Page 42 of Safe With Me

He didn’t tell her Noreen had accused him of the same thing. Of kissing her back.

She wiped her face. “I can’t accept this.”

“I’m not Don.”

“I can’t accept it,” she repeated.

“So what? You’re calling our relationship off because one little slip. For a few seconds? A thing that I corrected right away. A thing that meant nothing.”

“I’m sorry.” She sniffed. “We had a good run. Thank you for that.” She stood. Walked to Mutt and bent down. “I’mgonnamiss you boy.” Mutt licked her face.

She stood and turned to him. “Now go. Please,honormy wishes.”

He leashed Mutt and they walked to the door. But he turned back. “I’ll go for now. But I’m not in any way giving you up.” He said, “Come on, boy. She doesn’t want usanymore.”

The dog whined.Paxfelt like howling.

* * *

Stephwoke up the next morning with a splitting headache. She rolled over and buried her head in the pillow. She couldn’t face today. She could call Will and say she was sick.

You have to face this head on,monamie. You can’t bury your head in the sand.

As usual, Camille had been right. She had to go to work.

She’d broken up withPaxand wouldn’t cower at home.

After she showered, she dried her hair, pulled a suit out of the closet blindly, along with a blouse, underwear and shoes. She made herself eat some cereal, then left the house and arrived at the clinic by eight. Dreading this, she walked in through the back. No one was in the area where she stored her things. After doing that, she headed into the waiting area.

Alice and Jon were already there, as well as Diego and Annie Rodriguez, who she’d met at thebarbeque.Stephgreeted them all warmly and then facedPax.

“Good morning, Stephanie,” he said flatly. His expression revealed nothing.

“Good morning.”

Paxturned to the others, “I expect that today will be less busy than yesterday but we’ll still have a crowd.”

Diego took off his jacket and Annie removed hers. She had a bigger baby bump than at thebarbequeand the long white shirt she wore didn’t disguise that. Jon took their coats from him. Diego asked, “How did the opening go?”

“It was gloriously mobbed. Things ran smoothly. Then again, it seemed like we prepared forever.” He smiled. “All because of our friend Jackson Kane.”

“I’m glad to hear that though you had everything to do with that.” Diego smiled. “Don’t forget how valuable you are,Pax.”

“Thank you.”

Annie grinned. “We can stay for four hours. What can we do?”

The nightly cleaner had put the chairs on tables. They also cleaned the exam rooms. The expense was necessary, as the clinic had to, by law, be pristine.

“You can take the chairs down and place them around the room. Annie, you can do something easier like get the coffee ready and put outdonuts.”

She rolled her eyes. “I can pick up a chair. I’ll help Diego first then do the treats.”

For a moment,Stephwas struck with a thought.Paxwould make a devoted expectant father.

“All right. Later, you two can go back to the office area and enter the forms from yesterday into the computer. I’ll show you how.” He turned to the others.

“Alice,Stephand Jon, are you all set?”

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