Man's Best Friend (The Dogmothers #5) - Roxanne St. Claire Page 0,61
an Avatar or Skyfall guy.”
“Oh, Skyfall. Close second. And you probably would vote for…”
“Don’t guess, it’s Marley & Me although…” She pressed her hand to her heart. “Water for Elephants. So good.”
He laughed softly. “Animal movies, of course. Greatest personal accomplishment?” he asked, falling into step as easily as they fell into their old game.
“I guess earning the department head job,” she said. “Although, like I told you, that’s a blessing and a curse. You?”
He thought about it, then shrugged. “The family,” he said softly. “Making sure Smella made it to thirty without falling off a cliff in some country we’ve never heard of.”
“Smella.” She sighed. “I can’t believe you still call her that.”
“Please, they call me Big D.”
She chuckled. “Well, I would love to see Ella again.”
“Drop by her store, or better yet, come to Waterford Farm on any Sunday.”
“So Sunday dinners still happen every week? It didn’t change after your aunt Annie died?”
“It changed, yeah, but it’s never ended. And now Uncle Daniel is happy again and we have the Santorini Greeks, who bring food. Alex is a world-class chef, and John owns a restaurant. So that’s a huge improvement over my uncle’s cooking.” He tugged her closer. “Plus, all the siblings and cousins are adults now, so the touch football game gets serious. Most of them are married, and there are scads of little Kilcannons running around. You could see more of your new pal, Danny.”
“Oh.” She let out a groan. “That kid is so stinking cute.”
“They all are,” he told her. “But I do get a kick out of that one. He’s a freaking holy terror. And if you think he’s cute, wait until you meet Shane’s little girl, Annabelle. She’ll steal your heart. And Liam has two kids.”
“Molly told me. Christian and…Fiona?”
“Wee Fee, we call her. You should come on Sunday,” he said. “I’ve got the whole day off.”
“Oh, I don’t know.”
He slowed his step. “It’s my family, isn’t it? You’re worried about seeing them.”
Of course he knew the truth. “Not worried, but…” She sighed, stopping while Judah marked a tree. “I don’t plan to avoid them, and I have seen them now and again. But not…your mom.”
He drew back. “You’re scared of my mother?”
“Not scared, but…” She blew out a breath. “I’ve never really talked to her since your dad’s funeral.”
“Well, it’s time you do,” he said. “And spoiler alert, Colleen Mahoney is pretty much the sweetest, most nonjudgmental person you’ll ever meet.”
“I know that.”
“So you’ll come?” he asked.
“We’ll see. It all depends on Judah.” She gave him a little nudge. “Back to the game. Whose turn is it?”
“Mine,” he said. “Worst moment?”
“You know what it was, and it was the same for you. Let’s skip that year,” she suggested. “In fact, let’s limit our worst moment to the last ten years. How about that?”
“Fine, but there are too many to pick just one.”
“Cheery.”
He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Ask my family. The D in Big D might stand for Drag. What was yours?”
She hesitated for only a few moments, then went with the truth. “When you left your uncle’s vet office after Rusty’s surgery.”
He sighed. “Yeah. Bad move.”
“It’s okay.” She squeezed his hand. “We don’t have to rehash the past.”
He shot her a look. “I thought that was the whole idea of the Birthday Game.”
“How about your biggest disappointment?” She squished her nose after she said that. “Gah. Why am I focused on the negative things?”
“Because that’s when you find out the real truth,” he said. “And mine was when I walked into Molly’s wedding and…”
“I wasn’t there,” she finished. “I heard it was beautiful and wintry and full of dogs.”
“All of the above. Were you busy?”
She looked up at him. “I made up an excuse because I couldn’t bear to see you and not…”
He grunted and dropped his head back like he’d been smacked. “So many missed opportunities. So much time wasted.” He swore under his breath.
“Don’t, Dec.” She looked up at him. “Don’t dwell on what-ifs and what-wasn’ts.”
He slid his hand under her hair, his touch gentle, his palm callused. “For smart people, we’ve been so damn dumb.”
She gave a sad smile. “When I’m in Bitter Bark, I’m always dying to see you, but terrified I might.”
“Then you walked into Linda May’s…” He thumbed her jaw. “What did you think when you saw me?”
“Of all the bakeries in the world…” she joked.
“Seriously.”
“I thought it simply wasn’t fair that you are so damn good-looking and that I would have loved to have watched