Uncaged Hearts

by Sloane Easton

  *

  I walked into the breakfast area, seeing Chelsea sitting at a table with a cup of coffee for me, and a big breakfast for herself. Mornings were her thing, and the earlier she got out of bed, the more time she had to herself before her husband and kids woke up.

  As I headed over to her table, Chelsea kept making little head nudges to the left, where as sure as day, there sat Harley at his own table, with Daisy sitting at his feet, and a magazine in his hands.

  Still hot as ever.

  I sat next to Chelsea and she gave me a mischievous grin. That was when she gasped, “Oh my god, is that Daisy?”

  Harley glanced over his shoulder at us, and looked quite frankly shocked to see me. He hesitated a moment before turning in his chair to face us, addressing Chelsea, “You know this mutt, I take it?”

  Chelsea nodded. “She’s a longtime member of the shelter. How nice of you to take her in!”

  Harley smiled then looked at me… almost sheepishly. It was adorable seeing a big guy like him have that look on his face. “Ash, nice to see you again.”

  I figured it’d be polite to introduce him to Chelsea, not that I wished to encourage her interacting with him much more. “Nice to see you here too. This is my friend Chelsea. Chelsea, Harley. He was nice enough to take in Daisy a couple of days ago, and that’s how we know each other.”

  Chelsea held out her hand. “It’s great to meet you.” I was a bit worried she was about to say something, like that I had mentioned him to her before. That’d probably weird him out, make him think I was obsessed or something. Not that I wasn’t.

  But Chelsea had some mercy for me and limited it to small talk. “How are you enjoying this little forced vacation?”

  Harley laughed and ran his hand through his hair, his eyes flicking a few times in my direction. “Oh, it’s been okay. I guess I needed it, because it’s been a while since I’ve slept that peacefully.”

  “Lucky you,” she said. “You must not have traveled with a ton of baggage like I did! A ton of animals, kids, and a husband all stuffed into one room doesn’t garner a good night’s rest.”

  Harley nodded. “I bet. All I have is this rascal down here.” He gave Daisy a few head scritches, and if a dog could smile, she certainly did.

  “Aww,” Chelsea said, putting a hand to her cheek. “That’s just adorable. So you’re single then, hm?”

  Harley looked surprised by the inquiry, and I’ll admit, I was too. Chelsea really had no sense of boundaries. But he answered with a shrug, “You got that right. It’s currently just me and the dog.”

  “That’s so cute. What do you do for a living?”

  “I build things. Run a small construction company.”

  Chelsea’s eyes widened. “Ooh, construction worker. I love a man who works with his hands—not that I’m on the market, of course. But I just can’t believe you’re single!”

  I decided to butt in before Chelsea interrogated him further, “Let the poor man eat his breakfast.”

  Harley waved it off as he took a sip of his coffee. “Yeah, all my buddies give me shit about being single too. But I’m just not into the whole dating scene, you know?”

  Chelsea saw that as an invitation for more questioning. “You mean, like bars and stuff? I don’t blame you. I never had much luck there too, back in my single days.” She paused. “Oh, I’m not being too invasive with these questions, am I? Sometimes I just don’t take a hint.”

  Harley shook his head, being good humored about it. That still didn’t keep me from sending looks Chelsea’s way in hopes of shutting her up. “It’s fine,” he said. “Been a while since anyone’s asked me about myself. Everybody likes to just keep to themselves in Sandy Point.”

  “Right?” Chelsea said. “Which makes it so hard to get to know people. That’s why I like to just come right out and say things. Move things along! The usual southern pace is just too slow for me.”

  I had a feeling she was trying to find a way to bring this conversation over to him and me, and whether there was something going on between us. I couldn’t handle it. I liked that slow southern pace Chelsea seemed to despise, because if we went too far too fast, it could end up awkward if Harley had no interest in men.

  I cleared my throat and abruptly stood up. “I, uh, need to let Sasha out. I forgot to.”

  Chelsea looked utterly disappointed, but Harley just gave me an understanding nod. “I’ll see you around,” he said with a smile, and I smiled back at him.

