too hot and heavy, his cold wet nose nudging at us in an uncharacteristic demand for attention.
“Not now, Bob,” I said, trying to push him away. He whined softly and pawed at my leg, making himself impossible to ignore.
Luke sighed softly, but instead of getting irritated, he reached out and scratched behind Bob’s ear. “Poor guy. There’s been an awful lot of change in your life and you don’t have the benefit of understanding what it’s all about.”
I was super disappointed that we weren’t kissing anymore, but I swear I could feel my heart swelling. There was something about Luke showing compassion for my dog that just made me want to burst.
Luke put his arm around me and settled me close by his side. Bob tried to wriggle his head in between us, but Luke’s compassion didn’t go quite that far. Bob had to settle for laying his head on our legs and looking up at us with sad, soulful eyes.
“Why do I have a feeling we’re being played?” I grumbled, but the sad dog eyes were a weapon I’d never been able to resist.
Bob sighed in bliss when we both began scratching his ears. We shared a little smile that warmed me from the inside out. My pulse was still pattering from the kissing, and I very much wanted to do more of it. But there was something surprisingly romantic and intimate about snuggling on the couch with him like this, even if we did have a furry chaperone. I wasn’t sure if a couple of hot kisses made me Luke’s official girlfriend, but I was pretty sure the way he was holding me did. For the moment, at least, that was all that mattered.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Luke’s mom usually came home from her megashift at about eight A.M. It had become my habit to fix her a light meal, either breakfast or some leftovers from the night before, so that she could get something nutritious into her system before crashing for the day and then repeating the whole process the next night. It’s not like I’m a wannabe chef or anything, despite the amount of cooking I’d been doing lately; it was just that there was so little I could do to repay the Gilliams for everything they were doing for me, being my surrogate family and even giving me a home when Piper had trashed my own. It felt like the least I could do.
I had set up to make omelets as soon as Dr. Gilliam got home, having beaten the eggs, chopped up some onions, sliced some mushrooms, and grated some cheese. Everything was ready so that I could get started the instant she came in the door. She would be exhausted and longing for her bed, so if I kept her waiting too long she’d skip the meal, as I’d learned from experience.
As I said, usually she got home around eight o’clock, having left the hospital the instant the Transition swept over the city. There was some variation, of course. Sometimes she had traffic or roadblocks to contend with, or she had a patient she couldn’t leave immediately. So I wasn’t particularly surprised or worried when eight o’clock came and went without her appearing.
“Let me text her and see how long she thinks she’ll be,” Luke said, but he got no answer when he tried. Also not particularly alarming. If she was with a patient, she very likely wouldn’t answer the text until she was done.
But whether it was intrinsically alarming or not, I think both Luke and I were alarmed anyway. How could we not be, when we both had Piper’s threat hanging over our heads? We told each other there was nothing to worry about, each trying to soothe the other, but I don’t think my reassurances were any more convincing to Luke than his were to me.
It was almost 8:45 when we both finally heard the sound of a key in the lock. The relief that flooded me was so strong you’d have thought I’d just gotten a stay of execution. If I had had to deal with Dr. Gilliam getting killed by the Nightstruck because of me, I honestly didn’t know how I could have borne the guilt.
My relief was short-lived. The moment Dr. Gilliam walked in the door, the blood drained from my face and Luke made an incoherent sound of dismay.
“Neither of you panic,” Dr. Gilliam said, her voice sounding raw and exhausted. “I’m going to be fine.”
Her eye was blackened,