Page 7 of Once Upon a Boyband
When I was young, I thought it was indifference. Momdefinitelythought it was indifference—something that led to their divorce and Dad’s move to Lawson Cove halfway through my freshman year of high school.
But now, working with Dad, getting to know him as an adult, I understand more about how his brain works. He cares deeply. He’s just not very good at picking up on nuance. At reading emotions. He claims it’s why he works so well with animals. Because animals are so much simpler than humans.
I clear my throat and shrug. “No one in particular.”
Percy huffs out a laugh and rolls his eyes, which only makes Dad grin.
He leans over and kisses the side of my head. “Why don’t you take off for the afternoon?” he says. “I’ve run out of patients myself, so I can take care of the rest of yours.”
I look at Dad. “But you always leave early on Fridays.”
“True. But I don’t have anywhere to be right now. Besides, there’s a young man in the parking lot who looks like he could use some help. I could be wrong, but I think he might enjoy getting it fromyoumore than me.”
Percy’s eyes widen, and he hurries across the room, peering through the door that leads out into the lobby where the mostly glass wall of the office gives a clear view of the parking lot. “It’s Adam!” he says, his voice low. “Why is he still here?”
“Why are you whispering?” I ask. “It’s not like he can hear you.”
“What was it you said earlier about shooting your shot?” Dad asks. He tilts his head toward the parking lot. “Now is as good a time as any.”
I narrow my eyes. “How long have you known? Did Percy tell you?”
Dad only shrugs. “Tell me what? You should probably hurry, Elena. Adam and his puppies might not be in the parking lot for long.”
CHAPTER TWO
Adam
I’m tryingto look on the bright side.
I could have locked my keys in my SUVafterI put the puppies inside. I could be worrying about the temperature inside the locked car, about potential puppy dehydration, about the length of time it will take the locksmith to show up and break in.
Okay, I should probably be concerned about that last one even with the puppies next to me instead of inside the SUV. The puppies are fine—for now—but they still aren’t fully weaned, so the faster I get them back to their mom, the better.
I send a second annoyed text to my sister Sarah, who has, so far, been irritatingly unresponsive, then shuttle the squirmiest two puppies over to the strip of grass at the edge of the parking lot for pee breaks.
Where could Sarah even be? She’s the only other full-time employee at Hope Acres, so she should be at the farmwith access to my spare key and her own car, which she could easily use to drive down and rescue me.
To be fair, half of Hope Acres has terrible cell reception. If she’s out in the barn with the dogs, she’s too far from the house to use the Wi-Fi, and her phone won’t pick up a signal.
I sigh and glance at my watch, feeling ridiculously stupid this even happened in the first place, then scoop up the puppies and drop them back in with their siblings. At least the cocker spaniel puppies are too small to climb out of the foldable wagon I use for transport. If this were a litter of full-sized goldendoodles, they’d be escaping one after the other.
“Adam?”
I spin around to see Dr. Lawson—Dr.ElenaLawson—standing on the sidewalk. Her bag is over her arm, like she’s going home for the day, and her hair is down, long, light brown waves cascading over her shoulders.
I swallow as my eyes move over her. I’ve never seen her with her hair down.
“Hey.” I pull off my hat and take an awkward step forward, then put the hat back on again.
Dr. Lawson lifts her eyebrows. “Everything okay?”
I look back toward my SUV. “Not really? I seem to have locked my keys inside the car.”
“Oh, no,” she says. “How did that happen?”
“It happened before the appointment, actually. I just didn’t realize it until now. I’ve called a locksmith. He should be here”—I look at my watch one more time—“in eighty-three more minutes?”
She frowns. “Adam, you can’t sit in the parking lot with eight puppies for eighty-three minutes.”
