But Brian just called him steady.
Steady was a good thing any day in his book. Too bad he never found a steady woman himself.
But then Troy and Meena became an item and all that attention his sister got over him growing up for her outrageous looks and behavior seemed to blend into adulthood, him losing the one steady person in his life.
His best friend was going to be with Meena now and not with him. And when he thought of all of that, he realized he was being a baby again.
Even more so, his family told him that.
A temper he didn’t often show was exposed when he found out about that relationship. His first instinct had been to protect her. Then he realized he was trying to protect his baby sister from his best friend.
But here he was, going home alone when his buddy was going home to his wife.
Maybe his day would come...if he could find someone perfect for him.
Lady luck had been slipping through his fingers way too fast in his life.
But maybe now he’d get a little bit of sticky syrup on his digits and be able to hold onto someone. Hold onto Robin?
One date shouldn’t make him think that way, but the truth was, he’d had a tiny crush on her from the first time he’d met her.
Which was a no-no since he was her lawyer. He’d dated clients before—more than he should have—when they were done with his services. Most of the time he wondered if it was a thank you in their eyes, or a way to land a man, or maybe a rebellion against the husband they’d just left. All things that had crossed his mind over the years.
And he learned to keep his distance from them again. From any clients.
Yet here he was maybe falling into old habits.
He got home, parked in the garage, and walked up the stairs to his room to shower and change. He’d already removed his tie hours ago when he was walking out of the courtroom. He was definitely jealous of his buddies that wore jeans to work daily.
Once he was in shorts and a T-shirt, he made his way to the kitchen trying to figure out what to eat. Looked like bacon, eggs, and toast. Good enough.
When dinner was done and cleaned up, it was almost seven and he decided to give Robin a call.
“Hello,” she said on the first ring. He liked that when some women might wait to answer.
“How was your day at the shelter?” he asked, getting comfortable on the couch and putting his feet up, crossing them at the ankles.
“Great. Puppies come in on Tuesday and Thursday and the shelter is open for adoptions on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. So I got to spend the day cleaning and playing with puppies.”
“What happens at the shelter on Monday and Sunday?” he asked.
“Cleaning. Stocking, shopping, paperwork. All sorts of things. I’m there Tuesdays and Thursdays. Once a month I’ll help out on a Saturday but not normally when people are coming in to adopt. I just like to clean and play with the puppies.”
“Your alone time with them?” he asked.
“Yeah. It is nice on a Saturday to see how excited people are to pick out and bring a puppy home, but then it can be a little sad if one is passed up. It doesn’t happen a lot, but can.”
She had a tender soul. “Are you going to have a lot of pets now that you’ve got your own place? An emotional decision rather than a thought-out one?” he asked.
Robin laughed and at least she wasn’t insulted over the question. Once the words were out of his mouth, he started to wonder if he shouldn’t have voiced them.
“No. I’m practical. I can’t help every animal even if I’d love to see them all get a great home. And speaking of that—I’ll sound the opposite of that when I tell you something.”
“You found your puppy?” he asked, starting to laugh. “Not letting any moss grow under your feet.”
“No, I’m not. In a lot of ways,” she said with a little giggle.
He could take that a lot of ways and chose to take it that the two of them might be starting something. “So, what did you get?”
“A brother and sister. I couldn’t say no. They were just glued to each other. You can tell the girl was the runt of the litter and the brother wouldn’t leave her side. Not sure why it was just