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“Uh, if that’s not a red flag I don’t know what is. I hope that’s in your little book of rules:Any guy who doesn’t ask me out for months and only acts interested once I’m taken is off limits.”

“That’s a solid rule.” I probablyshouldadd it.

“But?” Kamala said, knowing there was abut.

“But I didn’t really give him a chance. I was literally asking him out when Asher came. Maybe he would’ve said yes.” Maybe I’d read his reaction wrong.

“So you’re going to date both of them?”

“No, Chad can wait a few more weeks,” I said, warming to the idea as I said the words. “He’s waited this long.”

She made an exploding noise with her mouth as her fingers slowly opened. “Blowing it up.”

Rule:Never date someone impulsive.

“Your car is ancient!” Asher yelled from the passenger seat. Bean was sitting on his lap, his head out the window, his tail wagging so hard it was slapping Asher in the arm with every stroke.

When I’d shown up at work that day, Erin had stopped me before I headed to the back and said, “I have a special project foryou.”

“I was supposed to help Chad with the new intakes today.” I tried to peer down the hall to see if I could catch a glimpse of him. I couldn’t.

“I’ll have Rodrigo help him.”

“Oh, okay. What’s the project?” I asked.

“It is your solemn duty to find Bean a forever home before the end of summer.”

Two months? I had two months? “What? How?”

“You think he’d still be here after two hundred and seventy-nine days if I knew the answer to that question?”

“Read his mind with your twin power,” Rodrigo said as he walked by.

“Bean is not my twin,” I called after him. “I just sympathize with his hatred of humanity.”

Rodrigo laughed loud and long before his laughter was swallowed up by the barking of dogs.

To Erin, I said, “Okay, I’ll come up with some sort of plan.” Preparation would be important for an assignment like this.

“Today. I want you to work on something today. That’s why I called in the volunteer of the month to help you.”

“Volunteer of the month? I didn’t know we had one of those.”

Asher walked in the front doors right at that moment—shirt rumpled, hair windblown, cheeks ruddy—like he had dropped everything and answered a call to save the city. Impulsive. He was impulsive.

“Ah, here he is,” Erin said with a clap of her hands. “You two are the only people in the universe that I know of at this moment who that blasted dog likes. It’s only fitting you should carry out this mission together.”

I raised my eyebrows at her dramatic delivery.

She smiled. “Maybe a field trip?”

I’d taken Bean on several field trips over the months, but since I had no other ideas with so little time to prepare, it was worth a try.

So now Asher and I were in my car, windows down, the rushing wind making it hard to talk. “I know! It’s a dinosaur! My dad is very good at his job!” I said.

“You should have his shop’s name on the back window as an advertisement. One look at this car and instant business.”

I smiled. “Yeah, no, I’m not helping my dad’s boss. He’s a total tool. I mean, a not very nice guy.”