  “I hope so. I mean, that’d be nice. Okay, bye.” Sometimes I was the polar opposite of smooth. I slunk out of there before I could stammer any further.

  *

  A few hours had passed since breakfast. I did what work I could do on my laptop, fitting a client’s business details into a template I used for simpler website commissions. I would do full-on web design with original graphics and the whole shebang every once in a while, but most of the time it was paint-by-numbers, since that’s all a lot of clients thought was necessary. And sometimes they were right; not every business needed a fancy attractive page. But this pragmatism sure got boring sometimes.

  Once I finished up that job, it was around noon and Sasha looked like she needed another walk. I set aside my laptop and clipped on her leash, causing her tail to wag miles a minute. This girl sure had a lot of energy, but I liked that. Otherwise I would probably just stay inside this dreary room all day until I started to get depressed.

  I slipped on some shoes and we headed out. There was a nice grassy area behind the hotel so we headed there.

  Sasha yipped when she sensed another dog, and as we turned the corner, I saw Daisy and Harley. Harley was sitting in the grass, throwing what looked like a weathered tennis ball for Daisy to catch. I watched him for a few moments, not realizing that I was getting lost in the sight of him. He would fake Daisy out by feigning a throw, then laugh when she gave him a disgruntled woof, after which he’d actually throw the ball for her.

  Sasha couldn’t handle not being part of this play time, so she let out another yip, which caught Harley’s attention. His eyes lit up and he said, “Hey Ash. Letting your girl out too?”

  “Yep, she was getting antsy.”

  Harley whistled at Daisy and she came running over, forgetting about the ball. He quickly leashed her again and stood up. “I’ll head back if we’re distracting your little miss from doing her business.”

  I waved it off. “No, that’s fine. Actually, I think it’d be good for the two of them to socialize with each other.” I did a quick study of Daisy’s body language, making sure she seemed friendly since she was the bigger of the two. But both dogs were wagging their tails eagerly at each other, so I let Sasha close the distance so they could share some sniffs. After a few hesitant seconds between them, they both decided they passed inspection and shared some playful barks.

  Harley was amused. “How about that? They like each other.”

  It was a sight to see gruff Daisy romping with Sasha’s elegant self. They were opposites, in a way like me and Harley.

  “They really do,” I said.

  “We should let them play like this more often.”

  I couldn’t help but perk up at that suggestion. “I think that’d be a great idea. The more socialized they are, the easier it’ll be to find them a home.”

  Harley looked briefly upset by that for some reason, and when I frowned he explained, “I didn’t intend for it, but I think maybe Daisy’s already found a home.”

  “Oh, you’re planning on adopting her?”

  “Well, it is a commitment and I want to be sure of it. I’ll give myself another week to really consider it, but I’m leaning toward taking her in. Call me selfish, but I kinda want her all to myself.”

  “That’s great! She really seems to like you, so I hope it works out.”

  Harley gave me a sheepish smile and whistled at Daisy again to get her attention. “We’ll leave you be for now. But how about we let these two rascals play again sometime, say aro
und noon tomorrow? From the looks of it, this hurricane is going to keep us here for at least a few more days.”

  “Oh, that’d be great! I mean, letting the two play together. Not the hurricane.”

  Harley chuckled and let me off easy. “It’s a date then. See you later.” He gave Daisy the command to ‘heel’ and she walked right by his side, keeping pace with him.

  I watched him head off, enjoying his backside more than was appropriate. I then looked down at Sasha, who was practically choking herself pulling at her leash. “One day, I’ll have you as well-trained as that Daisy. Got nothing better to do while we’re held up in this hotel.”

  Sasha looked up at me with her doe-like eyes, oblivious to the discipline I was suggesting.

  Considering the blabbering way I was conducting myself around Harley, she wasn’t the only one in need of discipline here. Lord help me, I became a daydreaming idiot when that man was in my line of sight.

  Regardless, I let out a dreamy sigh as Harley turned the corner, disappearing from my view.

  *

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