Number Neighbors - Emma Hart Page 0,35

steam, but I could see well enough to grab my towel and wrap it around my waist.

My house was silent, and my bedroom was no exception. A part of me kinda missed having Lucifer around—he’d given the house some life that it otherwise lacked.

I sat on the edge of my bed and looked around. Maybe I needed to adopt a cat. Or a dog. Anything but a duck, really.

It was something to think on.

Anything that meant I wasn’t thinking about Hannah at this point was a win in my eyes.

***

I tossed the packet of pasta into my cart.

I had no idea what I was buying. I was going through the motions in the store, putting in things that look vaguely familiar.

It was never a good day when it ended with losing an animal.

It didn’t matter if the animal was old or young, healthy or sick, it was plain awful to have to tell somebody their family was about to lose a member.

Because that was the thing with pets. They were a part of your family, just the same as a human was. In the case of cats and dogs, they were sometimes a part for fifteen years or more.

That was what had happened today. That poor dog with incurable cancer had no quality of life, and watching two kids say goodbye to the dog who was twice their age had gutted me.

The only thing I was thankful for was that Sophie was my last patient of the day.

I stopped in the chocolate aisle. That was my go-to de-stresser, a bit like my mum and sister. The only problem was that I couldn’t find a bloody good chocolate bar in America to save my life, which meant it was time to beg and plead my sister to send me some from home.

With a sigh, I headed for the next best thing: the ice cream aisle.

At least chocolate ice-cream tasted the same.

I grabbed a carton from the freezer and put it in the cart with my mismatched groceries. Absolutely none of these things went together, so I went on another walk around the store to get something that didn’t contain my body weight in carbohydrates or sugar.

My cart was a lot healthier when I was done.

Healthy sucked. Especially today. All I wanted was a full English breakfast—with real bacon, not the streaky shit they called bacon here—but it was nowhere to be found.

Half grumpy but somewhat mollified by my ice cream haul, I took the cart to the register to pay. After handing over an extortionate amount of money, I immediately regretted my life choices, but it was an ice cream for dinner day, so I swallowed my pride when the cashier handed me back my card.

With a wan smile, I took my stuff out to my car and loaded it all into my truck. It was days like this when all I wanted to do was go out for a beer somewhere, but I hadn’t really made socializing a priority since moving.

I was regretting that now.

I put the cart back and was about to get into my car when I caught sight of a familiar face. “Hey,” I said to Mason. “How’s Dolly?”

He grinned. “Hoarding my shoes, for some weird reason.”

“That means she loves you.” I laughed, pulling my keys back out of my pocket. “Seriously.”

“I know she loves me. She doesn’t leave me alone,” he said wryly. “How’s Hannah’s kitten?”

“You mean the kitten that isn’t hers?”

“That’s the one!”

I laughed again. “He’s fine. Tried to bite a chunk out of her ankle last night, so I’m thinking the name she picked is the right one for him.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Ah, right. You had dinner together. How did that go? Immy was going on about it all last night, but she hasn’t updated me.”

Women.

“It went well until her kitten went rogue,” I replied. “I think I’m breaking her down.”

Mason snorted. “The women in that family are hard work, that’s for sure. Have you met Jen yet?”

“Yep. She asked me to be a model for their nude art class.”

He shuddered, shaking his head. “Don’t do it. She tricked me into it a week ago by telling me she needed taking to the store, except that store was the class.”

“You didn’t do it, did you?”

“Hell fucking no. That’s my girlfriend’s grandmother. She’s a perv enough as it is without willingly giving her something to look at.”

We both laughed.

“What are you doing tonight?” he asked. “Maya’s at her mom’s and Immy is working late