Page 14 of Resorting to Romance

“You don’t have …”

My sentence doesn’t even end before Kai cuts me off. “I don’t have to. I want to. See you in the afternoon. I’ll leave Ben to cover the shack and swing by.”

“Okay.”

He smiles at me, standing in my doorway until the moment trails on possibly longer than either of us expected. And then he turns, saying, “Get some rest, Mila.”

I nod, watching him walk to the bike rack and then I shut the door and head to bed.

FIVE

Kai

You feel alive to the degree

that you feel you can help others.

~ John Travolta

“Heya, Shaka,” Ben practically coos when the mutt shows up in the doorway of the watersports shack with me the next morning.

Shaka wags his tail effusively and trots into the shop like he owns the place.

“Nope. No,” I say to the dog … and to Ben.

“No, what?” Ben asks while he bends to scratch Shaka behind the ears.

“No dog in the shop.”

“Awww. But he’s so cute.”

“Cute or not, he can’t be in here.”

“Why’d you bring him to work then?”

“I didn’t.”

Ben looks at Shaka. Shaka stares up at Ben with the dog version of an innocent smile. Trust me, thatdog is anything but innocent. Then the dog and Ben glance at me with identical expressions of confusion.

“If you didn’t bring him, how did he get here? On your heels, no less.”

“He … followed me.”

“Uh huh.” Ben stares at me as if to say,go on.

“He was whining and scratching at the door from the inside after I shut it behind myself. And I resolved to keep walking. He’s going to acclimate, right? But then he kept at it. And I thought of … you know … the damage to the house.”

“The house. Right. So you opened the door and let him follow you.”

“Yeah.” I can’t look Ben in the eye.

“You know what you are?”

“Hrmph.” I mutter out some sort of noncommittal sound.

“You’re a softie. And you love this dog.”

“Don’t you start in on that too.”

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