Page 27 of Puppy Love

But then she pushed me to open my mouth, and now, we’re starting over. That’s how it seems, at least. And I guess, really, I can’t blame it entirely on her. She may have pushed me to make a snarky comment about that night at Monsey’s, but I asked why she left all on my own. It was a question begging to be answered. I considered going back to the bar and trying again. But I couldn’t do that without knowing what I did wrong the first time.

Or I guess now, what I didn’t.

Still, I can’t help but feel gross. Like Cam’s avoiding me because I made her uncomfortable. She’d have every reason to feel that way. It doesn’t matter what buttons she was pressing. I shouldn’t have said it. Any of it.

After peeling plastic grocery bags off the gallons of KennelSol I asked Avery to pick up earlier in the day, I place them tidily on the rickety wire shelves in the storage room. The metal clangs as the heavy bottles drag against the wires, and I form neat rows of chemicals.

Usually, I would just toss them onto the shelf and be done with it. But it’s hard once it starts, silencing your thoughts. The ones that make you wonder why you ever thought you could have a one-night stand in the first place. My gaze darts over to the door when a loud chime pierces the silence. Then another. Then another.

I know that sound. That’s the sound of the supply closet being unlocked from the outside.

I’m not usually one to get scared of things like this, but that’s too fucking creepy. Nobody else should be here right now, and—

Beep.

That’s the last tone in the sequence. The lock clicks, and the door handle slowly turns downward. My heart pounds inside of my chest so hard I can hear it, but my hands stay steady. Instinctively, I grab the first weapon I can find.

A broken mop handle.

The door creaks open, and I’m ready to pounce when the woman in front of me lets out the loudest, most ear-piercing scream I have ever heard in my entire life.

Oh. Wait. That was me.

Cam jumps back, completely startled as she clutches her chest. She breathes out slowly when she recognizes me. Then, she bursts into side-aching laughter.

“Fuck!”

My head collapses into my hands, my chest heaving as I squeeze my temples, eyes clamped shut. Cam continues laughing and even though I’ve been curious as to what her laughter sounds like, I can’t find any humor in the situation at this moment in time.

“It isn’t funny,” I bark, letting out a controlled breath. My eyes dart up to Cam, and now, she’s biting her lip hard, which I think is her best attempt to hold in her laughter.

She looks so cute, her cheeks all red and her eyes teary. That stupid fucking dimple makes its way to the corner of her mouth, and I swear it exists just to taunt me. The laughter bursts back out of her like a flame, but this time, the tension in my body eases, and I start shaking my head, laughing along with her.

“You scared the shit out of me,” I say, letting my body ease into the final stages of relaxation. Cam’s eyebrows shoot up.

“You were scared? You were about to stab me with a mop handle!”

I grimace, clicking my tongue to the roof of my mouth. “Well, yeah! I mean—” I gesture to the room around us. “I thought I was the only one here! We closed like, an hour ago.”

Cam leans against the wall, tilting her head as she listens to my excuses as to why I was fully planning to fight Michael Myers in the Furry Friends storage closet.

“I had a lot of cleaning to do,” she explains. “I haven’t done a deep clean this week, and you guys,” she points a finger to the center of my chest, “don’t have any vent circulation in there. So all the hair just sticks to the walls.”

“Oh well.” I put my hands up like a sarcastic surrender. “Let me just hop right on that.”

The words come out satirical, but I actually do want to “hop right on that,” if it’s causing an issue for her. I want Cam to be happy here. She does an amazing job, and even though she never interacts with the customers, they all rave about how much they love her. The goal is to keep her from going anywhere. That way, the customers stay happy, and I have the money to pay Avery to keep me sane.

Cam lets out a soft chuckle but doesn’t say anything in response. Her laughter hangs in the air for a moment, then slowly dissolves into the space around us. The silence grows steadily, thickening with every moment.

“I’m—” I start to speak before I realize that, if I say what’s sitting on the tip of my tongue, I’ll be breaking the promise I made the night before. When I said I’d never bring it up again. When I said I’d leave her alone.

But I’m not bringing it up for answers. There’s no ulterior motive to get back at her or beg for the truth. I just want to apologize for yesterday, for that day in the salon. For all of it.

“I’m sorry, if I made you uncomfortable,” I say, stepping closer to look her in the eye. “I never should have said any of that yesterday, and I know I’m not supposed to bring it up now. But it was really unprofessional of me, and I just—“ Cam’s gaze flicks up to me, looking intently through those soft brown eyelashes. I swallow. “I would hate to put someone in a situation they aren’t comfortable in.”

Cam’s head bobs as she nods slowly, the corners of her lips subtly turning upwards. She lets a stream of air flow out of her mouth, and it brushes against my lips, causing goosebumps to rise on my skin. I take a quiet step back.

“You didn’t make me uncomfortable,” she says quickly. Her throat tightens as she swallows, her chest sinking down as all the air squeezes out of her lungs.

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