, Skittles walking slightly ahead and Kona walking to the other side, so they could ignore each other thoroughly. Journey’s arm slightly bumped against mine.
This was stupidly, dangerously close to the vision I’d always had of our future, once his brothers hadn’t needed him so much and things were settled down. I hadn’t known all the particulars of what I wanted things to look like, but he and I had certainly done a lot of walking our dogs together after work.
“How were the Hendersons? Did they check out to adopt Rebecca?” At my negative headshake, he snorted. “Why am I not surprised?”
“I felt like they were in it for the novelty,” I said with a frown. “They just weren’t the right family for her.”
“She’s a raccoon, honey, not a newborn.”
I glanced his way, but he was busy reining in Skittles as she tried to take off after a lizard. I wasn’t sure he was even aware he’d used the endearment, and it wasn’t the first time. Maybe I wasn’t the only one having a hard time drawing a line between friends and… more. I decided not to address it, but only because I didn’t want to make things awkward and not because I didn’t want him to stop.
“She’s a living creature,” I said, “and she’s been through so much. She deserves a good forever home.”
He chuckled softly. “You’re something else.”
“What?”
“Why don’t you just admit that you’re keeping her? And Kona? And those two chinchillas you brought home last week?”
“They’re all just temporary guests,” I informed him starchily.
“Hotel Foster seems more like Hotel California. You can check-in, but you never leave.”
He was not the least bit funny, and I poked him in the side. “Whatever.”
“All right, then. If you’re so determined to get them adopted, then you should know that I finished touching up the photos I took of the chinchillas last week. They came out wonderfully.” He smiled. “Should I send them to Bailey to list on the website?”
“Send them to me,” I said quickly. “I’ll handle it.”
His mouth twitched. “Sure you will.”
At least he didn’t laugh in my face. I’d count that as a win. “Did you really finish their pictures, or were you just baiting me?”
“A little of both.” He reached over to pat my cheek. “Bailey liked them so much that she wants me to take some pictures of the foster dogs.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”
“I want to. We were spitballing some ideas last night, and she wants to do a spotlight on senior dogs that I think would be pretty cool.”
I smiled. His enthusiasm was pretty cool, too. “You get just as excited taking pictures of shelter dogs as you do of taking pictures of a cheetah.”
“Taking pictures of incredible things is easy. Making people see how incredible normal things can be is where the real challenge begins.”
And with that, he launched into a more thorough explanation of what he meant. Very thorough. He lost me somewhere around Art Wolfe and Brian Skerry, but I wasn’t bored in the least. I could probably watch him read the entire US Tax Code Guide and ask for more. He got really animated, his cheeks pink and eyes sparkling with excitement about f-stops and defining angles and... whatever-the-fuck else he was talking about.
We’d walked several blocks and reached the park before he wound down. I saw the moment realization hit him that he’d talked the entire way. He flushed adorably. “Sorry. Here I am just going on and on.”
“I like hearing you talk.”
“Still, I don’t want to talk your ear off like that guy on your date.”
“What guy?”
“Carter,” he said with a frown as he gave Skittles the full length of her leash to run. Instead, she sat on her little butt and looked up at him. With a sigh, he started walking and she followed. “I just remember looking at you and wondering if you’d actually fallen asleep with your eyes open.”
“Oh. Oh, right,” I said as I winced. Talk about no fireworks. I shouldn’t have to jog my memory about a man I’d been out with three times. “Carter.”
“Yeah, him.” He seemed unconcerned that I had the memory of a goldfish as he sent me a casual glance. “You ever go out with him again?”
“Yep. One more time.” I tried to school my expression, so as not to be rude to the absent Carter, but it was hard holding back the grimace.
I might as well not