sent it to him.
Immediately, my phone started to ring.
“Are you in my bed?”
Oh shit, I’d forgotten about that. “Yes, sorry.”
“Who’s your bed partner?”
“When I got home from my walk…”
He interrupted. “Were you with the dog walking group?”
“Yes. When—”
“Is that the dude’s dog?”
“Yes, Mica…”
“So he was on the walk?”
“The front door was wide open,” I blurted out.
Silence, and then his voice changed. It was harder, colder. “What happened?”
“I left a lot of lights on and I set the alarm and locked the door. When I came home, the front door was open, the alarm hadn’t gone off and someone had turned all the lights off.”
“What do you mean the door was open?”
“It was wide open.”
He swore under his breath. “Go on.”
“Andrew walked through the house with me. There was no one here. And then he offered for Sandy to spend the night.”
“Is that the dog?”
“Yeah.”
He didn’t speak for a moment. “This is seriously starting to piss me off.”
“I’m scared,” I blurted out.
“Sweetheart, can you give me a moment? I’ll call you back.”
“Okay.”
I didn’t know why Mica needed to end the call, but I lunged for the phone when it buzzed again.
“Hello?”
“I can’t come home.”
“I know.”
“I asked, but they don’t love that idea.”
It threw me that Mica would even consider coming home, much less ask for permission. “You need to play hockey. Don’t even think about that.”
“Zoey’s coming over.”
I sat up in bed. “She is?”
“She’s on her way. She will stay with you until I get home.”
“It’s too late. We can’t ask her to do that.”
“I did and she is. She can sleep in your room since you’re already in mine.”
That I wouldn’t have to be here alone made me so happy. “Thank you.”
“You need to change the alarm code for our house.”
“I already did.”
His voice was gruff. “Call me in the morning.”
“I will.”
I scrambled out of bed and changed the sheets and towels for Zoey in my room. The doorbell rang, causing Sandy to bark.
Zoey stood in the doorway with a cute little carry-on suitcase beside her. In her hand, she had a cat carrying case. “Hey.”
I ushered her in, and a pitiful meow sounded.
I bent down to stick my finger in the case. “Who’s this?”
She grinned. “That is Ikea. I couldn’t leave her.”
“You’re both welcome.”
She hugged me. “Mica told me what happened.”
“I’m so sorry to disturb you, but I am so glad you are here.”
She grinned and bent down to pet Sandy. “I didn’t know you had a dog.”
“This is Sandy. She belongs to our neighbor, but he lent her to me for the night. Do you think she will get along with Ikea?”
Zoey kneeled down and opened the cage door. The cutest cat came tumbling out. She took one look at Sandy and hissed. Sandy responded by turning tail and taking off towards Mica’s bedroom.
We both laughed. “So much for being a guard dog. Let me show you where you can sleep.” I led her to my room. “I changed the sheets for you.”
She looked around the room. “Is this your room?”
I flushed. “I took up camp in Mica’s room.”
Her grin broadened. “Oh, okay.”
“It’s not like that,” I rushed to explain.
She shook her head, trying not to laugh. “You don’t have to explain anything to me.”
When my alarm went off, I felt like I could sleep for another ten hours. Sandy wasn’t on the bed, and I could hear voices. I scrambled into clothes and headed to the kitchen, where I found Zoey and Andrew drinking coffee. Henry and Sandy lay on the floor and Ikea was attacking Sandy’s flopping tail.
Andrew turned, and his eyes took all of me in. His voice was tender. “Hey, how did you sleep?”
I checked the clock. It was 7:00 a.m. “Wow, you two are up early.”
Andrew spoke. “I came by to check on you, and Zoey invited me in for coffee.”
Zoey, without speaking, poured a cup of coffee and set it in front of me.
“Thanks for lending me Sandy.”
“Did she behave herself?”
“She was perfect.”
He looked at his watch and then stood up. “I should get to work. We’re all walking again tonight, in case you need some fresh air.”
Behind him, Zoey’s eyebrows shot up.
“Thank you.” I felt myself flush. “I appreciate the invite.”
After he left, Zoey sat on a stool, sipping her coffee with a look on her face.
“What?”
She smirked. “Nothing.”
Mica: You never called this morning
This morning I had been in a complete rush to get to work on time. Now I was standing in line to grab a coffee for Krista and