Page 43 of Take Me to the Wedding

I got up and stood behind her chair, then reached over to pet the dog—and gently steered her away from Sam. “That’s the puppy butt-wiggle.”

She glanced up at me and laughed. “The what?”

I stooped down and let the puppy jump up and put her paws on me. “She likes you. The butt-wiggle is a barometer.”

“She’s got big feet,” Sam said, a little more relaxed since I was keeping the puppy at bay.

My turn to laugh. “Those are called paws. And if they’re big, that can mean the dog is going to be big too.”

The dog was staring at Sam. Going nose to nose with her, practically. Like, in love.

“You have the prettiest brown eyes,” she said to the dog. “No one on the planet will be able to refuse you.” The dog licked her leg.

She burst out laughing.

I did a little roughhousing with the dog. I mean, I didn’t want Sam to get freaked out or anything. But as soon as I stopped, she jumped up on Sam again.

She didn’t seem frightened. But she did seem unsure of what to do.

“It’s okay to pet her,” I said, “if you want.” I kept my hands right there, rubbing the puppy’s head, scratching behind the ears. My way of letting her know I’d be right there if something went wrong.

Sam lowered her hand. But she didn’t actually get to the dog’s head. The puppy began to lick her fingers.

Sam giggled. A sound I’d never heard before. But it made me feel warm all over.

She bent down to examine the pup up close. “You’re pretty cute.”

So the puppy responded by licking her nose. And that unleashed a giant snort of laughter. She sat up, rubbing the dog saliva off her nose, still chuckling.

Then Marin ran over and scooped up the dog. “Sorry about that.”

“Did you think of a name yet?” Sam asked.

“No, but if you’ve got an idea, we might take it. I agree with you, being called Pup is just plain sad.”

“Bye,” Sam said as Marin carted her away. The dog gave a little whine, unhappy to be taken away from all the fun.

“Hey, watch it, Sam,” Ani warned, “or you’ll be taking her home.”

“Not me.” Sam put up her hands. “My landlady can’t bear it when I tiptoe on the floor after nine p.m. A dog would throw her completely over the edge.”

Mia stifled a yawn and stretched her arms. “This was really fun, but I’m post-call and I’m going to hit the sack early. We have hunt-your-own breakfast tomorrow at seven. Does anyone care if I turn in?”

“I’ll go with you,” Brax was quick to say. “Full moon tonight. We can take a stroll around the lake.”

Tyler sneezed and blew his nose with a napkin. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said to Ani, “but I’m going to head back and google when the pharmacy in town opens tomorrow morning. If you all will excuse me.”

“I’ll go with you.” Ani rose to go with him. But she looked like she wanted to stay.

Lilly said, “I think I’ll head back to the cabin too.”

“I hope it’s not because I crushed your foot,” I said. I was a little thrown she’d want to leave this early.

“No, not at all,” she said with a smile. Then she dropped her voice. “I’m just a little bored. Square-dancing just isn’t my thing.”

Whatwasher thing? I suppose my ego felt a little offended—for about ten seconds—her leaving certainly saying everything about her desire to spend time with me. But my thoughts immediately strayed over to Sam. Maybe she’d stay. Maybe we’d get to talk some more.

A young teenage boy wearing blue jeans and a white shirt placed a giant order of french fries that we’d ordered onto our table. Lilly immediately looked distressed. “I hate to cause a problem,” she said to the server, “but these are burnt.”

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