Page 23 of Pugs & Kisses

E vie sidestepped a gnarled tree root that had penetrated the concrete sidewalk.

Anytime she walked along St. Charles Avenue, it was an exercise in dodging tripping hazards, but the added distraction of Bryson’s bare arm brushing against hers played such havoc with her concentration that she was bound to face-plant sooner or later.

“I’m sorry again about City Bark,” Evie said. She jerked forward as her dog went in chase of a blowing leaf. “Stop it, Waffles.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Bryson asked. “Did you give those teens the paint and glitter they used to pollute the doggie pools?”

“No. And if I ever see them in person, I’m going to jail.”

“It’s not worth jail time,” Bryson said.

“That’s not the point. I hate when a handful of little assholes ruin things for everyone else.”

“The park said they’ll have the pools cleaned out within a day or two. Besides, the dogs seem to be having just as much fun here.”

They’d come back to the area of the city they were both familiar with. Miracle of miracles, they’d both found parking spots on St. Charles Avenue near Audubon Park within a few yards of each other.

“Yeah, but there isn’t a designated dog park here,” Evie said. “I’ve learned that this one likes the freedom to run unleashed.”

As if he’d heard her, Waffles tried to take off again.

“Stop it,” Evie said, tugging his leash. He wiggled his body the way she did when she thought a bug was on her. “Waffles, calm down.”

“Okay, I know you haven’t had a dog in a long time, but you’re still a veterinarian, Ev. You know commands don’t work that way. Stop it and calm down , especially in that wishy-washy tone you’re using, won’t cut it. You were more assertive at the restaurant the other day.”

“Believe it or not, I have never been good at controlling my own dogs,” she said with a laugh. “It used to drive my mother out of her mind. The worst was when she would come home from the hospital and find the dogs in my bedroom instead of the pool house or sunporch.”

Bryson stepped aside so that two younger girls wearing pink and white sorority sweaters could pass them.

“I’m still not sure how you ended up in this profession,” he told Evie. “You come from a family that doesn’t like dogs and were engaged to a man who also doesn’t like them.”

“I never said Cameron didn’t like dogs; he just didn’t want one of his own.”

He slid her a sideways glance.

“Fine,” Evie said. “And, honestly, if it wasn’t for Ashanti, I’m not sure I would have become a vet. I told you this story back when we volunteered at The Sanctuary, didn’t I?”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

They were probably too busy getting into the kind of mischief she didn’t want to think about right now.

“Well, it’s true,” Evie said. She told him how she was all set to apply to medical school so that she could follow in her mother’s footsteps as a cardiologist.

“Ashanti pointed out that I always seemed more fascinated in her coursework than my own. I knew I wouldn’t be happy as a cardiologist, but never even considered doing anything else until Ashanti said two simple words to me: Why not? ”

“And that’s all it took?”

“That’s it.” She nodded. “I’ve never regretted it, despite the backlash I still occasionally get from my family. I honestly cannot imagine doing anything else.”

“That must make this time right now difficult,” he said. “Not having a practice to go to. Have you started putting out feelers?”

“Not yet. I’ll get a new position eventually,” she said. “I want to focus on The Sanctuary right now. I’m lucky that I can take some time off to focus on something else. At least this time when I start the job hunt, I know I’m getting the position based on merit.”

“Wait, do you think you didn’t deserve to work at the clinic on Maple?”

“Whether or not I deserved to work there is moot. It was a foregone conclusion that I would.” She hunched her shoulder. “That’s the problem. I have never been in a position of having to rely on myself—I’ve always had this safety net.”

“You mean your superrich parents?”

“Stop it.” She bumped him with her shoulder. “They are not super rich.”

“Remember, I’ve seen their house, Ev. Compared to most people, they’re superrich.”

She rolled her eyes. “They make a good living,” she said. “And, yes, it’s nice knowing I can go to my parents if I need anything, even though I’m a perpetual disappointment to them both.”

She raised her hand when he started to speak.

“That’s a joke. Well, kinda,” she said. “But it’s not just my parents; Cameron has also been a safety net. I knew before I graduated that I would work at his practice. I never imagined myself anywhere else.”

“There’s nothing wrong with having a safety net. A lot of people would kill for that.”

“I know how lucky I am.”

“Do you?” Bryson asked.

“Of course I do,” she said. “Why would you ask me that?”

