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“Hi, baby,” she coos at my dog, flopping his silky ears between her fingers. “And who is your human?” Her gaze lifts to her best friend. “I can’t believe you let Bryce get you a puppy without me!”

“No!” Josie protests. “He still says I can’t have one.”

“Then who’s…” She trails off when her eyes meet mine.

Shakily, I squat down, ignoring the slight twinge in my hip. I reach out to pet Lezak’s head, and his tail thumps happily against her stomach. “This is Lezak. He’s four months old.”

I watch the brightness in her eyes dampen, a cloudiness settling in. In a move that’s probably instinctive, she holds the puppy a little closer. “You named a dog after Jason Lezak?”

“When he gets the zoomies, you’ll understand why.” I’m trying to lighten the mood, but it doesn’t seem to work. The iciness is settling around us once again, but god, do I miss the warmth. “Come on, Mia, you can’t deny that you love it.”

She turns her focus back to the dog. “Don’t worry, Lezak. I won’t hold your asshole human against you.” My gaze snaps back up to Bryce, who’s frowning down at us. “You can’t help who adopted you and I’m sure he loves you.”

“Of course I do,” I snap. I may not be perfect at relationships, but I’ve always loved dogs and I’m a damn good dog dad. I refuse to let her think any differently. “Think what you want about me, Mia, but don’t be that level of petty.”

It’s obvious I caught her off guard by calling her out. She loosens her hold on the puppy enough for him to wriggle from her grasp and immediately begin zooming between her and Josie.

Mia takes that moment to get back to her feet, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she gathers her bags, gives my happy puppy another pet, and heads toward the office she shares with Josie.

Lezak sits at Josie’s feet, looking between us, and the way his new friend just went, clearly conflicted on whether he should stay or go. The rest of us look at one another, the awkward tension in the air palpable. How lucky the little golden fluff is to not worry about petty things like someone not liking you when you’re pretty sure they could end up meaning everything to you.

Josie breaks the silence first. “Okay, someone has got to tell me what happened.”

I scowl at her. “If I knew, I would tell you. Or at least try to fix it myself.”

She stands, dusting her leggings off. “Ronan, Mia only holds grudges like that when she’s angry or been hurt. You have to knowsomething.”

“I haven’t done a single thing that would warrant a grudge that has lasted almost eight years.”

“That’s exactly what someone would say if they messed up bad enough to warrant an eight-year grudge,” Bryce protests.

Josie nods in agreement, eyes wide like her boyfriend made some profound point or solved a mystery. I kind of hate how in love the two of them are.

“That is the stupidest thing you’ve ever said to me, Clark,” I snap. “And I knew you when you were a teenager.”

And, god, did he say some stupid shit back then.

I bend down, quickly scooping Lezak into my arms before heading out to the pool, decidedly avoiding the office area. Mia Sheridan is the last person I want to be around right now. Besides, I have a dog who needs to get used to walking the pool deck with me if he’s going to help motivate these kids.

“What happened between you and this guy?”

I’ve been in Joy’s office for all of ten minutes and all I’ve done is complain about Ronan. I didn’t delay the start of therapy by asking how she’s been or if she and her wife are planning any fun vacations. No, instead I apparently decided to dive right into the actual session today. And, well, Joy seems to love it.

I sink back into the couch. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Her brows arch. “Isn’t the whole point of therapy to talk about the very things you don’t want to talk about?”

“We can talk about anything else but that,” I argue. “What about the dating apps? I downloaded those. Let’s talk about them.”

She crosses one leg over the other, hands folded neatly in her lap. “We can talk about whatever you want, Mia. This hour is yours. You’re the one who immediately started talking about him. I’m worried that whatever happened between the two of you could be preventing you from moving on now.”

“That makes no sense!” She’s clearly forgetting the number my ex did on me that led me to this office in the first place. “If he was keeping me from moving on, Bianca would have never happened. Which, in hindsight, might not have been the worst thing.”

“I didn’t say he’s always had that effect on you. I’m just saying he might be having it now,” she counters. “Which would make sense, seeing as you’re now in each other’s lives again.”

We’re not just in each other’s lives again, though. No matter how hard I try to avoid him, he’s always there. And even though I’ve been nothing but an absolute jerk to him, he keeps up this polite, professional façade like nothing happened between us. And it infuriates me.

Maybe talking about it would help.