Page 50 of Borrow My Heart

I sat up and hugged my knees to my chest. “What were you doing before you called?”

“Making a video about this dog at the local shelter.”

“That sounds noble. Are you always a save-the-day kind ofguy?”

“What does that mean?” Asher asked.

“I don’t know why I’m asking. You totally are. I mean, you’re doing all this for free. Erin says, be a volunteer. You say yes. Erin says, perform a miracle for this dog. You say, sign me up.”

“You think I’m doing all this for Erin?” he said.

“Well, for Bean.”

“You think I’m doing all this for Bean?”

My heart stuttered in my chest and then hammered to life twice as fast. “You shouldn’t do anything for me,” I said, my voice low.

“Why not?”

“I’ll end up disappointing you,” I got out in a relatively normal voice.

“How?”

“I’m closed off, private…broken.” And apparently a huge liar too.

“Isn’t everyone?”

I gave a breathy laugh. “Kamala isn’t. She’s very open and trusting. Seems to know exactly how things will play out and doesn’t mind just letting them. You seem to be the same way.”

“You think I can see the future?”

“More than I can.” I wanted to see the future now. Like how would Asher react if I spit out the whole truth. Would he run away and never talk to me again? Or would he laugh it off? And what would Dale do? Still follow through with his humiliation plan? Fill Asher’s head about how all this made me a horrible person? “Or maybe you just don’t worry about it.”

“The future?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“I do,” he said. “If I need to.”

“I worry about it all the time. Analyze it. Try to bend it to mywill.”

“Does that work?”

“Sometimes,” I said.

Asher hummed as though analyzing my statement. “What wereyoudoing before I called?”

“Laying here on my couch groaning.”

“Wren…I need to…there’s this…”

“What?” I asked with a nervous laugh.

“What event should we do next week? For Bean, I mean?” he said, but that’s not what he was going to say. None of his half starts made sense with that finish.

“I don’t know,” I said, giving him a pass for the moment. “Maybe we should see if anyone actually signs up before we plan another one.”

“Did Chad get in your head?” he asked.

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