“Because, in my experience, I’ve found that people tend to look at what they don’t have and what isn’t going right in their lives instead of focusing on the good stuff. It seems to have gotten worse since the pandemic.”

“That isn’t me,” Evie said. “And what we all went through with the pandemic only served to show me just how blessed I am.”

One of St. Charles Avenue’s signature green streetcars rolled past them. The sound of its steel rails rattling always put Evie in a New Orleans state of mind.

“If I share something with you, do you promise not to get upset or hold it against me?” Bryson asked once the noise from the streetcar abated.

“I can’t make that promise because I have a feeling it’s going to piss me off,” Evie said.

“Probably.” He stuffed his free hand in his pocket and stared straight ahead. “Once I saw your parents’ home, it changed the way I thought about you. You started to be one of them to me.”

Evie stopped walking. “Excuse me? One of them ?”

“A rich kid,” he clarified. “I know, I know. It was unfair. You never acted like you were better than anyone else, and you never tried to make me feel as if I was less than simply because I didn’t come from the right area code. But I was pretty messed up back then.”

“Bryson, you were a basketball star on campus. Everyone else worshiped the ground you walked on.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Bryson said. “And that’s part of the issue.

Everyone knew me because I could dribble a ball.

Ninety percent of the people on campus had no idea what my major was, or my GPA, even though it was mentioned at least three times per game.

They didn’t care about that. I helped the team win basketball games.

That’s what mattered. And I had to prove myself as an academic over and over again. ”

“What does that have to do with the area code you came from?”

“Because I had been relying on my athleticism to get me out of that area code for years before I ever started at LSU. Since junior high school, actually. It’s a weird dynamic, but I came to both depend on my ability to play basketball and resent it.”

He tapped the side of his head.

“I’ve always had this brain. I’ve always done well in school.

But even from an early age, what was in here didn’t matter.

I was tall, Black, and had an athlete’s build.

That’s what people saw. That’s what people’s assumptions were based on.

It’s a lot easier to show people that you can make a three-point shot than do a math problem, so that’s what I became known for. ”

Evie could see how much it still affected him, and she understood why he’d come to resent it. But she would be lying if she didn’t admit that his words stung.

“I didn’t know what area code you’d come from when we first met,” Evie said. “And, if you want to know the truth, I didn’t know you were a basketball player either.”

His head swung around. “You didn’t?”

“Nope.” Evie shook her head. “Ashanti was the one who first pointed it out. I called her after the first day we met. The day I started volunteering at The Sanctuary.”

“That wasn’t the first time we met,” Bryson said.

“Yes, it was.”

He was shaking his head. “It was the first time you talked to me, but it wasn’t the first time we met.”

“I would have remembered—”

He cut her off. “I met you once before, just outside of the vet med building on campus,” Bryson said.

“I’d noticed you standing on the steps outside the entrance and asked if you needed something, but then Cameron came out of the building before you had the chance to respond.

I found out later that he’d kept you waiting for a half hour while he hung out in the lab with a couple of guys from his frat. ”

Evie stopped walking. “Oh my goodness,” she said. “That was you !”

“That was me,” he said. His voice had taken on a hoarseness that she felt on her skin. “You may not have noticed me before then, but I’d noticed you, Ev. Well before we volunteered at The Sanctuary.”

Evie’s chest expanded with an oddly warm feeling.

To know she had been on his radar, even back then, sent her mind into dangerous places.

Places that made her wonder if things would have ended up differently if Cameron hadn’t chosen that moment to come out of the vet med building.

One small change, a few minutes, could have altered everything about the past decade.

“I guess we’ve come full circle, haven’t we?” she asked.

“Not yet.” Bryson shook his head. “Full circle would mean… well, it would mean something else. At least to me. But we’re leaving the past in the past, right?”

She glanced at him, then quickly averted her eyes.

“Uh, yeah,” she said.

The confusion she’d experienced way too much lately reared its head again. Her chest tightened with the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing what she really wanted.

She’d told herself it was best to keep things strictly platonic and professional when it came to Bryson. They were no longer a couple of young college kids still trying to figure out where they belonged in the world. They were adults. They’d seen more, experienced more. They’d lived.

It didn’t change what happened eight years ago, but it added context she hadn’t considered before tonight. Before this very moment.

