Page 53 of Lee

She really wasn’t on board with watching her crush fall for someone else, and it appeared that he might be on his way to doing that. Even she could see the connection between them.

“Well, I hope I do.”

Carisa walked them to the door, then they said goodnight before heading for the car.

The drive back to Serenity seemed to take a lot longer than the drive out had. Silence lapsed between them, but thankfully, Lee had the radio on so it didn’t feel as awkward as it might have otherwise.

“I guess I’ll see you in a few hours,” Lee said when he pulled to a stop in front of her apartment building.

“Yep. Thank you for letting me tag along tonight. It was great to see something that’s tied to what you do at the clinic.”

Lee smiled at her. “I enjoyed having you along. If you want to go back out there when I check on the pups next week, just let me know.”

Rori wasn’t terribly excited about going with Lee now that the thought was in her mind that he and Carisa might like each other, but she just said, “I will. Have a good night.”

Opening the door, she quickly exited the car and headed for the entrance to the apartment building. When she reached it, she realized that she could still hear the rumble of Lee’s car. Rori had expected him to drive away as soon as she got out, but apparently, he was waiting for her to go inside.

That he cared enough to make sure she made it safely inside eased some of the ache in her heart.

With a final wave, Rori opened the door and stepped into the small foyer. Through the glass next to the door, she watched as his car pulled away from the curb.

After the red glow of his taillights had disappeared, Rori made her way to the stairs that led down to her apartment. She used the bathroom, then changed back into her pajamas.

As she lay on the air mattress, she set her alarm for half an hour later than usual, deciding that she’d take her car instead of walking so she could get a little extra sleep. Four hours of sleep wasn’t much, but since it was Friday, she figured she could muddle through and catch up on her missed sleep on Saturday.

Sleep didn’t come right away as Rori replayed the ups and downs of her emotions over the last few hours. And if a few tears soaked into her pillow, that was okay. It was safe then.

Her tears only ever fell in the darkness.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“About time you made it in,” Alys said when Lee walked through the back door of the clinic the next day, just after eleven.

“I sent you an email to let you know the dog had gone into labor,” Lee told her. “So you knew we were going to be late.”

She followed him into the staff room where he refilled the travel mug he’d brought from home with his first cup of coffee—which was already gone. He was still tired from the events of the night, and it was likely that extra caffeine was going to be the only thing that got him through the day.

“There’s no we,” Alys said. “Rori was here at nine, as usual.”

Lee turned to her with a frown. “She was?”

Alys nodded. “She’s looking tired, but she’s here.”

Why had she come in so early? He’d told her that Carl had agreed that they could come in later if they had to attend the delivery late at night.

“Did Cheryl come in?”

“Nope. Rori said she texted her to let her know that she didn’t need to.”

Lee didn’t like the idea that Rori had gotten so little sleep the night before. She needed to take better care of herself.

“She said everything went okay,” Alys said.

“It was a textbook birth. Five healthy puppies.”

“That’s great.”

“Do you know anyone that wants a spaniel? Two of the puppies are spoken for, but the other three aren’t.”

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