Page 14 of Numbers Boy
That gets their attention, and the girls quickly take off, leaving Blake and me in the dust. “How was your day?” I ask.
“It was great, actually. Not too cold to enjoy being outside. How about you?”
“Same here.” I sneak one more muffin and eat it before we follow my nieces to the living room. “And I’ve got some pictures to share, too.”
“Dibs on going first!” Blake grins and plops down with his phone already out. “I think we left off here last time.”
The next ten minutes are basically a recap of the walks and pet sits that Blake has done since the girls were here last. They ooh and aww, asking questions about all of the animals and amazing me with some of the things they remember about eachof our clients. Then it’s my turn to share. Without thinking, I pull up that first picture I took of Stacy and show them all.
“This is Stacy. She’s a new dog I get to walk each week while her doggy dad is busy.” I try to keep my voice even, but I must not do a great job because Isabella cocks her head and narrows her eyes at me.
“Do you have any more pictures of her?” Lilly asks, thankfully oblivious to what’s going on. “What does her human do?”
“Well, he’s an accountant, but I’m not sure what he does on the nights he needs help with Stacy. I can show you the pictures he’s got of her on her Instagram account.” I pull up Stacy’s page and tap on a picture with her and Steve outside when the sun is starting to set. He’s bundled up against the cold, but even with a hat on, his green eyes pop in the sunlight, and there’s a loose red curl across his forehead.
“He’s pretty,” Lilly says and pulls my phone away to scroll through the other pictures, her sister leaning in to snoop as well.
“Ooh, look at his eyeshadow in this one!” Isabella says, and even without looking, I have a good idea which photo they’re on. I may or may not have stared at that one for about five minutes when I first saw it because he’s so gorgeous that I forgot I was pretending to be finding out more about Stacy.
Blake uses the fact that the girls are distracted looking at the pretty puppy and even prettier human to scoot closer. “How’s it going with him? And how does it feel to know you’re so transparent about your crush that Isabella clocked you instantly?”
“It’s going good,” I hedge. “We’ve chatted a few times when he happens to be coming home and I’m finishing up with Stacy’s walk.”
“It’s cool that Isabella’s impressed with his makeup skills. You know Amy says that’s something she’s been interested inlately. And don’t think we’re going to ignore the fact that you follow his dog on Instagram.”
“I follow lots of our clients if they have social media pages,” I mumble, body sinking lower into the couch.
“And how many of them get personalized text convos every time you see their pet?” Blake keeps going before I can even get my mouth all the way open to reply, ignoring the fact that the girls are now grabbing the container we keep full of brushes and hair ties, getting ready to set up camp and play with his hair. “And not just the normal check-in texts. I know you, Noah. This guy is different.”
“Yeah, okay, he is,” I admit, feeling my neck start to heat. “He’s gorgeous, but he’s also really nice and funny. Take a look at this.” I grab my phone from where the girls left it as they got sidetracked talking about how to do Blake’s hair and pull up my text thread with Steve, showing him the exchange we had last week.
Steve: How did your walk go? Sorry you had to be out in the bitter cold.
Me: That’s okay, I made sure Stacy didn’t turn into a pup-sicle.
Steve: That was paw-ful *face palm emoji*
“He sends me puns back, Blake. I’m screwed.”
“You are so screwed.” Blake pats me on the shoulder, careful not to move his head too much. “But at least it seems like he’d be open to you flirting.”
“You think so?” I ask hopefully.
“Dude, how many emojis with hearts has he sent you since you started texting?”
“Um, a lot? But they’re in relation to his dog. Who is an absolute sweetheart, by the way. She deserves all those heart eyes.” I grin thinking about Stacy.
“Still not something most people would send to their dog walker.” Blake shrugs. “Maybe heart-based emojis are just his MO, but it wouldn’t hurt to see if Steve is open to more.”
I nod just as there’s a knock on the door.
“Knock-knock!” comes my sister’s voice as she pushes it open.
“Mommy, Uncle Noah has got a cruuuush,” Lilly singsongs as soon as Amy is through the doorway.
I huff a sad laugh and flop my head back on the couch. Serves me right for thinking they weren’t listening. Little ears hear everything.
“Is that so?” Amy smirks and sits next to me on the arm of the couch. “Who are they? And I want to see pictures.”
