Page 34 of Puppy Love

“Aren’t you going to go let his mom know?”

I forgot about that part.

“Right.”

I nod, this time literally pulling my feet off of the concrete and forcing my way over to the lobby. Normally, I’d be happy to run this quick little errand, stoked to do anything to help anyone. But since Tuesday, anything that isn’t looking at Cameron Miller feels like a chore.

I need to snap out of it, but I’m not exactly sure how to. This hasn’t ever happened to me before. Being around someone never made me so… needy.

Not that Mallory wasn’t gorgeous herself. But even in the beginning stages of our relationship, I was much more focused on building us a life than I was on getting her into bed. Don’t get me wrong; we had sex. A lot of it, actually. But for the most part, I hadn’t been the one to initiate it. I had other things to think about. The only reason I even wanted to take someone home that night at Monsey’s was because I could finally do it without feeling dirty. The relationship was over, and it had been for a long time. But the legality of it hung over my head like a constant reminder of what Mallory did to me.

It scared me that I could ever do anything that could be perceived as similar.

But I guess that’s the point of hookups like these.

One-night stands, no-strings attached. The sole purpose of your interaction is sex, so you aren’t busy thinking about anything else.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t considered that when Cam’s pretty little pussy was sitting on my face. I kind of forgot about the fact I’d have to see her on a daily basis, in a professional setting.

“She’s got about ten minutes left,” I say to Jessa’s mom, flashing her a smile. I hope it’s the normal kind, and not the I’m-totally-thinking-about-sex-at-work kind.

“Can you ask her to not trim the feet this time? My husband wants to grow them out.”

Oh. I keep smiling, now hoping it’s not the you-are-way-too-fuckin-late kind.

“Oh! Umh,” I stall, unsure of why because the brief time I’m gaining is not nearly enough to build a time machine. “Did you let Martha know at drop off?”

Martha’s head shoots up from behind the desk at the sound of her name, her eyes darting over to me in panic.

“Yes,” the woman says confidently. I swallow, then let the I’m-so-fucking-sorry kind of smile creep across my face. When you work in customer service, you learn lots of kinds of smiles.

”I think,” I say, even though I actually know, “she may have already cut them.” The woman frowns, irritated, and I know I have about three seconds until she erupts into a flaming ball of fire. “But I can give you a free day of daycare if you’d like!”

Normally, I don’t offer free services to someone until they’re in the screaming “I’m leaving a one-star review” stage. But it isn’t Cam’s fault that Martha forgot to put the note in. She shouldn’t have to suffer. Jessa’s mom crosses her arms, tapping a long acrylic nail against her bicep.

“Okay,” she says after a moment. “Alright. Don’t worry about it. Can you bring her out to the car when she’s done?”

I try to hold in my relief rather than sighing it out.

“Absolutely!” I say with a smile. The woman walks out and climbs into her shiny black Mercedes. I turn to Martha.

“Shit, Vi! I’m so sorry. It was really busy this morning and—”

I put my hand up, not dismissively but rather in comfort.

“Oh it’s fine.” I wave. “Just put one in there for next time, will you?”

Martha nods and immediately begins to type furiously on the keyboard.

“You owe me,” I say when I get back to the salon.

Cam loops a slip lead over Jessa’s head and guides her down from the table. She looks at me, confused.

“Why?”

“Because Jessa’s mom was on the verge of throwing an absolute bitch fit about her feet getting trimmed. I offered her a free day of daycare though, so we’re all cool now.”

Both of Cam’s eyebrows shoot up, and she rifles through her toolbox, pulling out the day’s schedule that Martha had kindly color-coded.

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