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“Where do you wanna go?”

“Anywhere!” I kissed her on the lips. “I’ll take you anywhere on earth.”

“I saw an awesome looking pet store that just opened. We could take your little marshmallow on a shopping spree.”

“Are you serious?” I cocked my head. “I was going to take you to Paris for the weekend, Tokyo, literally any place you want, and you pick a pet store?”

“Well, the flight to Paris would take almost all weekend, for one.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot.” I frowned.

“And besides, I love watching you play with Marshmallow.”

“Marshmallow?” I picked Cleo up from the floor. “Her name is Cleo. Like Cleopatra.”

Amelia’s face scrunched up. “I think Marshmallow suits her better.”

I laughed, wanting nothing more than to take Amelia in my arms and never let her go. “I love that you want to spend time with her, but what about your allergies?”

“I’ve got Benadryl.” She shrugged. “And watching you be so sweet and nurturing is honestly a pretty huge turn-on.”

I blinked, sure I was blushing, and stuttered out, “Well then, what are we waiting for?”

***

Cleo sat inside the large cart that I pushed, batting around a squeaky ball and jumping back shocked when it bounced off the sides and whacked her in the nose. The pet store was massive, housing everything a spoiled pooch could dream of. As I grabbed another fun-looking toy off the shelf, Amelia was drawn to a pen of puppies in the middle of the floor.

“I always wanted a dog,” she admitted. “But it just wouldn’t work with my allergies.” She rubbed her nose like it was itching.

“That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”

She snorted a laugh.

&

nbsp; “No really! Have you ever considered allergy shots?”

“Are you kidding?” She bent over the cage and ran her hand down a spotted puppy’s back. “Do you think I’ve got an extra couple grand sitting around to pay for that kind of thing?”

“Oh, right. Sorry, I didn’t mean to be a jerk.”

She shook her head. “It was a good idea. But to be honest, I can barely afford to keep buying the little pills that keep my allergies at bay for a few hours.”

I squirmed uncomfortably, thinking of Amelia’s tiny little apartment and of how she had to take the bus everywhere. It didn’t seem fair that I had more money than I could count and hard working people like Amelia could barely afford the medication they needed.

“Would you let me pay for the shots?” I asked, holding my breath in case she got mad.

“What?”

“I mean, I want keep spending time with you, and it seems like even the dog hair on my clothes makes your eyes itchy sometimes.It just doesn’t seem fair that I make you uncomfortable.”

She looked at me in shock for one moment. “You might seriously be the sweetest person I’ve ever met.” Then her cheeks flushed. “Do you really want to keep spending time with me?”

“Yeah, I really do.” I gave her hand a quick squeeze, not sure who might be watching or what kind of rumors holding hands might lead to.

“Then we can talk about doing the shots.” She nodded.

Cleo yipped from inside the shopping cart, looking more than a little jealous about all the attention I was getting from other dogs who were clustering towards us curiously. I laughed and grabbed a stick with a tennis ball dangling from the end of it. Leaping into the pen, I started dragging the ball across the floor until a dozen furry heads perked up and soon I was being chased by a mob of puppies while Amelia held her sides and laughed hysterically.