Page 72 of Housebroke

He took a long swallow of his beer. “I put in an application to adopt her.”

Hazel’s stomach did a weird flip-flop. “You what?”

“Something came over me when that couple seemed like they wanted to adopt her. She and I have kind of bonded, ya know? I couldn’t imagine life without her.”

And that weird flip-flop in her stomach gravitated to her heart. “You’re going to adopt Penny? How are you going to manage that with all the moving around you do?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll figure it out.”

“And Sandy was okay with this?”

“She said you’ll vouch for me and that’s good enough for her.”

She gave him a stern look. “And what if I don’t?”

“What if you don’t what?”

“Vouch for you.”

He laughed. “Seriously.”

“I’m serious, Linc. I have genuine concerns about how you’regoing to manage moving around the country and doing these home renovations with a sixty-pound golden retriever. And why wouldn’t you have talked to me about this first?”

“Okay, I can see you’re upset about this, and you’re right, I should have discussed it with you first. It was totally impulse, brought about by the imminent thought of losing her. I acted without thinking, and I’m sorry for not talking to you about it.”

All Linc’s talk about not wanting to lose her—her being Penny—made her feel some kind of way. Hazel wondered how he was going to feel when he walked away from her. Would it be easy for him, or would he have a crushing sense of loss? Because he sure had attached himself to Penny in a short period of time.

Then again, who wouldn’t? And this wasn’t about her; it was about her dog. She needed to remember that.

“So we should talk about how you’re going to handle traveling with Penny in tow, and how you’re going to live with her at your home base.”

“My home base is a condo, and I’m hardly ever there. As far as Penny traveling with me, I’ll drive instead of fly wherever I’m going. Maybe I’ll buy an RV.”

She cocked a brow. “You’re not serious.”

“Why not?”

“And then park it where?”

“Wherever the hell I’m working. Or I’ll store it while I’m in whatever city I’m working in and rent a truck for the duration of my work there so Penny and I have a vehicle to ride around in.”

She shot him a long look. “You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

“Honestly? I’m thinking on the fly here. But I’ll figure it out, Hazel, and I promise that it’ll be good for Penny. You know I’d never do anything to hurt her.”

She did know that. She trusted him. But still, she hesitated, and she didn’t know why. Was it because she didn’t want to give Penny up, or was it something else?

“You could always interview me,” he said.

“What?”

“Don’t you interview people who want to adopt the dogs?”

“Yes, of course, but it’s not like I don’t know you.”

“But do you know everything? This could be your opportunity to ask serious, in-depth questions.”

She laughed. “About you having a dog?”

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