Page 60 of Interference

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He smiled, and he seemed like he meant it. He gave Lily a pat, then sat up again. “As for the car—eh. I can live with it.”

“Me too.”

Right then, our server appeared with a notepad and a carafe of ice water. She was definitely flustered as she said, “I am so sorry for the wait.”

I smiled up at her. “It’s okay. Looks like you’re busy.”

She exhaled. “For a Wednesday, yeah, we really are.” She topped off our water, then put her pen to her notepad and glanced back and forth between us. “What can I get started for you?”

“Uh…” Wyatt flipped open his menu, which he hadn’t even looked at yet. “You go ahead. I’ll figure it out by the time you’ve ordered.”

Fortunately, I’d been here enough times that I knew exactly what I wanted, and Wyatt was right—as soon as I’d finished ordering, he’d figured it out too.

“If it’s not too much trouble,” he said, “can I also get a couple strips of bacon on the side? Not seasoned or anything?” He gestured under the table.

She stepped back and her eyes widened. “Oh my goodness! I didn’t even see you under there!”

Wyatt reached under the table, probably petting her or scratching her. From the thumping against the floor, Lily was wagging her tail.

The server looked at Wyatt. “She’s a service dog, right? So I shouldn’t pet her?”

He nodded apologetically as he sat up. “Thank you for understanding.”

“Of course. And I’ll make sure she gets some bacon strips.”

He smiled. “Thank you.”

After she’d left to put in our orders, I asked, “Does she usually get treats in restaurants?”

“She’s, um…” He blushed. “She’s really not supposed to? But I’m admittedly spoiling her a bit right now.” He grimaced. “Probably not the best thing for her training, but I might as well spoil her while I have the chance, you know?”

My heart clenched. I’d almost forgotten the situation they were in. The situation they were going to return to soon. Even though it was the whole reason we were out today in the first place, it just… didn’t seem real.

I swallowed some water. “I don’t blame you. She’s a great dog. She should be spoiled.”

His smile turned a little sad. “I agree.” He paused, then cleared his throat. “And, um, the host for tomorrow—he’s really okay with having her there?”

“Of course. She’s a service dog.”

“Yeah, but I know how people can be. And you said there was a bad experience with someone’s support dog, so…”

I shook my head. “No, no. Everyone knew the difference. I actually heard one of the wives say she wanted to say something, but she was scared of making things harder for people with real service animals.”

Wyatt sighed. “Yeah, it’s kind of a catch-22 sometimes. You don’t want to let the people get away with abusing the service animal accommodation, but you also don’t want people with real service animals to get harassed. It’s—I don’t even know what to say or do in those situations.” He paused, then added dryly, “Except tell them to get their dog away from mine.”

“You’ve had problems with them and Lily?”

Rolling his eyes, he nodded. “When I was still learning to work with her, too. This guy comes up to me with his dog on a loose leash and just immediately lets it run up to Lily. I told him to back off, that she was a service dog, and he just said, ‘Well yeah, but so is she, so it’s okay.’” Wyatt groaned. “His dog even had Service Dog on her vest, so the need may have been legitimate. But the dog was nowhere near trained enough to be working, and the handler had no idea what he was doing.”

“Jesus. What did you do?”

“Got the hell out of there. I didn’t know what to say or do, so I just removed myself—and especially Lily—from the situation.” He sighed. “Which… that just made me feel like I was leaving him to be someone else’s problem, you know?”

“Maybe, but it can’t be your responsibility to unfuck people who don’t handle their dogs properly.” I gestured under the table. “She’s your primary responsibility. And yourself.”

“I know. And I’ll always put Lily first. I just wish I could’ve said or done something more, you know?”

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