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“What movie?” I asked.

“Does it matter?” she answered.

“Yes, I do not want to watch anyone falling in love.”

“Ah, I see. I can work with that. No love, only death.”

I rolled off my bed and padded across the carpet to where she stood. She draped her arm around my neck. “I’m sorry about Olive Garden Boy.”

“Me too,” I said. For three days now I had been trying to decide what would make me feel better. What he or I could do or say that would fix everything. I still felt terrible, and I was sure he did as well. I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I was scared I’d never figure it out. That nothing would actually work. I should’vebeen okay with that, taken it as a sign that we weren’t meant to be, but that didn’t sit well with me either.

“Popcorn?” Zoey asked.

“I don’t know if we have any.”

“I thought you knew the contents of the pantry by heart. Don’t you have it organized alphabetically?”

“No, I don’t. It’s organized logically.”

“I have no idea what that means,” she said.

I let out a breathy laugh. “I don’t either.”

While we were in the pantry rooting for popcorn, our dad appeared in the doorway. “Hey, Wren, there’s someone at the front door for you.” He had a rare full smile on his face.

Instantly every nerve in my body buzzed to life in anticipation. “There is?”

He nodded.

“I found the popcorn!” Zoey said, holding up a plastic-wrapped package.

“How do I look?” I ran my fingers through my hair. I had never gotten ready today and it was six o’clock at night. I still had on a pair of blue pajama pants, in fact.

“You look gorgeous,” Zoey said.

I rushed out of the kitchen and through the living room. The front door was closed. Dad hadn’t let Asher in?

I swung the door open, not willing to take the time to sort out the details of why my dad left him on the porch. But instead of Asher, a little girl stood there. Now I was even more confused. She smiled up at me, and recognition slowly worked its way into mymind.

“Maggie?” I asked.

She nodded.

I gasped, realizing what this meant. It took everything in me not to rush around her in search of Bean. “Is he here?”

She giggled and reached for my hand. I provided it without question. She led me down the path to where Bean stood with Maggie’s mom on the sidewalk.

“Hey, boy!” I called.

Maggie’s mom let go of the leash and Bean came barreling toward me, knocking me onto the grass and proceeding to lick my face and wag his tail at the same time.

“I missed you, too,” I said.

He moved from me to Maggie, who sat right next to me on the grass. He licked her face and then mine again. He repeated this several times until Maggie and I were both laughing.

“Okay, Bean,” I said. “Sit down. Let me look at you.”

It took him another five minutes to do that. When he finally did, Maggie’s mom joined us on the grass.