I’d never been much of a fan of poetry. “I mean, other kinds of love are great too,” Lacey added, reaching down to scratch her fingers through Vega’s fur. “But romantic love is something special.” She smiled, a hint of mischief in her eyes. “But maybe you’ll see that some day.”
I doubted it, but I also was pretty sure that if I said that, Lacey really would give me a pitying look. Romance just didn’t matter to me. I didn’t believe in happy endings, only in endings. Lacey, though, almost definitely did. Anyone who saw two old people holding hands and thought it cute probably believed in happy endings.
“We’ll just agree to disagree,” I said finally, mostly because I had to say something. Thankfully, the conversation finished then because the vet came out to call out ‘Teddy Green’, something I still found bizarre.
Standing up, I gave the vet a nod before turning back to Lacey. “I... it was nice to run into you again, Lacey,” I told her truthfully. It had been nice, anyway, before all the romance talk.
I had to scoop Teddy up to carry him away from Vega. He whimpered, then turned his face to my chest to nuzzle into my shirt. I didn’t believe in romance, but that melted my heart a little. He was just so cute.
“It was good to see you,” Lacey agreed, smiling. “Maybe next time -” She stopped, frowning to herself. I couldn’t guess what was going through her mind. ‘Next time?’, I wanted to prompt her. But I didn’t.
And she didn’t finish. Her cheeks flushed pink as she glanced past me. “Go on, I think they’re waiting.”
I hesitated. I did want to ask her about next time. After seeing Lacey last, I regretted not asking for her number, but... Could I really ask her after all that romance talk? Probably not. I didn’t want her to misunderstand. Not to mention that I wasn’t sure what I wanted her to think in the first place.
“Yeah,” I said instead, doing a good job not sounding too awkward. Except I didn’t immediately move, so that made it more awkward. Good job. Okay, I had to... yeah. “Bye,” I added before finally following the vet so they could tell me why Teddy was growing so quickly.
I did a very good job of not glancing back over my shoulder. No matter how much I wanted to.
Chapter Four
Lacey
I couldn’t help it, I felt disappointed by Will’s words. I knew it was silly, but it had hurt almost like a physical blow when he’d said he ‘just wasn’t romantic’. Obviously, I’d met people before who couldn’t be bothered with the kinds of romantic gestures that I loved. I tried to respect that it was just one of those differences between people.
My life felt colorless and bland without someone special. But I knew that not everyone experienced things in the same way. I admired people who thrived in independence. I just wasn’t one of them.
Not that I couldn’t be alone. I could. I’d lived alone for a couple of years after college, while I was focusing on my career. But as much as I liked my work, I didn’t want it to be my whole life.
I wanted there to be someone to come home to, to plan special trips with. Someone to just hold my hand and make my day feel more meaningful simply because we’d spent it together.
But Will didn’t want that. It was what had stopped me suggesting we could plan to see each other. Sure, we could go to a comedy show as just friends. But I didn’t trust myself not to get invested if I let myself spend more time in Will’s company. It was safer to keep my distance.
And yet, it nagged at me that I’d left so many things unsaid. That wasn’t like me.
I listened with only half an ear as the vet examined Vega. She seemed healthy, he said. Switching her over to my insurance would be no problem. When I asked about her misbehavior, the vet’s look turned serious.
“Is she definitely getting enough exercise?” he asked. “Huskies are a very active breed. We recommend at least two hours a day.” My face fell. I made sure that Vega got an hour outside every day. I had no idea that I should have been giving her double that!
Why hadn’t Harlan told me? He must have known. Or maybe he had just liked being outside with Vega so much that she got her two hours without him planning it.
My head was crowded with thoughts as I left the vet’s office. Instead of walking to the door, I dropped down into the chair I’d vacated only ten minutes earlier.
It wasn’t until I looked up and saw Will emerging from the door next to my vet’s room that I realized why. Instantly, I blushed. I hadn’t really meant to wait for Will. It had just been instinct.
I got to my feet. “What did they say about Teddy?” I asked, hoping to divert the conversation away from why I had been sitting there waiting for him.
