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“That’s a good nameTaffy. Are you Taffy, girl? Yes?” Gus said. “Good dog.” The dog wagged her tail with enthusiasm, making Gus laugh. “But maybe I’d better let Ella choose a name for you.”

“So sweet,” Cami said. “I think you should definitely adopt her. Eloise will adore her. What about you?”

He dug his fingers into the dog’s fur, and she licked his face. “I became a vet because I love animals. All of them. But dogs? I was raised with them. Not having a dog in my life is like not having one of my hands. But the last few years have been… a lot of moving. And I didn’t think I was ready to be responsible for another… soul.”

She loved that he called the dog that. “What changed your mind?”

He scrubbed the dog on top of her head. “Ella. Seeing her with your dogs made me realize how much she was missing out on. And how much she’d love a dog of her own.”

“Dogs are pretty adaptable. Especially this size dog.”

“True. It really was never about the dog. It was me. So, you vote yes?” he said.

She scratched the puppy behind her ears. “I don’t think you really needed my vote. I think you’ve already made up your mind. But yes.”

“I guess I just needed confirmation I wasn’t crazy.”

“Well, I wouldn’t necessarily gothatfar.”

He smiled up at her. “That’s fair. Let’s do this, then.”

Even though she knew he hadn’t really needed her opinion and his decision was already made, it felt nice being included. His reasons for doing so were less clear. But she decided not to think too hard about it—which went totally against her OTB—her over-thinking brain, as her brother, Liam, liked to refer to it.

Gus completed the paperwork for the dog, for Taffy, and paid the fee. “She’s going to need to be fixed and get all her vaccines so it will still be a couple of days,” he told her. “But the sooner I get her out of here, the better.”

“You’re giving her to Ella before Christmas then?”

“Maybe I can stash her with Dr. Alden, or make her an early Christmas present.” At her side-eye, he added, “Not from Santa.”

She sighed dramatically and shook her head. She wasnotgoing to go there tonight.

He laughed and they said goodbye to Taffy, but only until she was ready for pickup again. They headed back out to his truck.

“Is it weird,” she said as he opened the truck’s door for her, “that in the short time we’ve known each other, we’ve both had babies randomly drop into our lives? And that I’m not the only one facing sleepless nights for the foreseeable future?”

“You do have a point.” He walked around the truck and hopped into the driver’s seat.

“And,” she added, “that we happened to be together on both occasions?”

He turned to stare at her for a moment. “Well, I did wrangle you into this one.”

She shrugged. “True, with the bribe of an actual meal out.” Gawd, he was good-looking, with that secret smile of his that always said he had something unspoken on his mind.

Something that might make her uncomfortable if he said it aloud. She couldn’t get a read on him, exactly. Was it still too soon after his wife’s death to think about moving on? And even if he was trying, did he actually have room in his heart for a new person… like her? Which was why it was best to keep this all casual. Not a date.Remember that.

Shaking off the thought, she said, “I can’t remember the last time I did this.”

“Me either, without a six-year-old choosing the restaurant.”

“Where are we going?”

“That’ll be a surprise, too. But I did make reservations.”

That likely narrowed down the choices to someplace with white tablecloths. “I’m usually the one to plan surprises. I’m not generally on the receiving end of them.”

He frowned at that. “Then I’m glad you’ll make an exception for me.” There was a sexy note of hopefulness in his voice.

“I… believe I will.”