Page 20 of Followed By the CEO

Mills? She is not like that at all. She always has lots of questions, which is both maddening and attractive to me.

Everything about her is ridiculous and stubborn and beautiful and maddening.

When Shelby and I arrive at the dog park, Mills is not there, and I worry that I might have missed her.

But we make the most of our time and meet many other dogs and dog parents.

Shelby turns out to be quite a hit with the others. She’s gentle with the little pups and polite with everyone else.

And even though she’s only got three legs, she can chase down a ball and return it—a little slower than most but not the slowest.

“What are you doing here?”

I spin around slowly, knowing full well who said that.

chapter

seven

Mills

Because Hayden is Hayden, he answers with the most literal response.

“Using the dog park, of course.”

Another dog parent chimes in. “Mills! Have you met Shelby? She’s adorable!”

An elderly dog with three legs trots over to me and sits on her haunches.

I eye Hayden skeptically and then look back down at Shelby. “I didn’t know you had a dog.”

“As of today I do.”

“You’re terrible at stalking, you know that? Most guys would just sit in their apartment, scroll on social media, and try to hack into my Instagram account. But you? You’re just right out in the open.”

One of my dog mom friends looks confused. “Am I missing something?”

I’m getting tired of explaining this. “This man is obsessed with me, so he went and adopted a dog so he could see me.”

Angela squawks, but I can’t decide if it’s a positive or a negative type of squawk.

“Not only that, he showed up to my commercial audition and got cast opposite me,” I say.

Someone else gasps. “Are you talking about that lube commercial? Girl. I can’t wait to see that.”

Glad it’s not just me who is desensitized to men’s behavior.

Speaking of men, Hayden has to chime in now. “She did amazing.”

I tense up. “I think I’m going to ask Susan to reshoot it. With someone else.”

This seems to blindside Hayden. “Why would you do that?” he asks.

“Because I think it’s not quite right yet,” I lie.

“But that’s for Susan to decide.”

Angela, the other dog mom, looks between us like she’s watching a tennis match.

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