Will seemed surprised to see me there, but not the sort of surprise that was bad. Teddy, of course, was absolutely delighted that Vega was still there. He rushed over the moment Will put him down.
“Teddy is a Newfoundland,” Will informed me. At my blank stare, he nodded. “Yeah, I also didn’t know what that meant,” he confirmed. It was a dog breed, I obviously knew that, but I didn’t really know in what way that was relevant. “A grown male Newfoundland on average gets to 130 to 150 pounds,” Will explained.
My eyes must’ve widened in shock because Will nodded. “Yup. That’s why he’s grown so big in two weeks. Because he is on his way to being a giant.”
I pressed one hand over my mouth, trying - and failing - to stifle a laugh. I couldn’t help it. Between the way Will had phrased it and the image of Teddy growing up to be a huge ball of fluff, it was just funny.
“Oh, Will,” I breathed. “I’m sorry, really. But it is a bit ridiculous.” I looked down at where Teddy was darting between Vega’s legs. I giggled, trying to imagine how surprised Vega was going to be when her new playmate towered over her.
I hooked Vega’s lead over my arm, glancing up at Will. “What are you going to do?” I asked.
“Get a bigger dog bed, I guess,” Will shrugged. This time, I really couldn’t stop myself from laughing. The absolutely defeated expression on Will’s face was just too funny not to laugh at. He certainly didn’t seem to mind, looking down at Teddy. “I mean, not much else I can do,” he added.
Looking back up, Will gave me a smile. “You didn’t have to wait for me,” he told me. The tone of his voice gave me hope that he also didn’t mind that I had waited.
Maybe it was that tone that made me decide to be brave. “Well, I wanted to know what was going on with Teddy,” I said. It wasn’t completely a lie. Maybe that hadn’t been my main motivation…
“And besides, I thought maybe we could exchange numbers,” I said, my heart hammering in my chest. “You might not find music or comedy so pointless if you had somebody to go with.”
When I’d mentioned it before, Will hadn’t seemed to pick up on my hints that we could do something together while he waited for his arm to heal. I had no idea if he was just trying to let me down gently, or if he really hadn’t noticed what I was driving at.
I was about to find out.
“Oh,” Will said. From the surprise in his tone, I took it that he really hadn’t picked up on the clues I had tried to leave. Anticipation built low in my stomach. The longer Will took to say yes, the more I began to think that maybe I’d overshot this.
It definitely felt like we had a connection. I wanted to get to know Will better. But he took so long that I started to think that he was just trying to find a way to let me down gently. Finally, when Will spoke, I was so sure he was going to say no that I almost missed what he actually said.
“Yeah, that sounds good.” He nodded, getting his phone out and handing it to me. “If you save your number, I’ll do the same.”
Excitement burst through me, making me feel warm in a way I’d never really experienced before. I had taken guys’ numbers before, of course. But whatever this connection was with Will, it felt different.
My happiness was only slightly soured by remembering that he didn’t do romance. But it was easy to push that thought away. After all, I wasn
’t proposing that we run away to get married. All I had suggested was a trip to a comedy club, or something else that would take Will’s mind off his injury.
I wanted to help him. Even if it didn’t go anywhere, I just wanted to make Will’s time a little more pleasant.
After tapping my number into his phone, I called myself, then handed it back. “I know you must be pretty busy with training,” I said. “So I guess call me when you have a weekend or an evening free?”
Sliding the phone back in his pocket, Will nodded. “Yeah, that’d be good.” Then he smiled at me and my stomach twisted. “Thanks for waiting for me, anyway,” he added, before his gaze fell to Vega. “Is she alright? No trouble?” Will asked. That helped the nerves I was feeling. Thinking and talking about Vega was always easy.
I sighed. “She needs more exercise,” I answered. In a way, the problems Teddy and Vega had were similar. “Obviously, I knew she was a husky,” I explained. “But no one ever told me how much exercise they need.” I’d known it was ‘a lot’, but an hour a day (and more on weekends) was more than I’d expected.
