Page 100 of Puppy Love

Cam stares at me with annoyance, but when her gaze breaks, she continues.

“They would pile nine large dogs on your schedule, then get mad if you worked for more than eight hours a day. They’d make you brush mats out of a dog, even if it hurt them, just because the parents asked you to. I hated it. I hated it there. But I loved the job.”

She pauses, looking at me, and I nod for her to keep going.

“I love helping dogs feel better, and I really love the creative side of it. At Furry Friends…” She lets out a deep sigh. “I feel like it holds every part of the job I love, and none of the parts I hated. I don’t have the issues I had before. I’m excited to go to work every day. It feels like I’m just going somewhere I love. Like I’m going home to my apartment or to Adrian’s.”

When she stops talking, she looks at me, the apples of her cheeks growing rosy. I think she’s embarrassed, but I’m just in awe. I haven’t heard her say so many positive things in one sentence, or even one day. It makes me happy her experience at the resort is so amazing, even if mine is different.

“Sorry,” she says.

I pull a beanie out of my pocket and tug it over my ears. “I like listening to you talk.”

Cam looks away, the color in her cheeks growing darker.

“Well, what about you? Have you always managed… daycares?” she asks, unsure.

“No,” I answer, a hint of disappointment in my tone. I don’t know how deep I want to get into this. I don’t really want to get into it at all. But I can’t pry information out of her, then give her one-word answers. “I used to be a dog trainer, and that was fun. It was amazing, actually, that’s why I work with Hayden. But I worked for somebody else’s company and…”

“And?” she asks. I look at her, those brown eyes staring back up at me.

I give in. I always give in with Cam.

“It was just a lot. We had to do board-and-trains, from our own homes. And having eight dogs at your house sounds like the dream, but you can’t do anything. I mean really. You can’t go anywhere. I think the most I left my house was for like, three hours at a time. And that went on for years. They wouldn’t let me do private training, only board-and-trains. It was awesome, and I loved it, but I couldn’t have a life.“ I shake my head. “Not that I have much of one now, but at least I can leave the house.”

Cam nods, mulling it over in her head for a minute. “Do you like it?” she finally asks. I look at her with confusion.

“What?”

“The resort,” she explains. “Do you like it?”

Do I like it? I don’t know how to answer that without crossing a line. A different line than the one I’ve already crossed. The “boss discloses information she shouldn’t to an employee” line. But when I try to talk, to say that I do like it, I go silent instead.

“I knew it!” Cam says, pointing an accusing finger at me. I shake my head, letting out an uncomfortable laugh.

“I like it,” I lie. “I miss training sometimes, but I get to do that with Hayden so—” I shrug. “I like it.”

I’m pleased with my answer only for a moment, before I look up at Cam. She looks like she’s going to actually kill me.

“Why do you do that?” she asks, her brows furrowing. My smile falters.

“What?”

“That thing you do. Where you plaster on that irritating smile and make your voice all tight and pretend things are better than they are?”

“Irritating smile?” I ask, offended. But Cam doesn’t seem to care if she hurt my feelings or not.

“Yes,” she says. “That irritating smile. You walk around with it all day like it’s part of your fucking uniform.”

“I do not!” I respond defensively. She raises her brows at me.

“You do. And you do it with your voice too. You don’t let anyone know you. Or what you hate or what you’re thinking. If you don’t like your job, just say it.”

The words strike a sharp feeling in my chest because Cam isn’t wrong. I might be getting better with it, but I don’t like to let people know me. Except, Cam didn’t ask for my permission to know me. She just did it.

“I do like my job!”

Cam huffs loudly, turning away from me, and marching forward.

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