What exactly was she afraid of when it came to moving beyond friendship with Bryson? She knew herself well enough to recognize if she was moving too fast and too soon, didn’t she? Then again, she thought she knew herself well enough to recognize if she was being cheated on.

“Stop overthinking things, Ev.”

She startled just as Bella moved in front of her. Evie nearly tripped over her leash.

“Whoa.” Bryson wrapped his arm around her middle to steady her. “You okay?”

She nodded. “I’m good.” She stepped out of his embrace, but the sensation of his palm against her waist lingered.

They approached the entrance to Audubon Park, across from Tulane University.

“Can we grab a seat for a bit?” Bryson asked. “Bella’s walking slow, which means she needs to rest.”

Evie glanced down at his dog. “How old is she?”

“My best guess is between ten and twelve, but I can’t be sure.

She was brought in for a surgery and her owner never came back to pick her up.

” They walked over to Gumbel Fountain and took a seat on one of the benches that circled the bronze sculpture and its surrounding pool of water.

“It wasn’t the first time it had happened, but there was something about Bells that just wouldn’t allow me to leave the hospital without her. ”

“Does she realize how lucky she is to have the world-renowned veterinary surgeon Bryson Mitchell as her rescuer?”

“She couldn’t give two shits,” Bryson said with a laugh. “As long as I keep her supplied in T-R-E-A-T-S, she’s good.”

Evie laughed. “I’m pretty sure Waffles would join Pennywise in the sewer if he was holding a bacon-flavored Milk-Bone instead of a balloon.”

“You mind if Bells sits up here with us?” Bryson asked, lifting the papillon from the ground and placing her on the bench between them. Bella immediately curled up and closed her eyes.

“Let’s see if this one will sit still for a few minutes,” Evie said.

Just as she reached down for Waffles, a squirrel ran down the trunk of one of the huge oak trees surrounding the fountain area and darted in front of them.

Waffles bolted, yanking his leash from her grip.

“Waffles!” Evie yelled. “Get back here.”

“Shit. I’ll get him,” Bryson said.

Evie watched in fascinated horror as Bryson chased after Waffles and the squirrel.

Her dog tore through the flower beds, kicking up dirt in his wake.

She looked around to make sure there were no police or park employees.

This dog was going to get her banned from one of her favorite spots in the city.

“Stop!” Bryson called.

He tried to catch the leash that still trailed behind the dog, but Waffles was too fast. Bryson nearly slipped and Evie was appalled by the giggle that escaped.

This was not funny. Except that it was. At least a little.

The squirrel zipped out of the flower bed and headed for the fountain.

Oh shit! No!

“Waffles don’t!” she called.

But he did.

With a leap, Waffles dove into the shallow pool, splashing water everywhere. He ran to the center of the fountain where the squirrel had climbed onto the bronze sculpture.

Waffles’s barking had attracted the attention of several park-goers. Evie could feel her face heating with embarrassment.

Bryson clapped his hands and, in a stern voice, said, “Waffles. Come.”

Waffles ignored him.

“I can’t believe this,” Evie said underneath her breath. She started for the fountain, then stopped when Bryson climbed into the water and snatched up her dog, who continued to bark at the poor squirrel. He held the sopping-wet Waffles at arm’s length as he walked back to the bench.

“Might I suggest dog training. Maybe then he will listen to commands,” Bryson said.

“I am so sorry.” Evie took Waffles from him and pushed the handle of his leash onto her wrist.

Bryson looked down at Bella. “Did she really sleep through all of that?”

“Like a baby,” Evie said. Bella looked angelic; her body still curled on the park bench.

He shook his head. “Um, I hate to cut the evening short, but…” He motioned to his pants, which were soaking wet from just under his calves and down.

“I understand,” Evie said. She pulled her lower lip between her teeth.

Bryson’s eyes narrowed. “Are you laughing?

She shook her head, then nodded. “I’m sorry,” Evie said, breaking out in a full-on belly laugh. “I’m so sorry. This is horrible.” She wiped at the tears trailing down her face. “I can’t believe you climbed into the fountain.”

“How else was I going to get him?” he asked with a laugh.

“Thank you,” Evie said. “I really appreciate it, Bryson.”

“Anytime,” he returned. His warm brown eyes were alight with amusement.

She thought about how Cameron would have reacted in this same situation and nearly laughed out loud at the contrast.

It was just as she’d feared. Bryson was making it very hard not to fall for him again.