“At least it’s an easy fix,” I said, shrugging slightly. Making time in my schedule for an extra hour of walking, playing, or training Vega would be tricky. But it wouldn’t be impossible.
I’d have been a lot more stuck if the vet had told me Vega was going to double in size several more times!
I would have asked Will if he wanted to go for a walk together, but I already had evening plans with Roxi. So I smiled warmly at him. “I hope I bump into you again soon,” I teased.
“Chances of that seem pretty good,” Will joked. It was true that we’d managed to run into each other a lot. It was hard not to take that as a sign of something, but I didn’t let my imagination run away with it. “And if not,” he carried on. “I can always text you.”
I grinned. Yeah, now that we had each other’s numbers, Will could do that. “You’ll have to let me know how Vega gets on with her exercise,” he added. “But I am going to have to go now. I promised some of the guys on the team that they could meet Teddy.”
As much as I would have liked to spend more time with Will, I couldn’t argue with that. Anyone who wanted to meet Teddy had my complete and total understanding. “You’ll have to tell them that he’s going to become a giant,” I teased.
If male sports teams were anything like my volleyball team, Will wouldn’t live that down for weeks. And if anything, I imagined that being athletes at such a competitive level, they were even worse. At least my team had still had homework and college admissions essays to keep us grounded.
Will’s laugh rumbled in his chest. I flushed with pleasure, glad that I could make him laugh. It was a sound that I would carry with me, I was sure, while I waited to see if Will would follow through on his promise to text.
I took Vega for a good long walk, doing my best not to think about Will. I didn’t really succeed. I kept thinking about how sad it was not to see the positives in romance. I wished I’d had more time to try and explain them, but I’d been taken aback by how determined he was.
That night, I’d agreed to meet Roxi at our favorite bar. All the time I was doing my make-up and fixing my hair, I kept thinking that I wished that Will could be the one I was making all this effort for. It always seemed more special to dress up for someone that I knew would really appreciate it.
By the time I actually joined Roxi in one of the booths by the window, I was feeling glad I’d put the extra time in. Not because I wanted anyone there to appreciate how I looked, but because I liked the confidence it gave me, knowing that I looked like a million bucks.
“Let’s just have a girls’ night,” I said, once we were both settled with our drinks in front of us. I could enjoy the atmosphere of the bar, even if Roxi was the only person there that I wanted to spend time with.
“I thought we were anyway,” Roxi teased. Neither of us ever truly set out with the plan to go home with someone, though Roxi definitely was more successful at it than me. Or maybe just more willing. “But sure, we can have a girls’ night,” she nodded happily.
That was why I loved Roxi so much, she was always so easy going with whatever I suggested. “Any specific reason? Is work keeping you busy?” she asked, reminding me that last time we’d spoken it had been about my work. Well. About my work and Will.
Work was keeping me busy. But not so busy that I couldn’t get distracted thinking about Will. “It’s not that,” I answered honestly. “I… sort of asked someone out today. Except I don’t think he really noticed that was what I was doing.”
Honestly, plenty of my girl friends had told me that men were oblivious, but it still baffled me. I didn’t think I’d been subtle. “If a guy wanted to take you out to a live music gig to keep you occupied while you were recovering from a set of surgeries, you’d know that was a date, wouldn’t you?” I asked.
“Obviously,” Roxi nodded. “But men are... a bit simple,” she shrugged, making me laugh. I didn’t think Will was particularly simple, but men definitely seemed to think differently from how I thought. And that thought led me to think about what Will had said about romance.
Our drinks arrived and Roxi reached for her glass. “So?” she asked, making me frown. “You can’t just tell me you asked someone out, that that’s the reason you want us to have a girls’ only night and then tell me nothing else,” Roxi informed me.
I laughed. She definitely had a point. Roxi and I told each other everything. And I’d appreciate her insight. Roxi didn’t see dating and romance in the same way I did. “I bumped into Will again,” I explained. “We were both at the same vet’s.”
