Page 50 of Talk Birdie to Me

“I’ll stay on the couch,” he said. “You won’t even notice I’m here.”

“You can’t stay here forever. We both have to work tomorrow. Gary will be here alone. Unless you plan on moving in.” She shut the fridge and put her hands on her hips. “That is not an invitation, by the way.”

As much as she was enjoying Cody’s company, she wasn’t looking for a sleepover, much less a new roommate.

“We’ll worry about tomorrow… tomorrow,” he said. “For now, let me fix my screw-up. I’ll never be able to sleep worrying if I brought more trouble here. At least if I’m on the couch, I’ll know you’re both safe.”

“For the record, this is a ridiculous solution.”

“We’ll agree to disagree,” he said. “Tomorrow, I’ll get a security system for you. I’ll install it myself, and we’ll light a fire under Taylor and the shelter to find another place for him. One that we won’t even know about, so no one can track him to his next location through us.”

She had to admit, the latter part of his plan was sound.

This first part, however…

“Do you snore?”

His lip curled up as he tried to hide a smile. “Do I snore?”

“Yeah. My ex snored. I could hear it through the whole place. It’s not like it was his fault and there were more than enough other things to hold against him, but I need to sleep tonight. I’m getting behind on work, so I need to be well-rest and alert tomorrow.”

“I don’t snore,” he said. “At least, I don’t think I do.”

Geena couldn’t believe she was even considering this. But she had to admit she’d feel safer with another person around until they were sure no one was going to break in during the night. Or day, for that matter.

She could ignore whatever feelings she was beginning to have for him. For tonight, at least.

“Fine.” She stared him down and added, “But one snore and you’re out.”

13

“Thanks again for running over here on such short notice.” Sierra held a wiggly yellow Lab puppy against her body. “I assume Taylor told you we want to get these up on our socials before the holiday.”

Geena took another shot of the gray puppy Liz corralled on the table with a bright blue background set up behind it. She lowered the camera and nodded that she was done with that one and ready for the next.

“This is the Memorial Day litter, right?”

“That was S'more. In the back, we’ve got Popsicle, Brownie, Coleslaw, and Firework.” Sierra, the second half of the Saint Martin Animal Sanctuary ownership, grinned as she held up the pup in her arms. Her colorful tattoo sleeve was on full display, exposed by the navy tank top Geena so often saw her wearing. “And this guy is Potato Salad. Liz vetoed Barbecue.”

“That was a step too far,” Liz said, returning with a chocolate brown puppy. Her dark hair was pulled up into a ponytail, since the air conditioning was already struggling to catch up with the late spring heat.

“Brownie?”

“The one and only,” Liz said.

Geena smiled and lifted the camera again. She definitely didn’t mind swinging by on a Tuesday evening after work for this. The puppies were adorable, and she could see why they wanted to get them posted as soon as possible. There was no doubt they’d all have applications before their namesake holiday next week.

After taking more shots of the puppy yawning in what looked like a roar on camera, she got a few standard photos, then motioned for Sierra to replace him with Potato Salad. Liz left the room with Brownie, while Sierra tucked her dark, shoulder-length waves behind one ear and moved her puppy onto the table.

Sierra danced her fingers above the camera to hold the puppy’s attention. “I’m not one for puppies normally, but Tater here might test that if I didn’t already have my hands full with Puck.”

“That’s your dog?”

Geena had gotten to know these women pretty well over the last several weekends of helping at the shelter, but she didn’t know much about their lives outside of there. Or at least she didn’t know enough to keep it all straight in her head. Sometimes too much data was simply too much data to process.

“Yeah, he’s my own rescue. Found him at the park where I work at part-time. He kind of just… stuck with me. Wouldn’t have it any other way now.”

“I can’t imagine life with a dog.” Geena lowered her camera again and smiled at the screen. They were all great shots. “I like animals in theory. It’s the care and maintenance and smells that I can’t get over.”

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