Page 28 of Summer with a Single Dad

“That’s Moose and Rufus. They’re Emily’s.”

“But they live here?” he asked, turning from Emily to pet them.

“No, they live with Emily. But they visit sometimes.”

“So, Luke has someone to play with, too.”

My sweet little guy didn’t catch the grownup chuckles.

“They’re very good friends,” I said, meeting Emily’s eyes. “Emily helped me train Luke.”

“You did?” he asked, amazed.

“I did,” she said. “Here, call him.”

“Luke,” Hudson called, clapping his hands.

Emily lowered to her haunches and spoke softly. “Okay, repeat after me.” She went through all the commands we’d worked on. “Now, hold your hand out like this and sayshake.”

“Shake,” Hudson repeated.

When Luke put his paw into Hudson’s hand, his sweet laughter filled the air. “Wow. Cool.”

“Very cool,” Emily said.

Our eyes met for the briefest second, but the feeling that poured through me lasted much longer.

She lifted her hand, giving Rufus and Moose the nonverbal command to sit. All three dogs sat like little furry soldiers in front of Hudson. “Here, give them a treat.”

One by one, Hudson held out a treat for each one. “Good dog,” he said.

“Now, how does he know how to do that, but you didn’t?” Emily teased.

“I knew it. I just faked it to spend more time with you.”

Emily’s cheeks flushed, and my sister responded, “Aww. You guys are so cute.”

“It’s good to see you happy,” my mom said, wrapping me in a hug. My dad clapped me on the back and squeezed my shoulder.

“Let’s go see your room, Hudson,” Dad said, leading the charge back inside.

Savannah glued her hip to mine as everyone headed back into the house. “Now I see why it took you so long to text us back,” she said, giggling.

“Shut up.”

“If I had someone look at me the way Emily looks at you, I’d be a goner too.”

“I really like her.”

“I can tell.”

“Is this crazy? Am I? It’s . . .”

“You deserve to be happy, Chris. You lost, and you mourned. It’s finally time for you to put the past in the past.”

“I feel guilty.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Don’t do that. I know how much you loved Kayla. You will always love her. She’ll always be a part of you because of Hudson. Kayla would want you to be happy—and love again. She’d want you to have a life, and just because you love someone else doesn’t take away what you had. Life is short, Chris. We learned that the hard way. So don’t let someone amazing get away from you.”

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