Page 88 of The Problem with Dating

Yara showed up each morning to walk him before taking him to town to her dog shop. When I opened the door for her, she wore the same smile she’d always had. The same smile that made me feel things for her that I wasn’t certain I should be feeling.

“Morning. I brought you a coffee,” she offered, holding it out toward me. “I figured you’d like it black like your spirit.”

I chuckled. “I would argue that, but it is how I like my coffee. Let me guess, you’re a chai tea extra foam upside down, spin around caramel drizzle with five pumps of poison white chocolate latte type of girl?”

She placed a hand on her hip and gasped. “How did you know?”

“I’m a quick study.”

“That’s good to know,” she mentioned. “Because today’s the day.”

“For…?”

“Our first trip to the dog park with Feliz.”

“That’s today?”

“That’s right now. Chop, chop, Mr. Black,” she said. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Yara wasn’t kiddingwhen she said she was the dog whisperer. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Feliz was swapped out for another dog whenever she was around us.

When we arrived at the dog park, Feliz instantly took off running with Yara. She was convinced that if she tired him out, he’d sleep through the night. He was still waking after midnight for a few trips outside. Trips that were messing with my sleep.

I watched the two of them dart around with the other dogs and people at the park as I stood with my coffee. Everything seemed all good until someone spoke from behind me.

“Alex?”

The voice made every hair on my body stand. For a moment, I thought about dashing, but then I remembered that Feliz was around the corner with the golden retriever of a woman.

With a deep sigh, I turned to greet the person who said my name. The second I saw her, an old yet familiar rage began to boil throughout my system.

Catie.

I raised an eyebrow and took her in. She looked good. I hated that she looked so good. Her lips were painted a deep crimson, and her jewelry was all silver. She dressed in all black, just like her soul, and she had enough nerve to smile my way.

“Catie,” I dryly replied. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see you and heard you might be here. The real question is, what are you doing at a dog park? You hate dogs.”

“I never said I hated dogs.”

“Well, you never said you liked them. We never even talked about pets when we were together.”

“Probably because our relationship was based on lies.” I shifted. “Why are you here to see me?”

“I’m here because Mandy and Noah’s wedding is coming up. I figured I should see how we’re doing after everything that went down last year. Plus, I heard about Teresa passing. I’m sorry to hear that.”

The way she brought up Teresa bothered me more than it should’ve. Maybe because my great-aunt hated Catie. She always thought she wasn’t the right one for me. Clearly, Teresa was right.

“You wasted a trip. There’s nothing to talk about. I’ll be fine at the wedding with you there. I’m not a child.”

“I’m bringing Henry,” she said. That felt like a knife to my chest.

“Noah said you weren’t bringing him.”

She shook her head. “I wasn’t going to. But we’ve been together for a while now, and when I look back on my sister’s wedding, I’d like him in the photographs. I wanted to give you a heads-up, so it wasn’t a surprise.”

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