“Feed Shamus, wil you?” Hank asked.
He told me where to find the stuff. The sleeves of the Lucky thermal went over my hands and I wiped the remains of the tears off my face with them. Then I pushed them back up my forearms and looked around the living room.
It was tidy. The Fat Tire print was gone, the Skinny Dip print had been repositioned to center over the couch.
Everything was where it was supposed to be; the broken lamp hadn’t been replaced but any remnants of it were swept away. It was like Bil y hadn’t even been there.
Instead, it looked like when I first walked in after Hank’s and my date.
I looked away before I started decorating again, took a deep breath and made Shamus his breakfast. While I did this, Shamus jumped around me in happy anticipation of being fed. When I set his bowl on the floor, he shoved his face into the wet food, his body stil moving with his wagging tail.
“He’s a happy dog,” I told Hank, staring down at Shamus and wishing my life could be as simple as his. Food, happy.
Walk, happy. Hank, happy.
Okay, maybe my life could be like that, or a version of that, but I wasn’t going to go there.
Hank got in front of me and then smack in my space, backing me up until my bottom hit the counter. He got so close I could feel the heat from his body.
His hands came to either side of my neck and he looked into my eyes. “How you doin’?” he asked.
I nodded. “Better. Sorry about that.”
“If you apologize again –”
“Sorry. Sorry… um, sorry!” Oh God, I couldn’t quit saying sorry.
Hank smiled at me. “Shut up,” he said.
“Okay,” I replied.
“Put your arms around me.”
I was so weirded out by that morning’s experience, I immediately did as I was told.
He got even closer. “How’m I doin’?”
I blinked up at him. “Pardon?”
His hands slid down my shoulders and linked around my back. Then he rubbed his nose against mine.
I hated it when he did that, mainly because I loved it when he did that.
“Convincin’ you to stay,” he went on quietly.
Shit.
“I’m leaving today, Hank.”
His eyes got lazy.
I hated it when they did that, mainly because I loved it when they did that.
I gave my foot a little stomp, both to show him I was serious and to show myself.
“You think I’m staying!” I snapped.
“I know you’re stayin’,” he replied.