And at the same time. And we’d even been brought there for similar reasons - if either of us had known more about dog breeds, we wouldn’t have chanced to see each other. I couldn’t help thinking that it had to mean something.
“We’ve bumped into each other three times,” I said. “My mom would say that it’s a sign. That the universe doesn’t bring one man across your path three times in a few weeks if you’re not meant to get to know him.”
I believed that, too. “But I doubt he sees it that way,” I admitted.
Roxi definitely wasn’t as into the idea that everything happened for a reason as I was but I knew she respected that I did believe it. “It sounds pretty good,” she told me with a smile. “Running into someone three times! What were they? Wait, is this the guy from the park? The one with the dog?”
I blushed, because Roxi’s guess was so on the ball. Her eyes widened at seeing the crimson sneak over my cheeks. “Oh my God, it is!” she exclaimed with excitement. “Tell me everything!”
It was hard to know where to begin. “We met at the vet’s today,” I explained. “It turns out his new dog is a Newfoundland, and it’s going to get massive. But he’s going to keep it. I like that.” I admired that Will wasn’t giving up when it got hard. Not everyone would be so willing to face up to a challenge that way.
“But he’s also a hockey player, for the Pumas.” I’d honestly forgotten that I hadn’t told Roxi that before. Maybe I’d been thinking about Will a lot more than I’d been talking about Will. “I met him at the game I went to. That was the second time. We didn’t really get to talk much, because I was trying to impress clients.” And, I guess, so was Will. The Pumas management must have asked him to be there, to represent them.
I sighed. “He seems… intriguing. Not just because he’s handsome.” Though Will definitely was.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Roxi said, waving her hand around dramatically. “This new guy you’ve met plays for the NHL?” The tone of voice that Roxi said that in almost made me laugh. I knew that it was impressive that Will played for the NHL but whether it was because I wasn’t that into hockey or whatever, it just wasn’t the first thing that came to my mind about him.
It didn’t make any sort of difference what Will did. In fact, I was sure I’d feel just as strongly towards him no matter what his job. Even if I couldn’t ex
plain what made me feel such a strong draw towards Will.
“So how else is he intriguing? Other than being handsome,” Roxi grinned.
“Well, he didn’t tell me about playing for the NHL right away,” I said. I hadn’t met a lot of professional athletes, but it interested me that Will hadn’t brought it up at all in our first conversation. “If I hadn’t met him at a match, I don’t think he would have told me until I asked. Even though he said he doesn’t have time for much apart from hockey.”
That decision fascinated me. Sure, I also hadn’t mentioned my job, but I had plenty of hobbies, plenty of friends outside of work. My career was important to me, but it didn’t define me. And, despite working in an encompassing field, Will’s job didn’t define him, either.
“And he didn’t whine about being injured. You remember how Harlan used to go on and on any time he caught a cold?” It hadn’t been Harlan’s best feature. I hadn’t minded, I’d liked taking care of him, but I could still see how it might not look great to others.
Roxi rolled her eyes in a way that implied that she definitely did remember my ex whining about being sick. Then again, Roxi had never been the biggest fan of Harlan, even if she never said as much and always was polite enough around him.
“So, you asked this NHL star out,” Roxi teased. “And... he didn’t get it? Or did you explain that that was what you were doing?” Both were fair questions. I had kind of gotten sidetracked from explaining what happened by just talking about Will.
“I don’t think he got it,” I confirmed. “But… maybe he was pretending, to let me down easily?” I couldn’t be sure. But my gut told me that Will wouldn’t be as subtle as that. If he didn’t like me, he would just say so. “He did agree to exchange numbers,” I added. “That’s a good sign, I think.”
But, on the other hand, there was the fact that Will had explicitly said he didn’t do romance. That worried me. “He doesn’t like romantic things,” I told Roxi, nibbling on my bottom lip. “But maybe that’s just because he’s never had anyone to show him how they can be nice.” I firmly believed that both men and women could make special moments for their partners. I didn’t only want to be on the receiving end.
Body Checked (Salt Lake Pumas #2) Page 4