Page 44 of Confessions of a Canine Drama Queen

She came over, still seeming to avoid eye contact with him. Great. Now he’d gone and made everything awkward between them by letting his ego take the driver’s seat. Why should he give a shit if she’d kissed Asher? That was her business. Not his.

“Hey.” She smiled, but it looked a little forced.

“Hey.”

The silence felt like a thick soup.

“I, uh...” He raked a hand through his hair, trying to figure out the best way to apologize for how he’d behaved earlier.

She got under his skin without even trying. But it was his fault that he couldn’t seem to ignore that feeling. It was his fault that he was also so tempted to taunt her.

“About before,” he began.

“We don’t need to talk about it.” She set her lips into a firm line.

“I wanted to say—”

“We. Don’t. Need. To. Talk. About. It.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“Are you ready for the next activity?” she asked, her voice falsely bright.

Message received.

Keaton scanned the immediate area, which appeared to have several stations set up with backdrops, costumes, props and lighting. There was a beach scene, a bright blue background with bubbles printed on it and more.

“So, we take Molly around and snap some photos?” He wrinkled his nose. “That doesn’t seem very difficult.”

August snorted. “You’ve clearly never tried to take a picture of an animal before.”

They walked toward the blonde woman, whose lanyard said Scout Myers, Paws in the City. Her willowy legs were made to look even longer by black jeans and heeled boots. On top she wore a hot-pink T-shirt with the company logo printed on the front that stretched across her pregnant belly, and her hair was pulled back into a loose blond ponytail.

Scout smiled and waved as they headed over. “I don’t think we’ve officially met.” She reached her hand toward him. “I’m Scout.”

“Keaton.”

“It’s great to finally meet you.” She beamed.

Finally? He glanced at August, who was studiously avoiding him. “It’s great to meet you, too.”

“How’s your sister doing?” she asked, an empathetic expression on her face. Usually that kind of a question would make him bristle, because it felt like something private that was nobody’s business. But for some reason, Scout struck him as genuinely caring, perhaps because she was friends with August.

“She’s okay.” He nodded. “I was texting with her earlier and my mom is staying overnight to help her around the house. Then her boyfriend is coming tomorrow.”

“That’s good.” Scout looked genuinely relieved. “If there’s anything we can do for her, please let me know. I can only imagine how disappointed she must feel not being here in person. But we’ve set up some virtual facilities for her so that she can join us online for the workshop, at least. I know it’s not the same, but we still wanted her to feel included as much as possible. And we’ll have some fun promo items and stuff for you to take home for her.”

“That’s very kind.”

“I think we’re going to be having dinner tonight as well?” she said, her eyes bright. “Mine and Isla’s husbands are both coming up from the city, so we thought it would be fun to have a meal together. Lane suggested a restaurant in one of the nearby towns, while the rest of the contestants have their trivia night.”

“Oh.” Keaton blinked. This was the first he’d heard about it.

“I was going to mention that,” August said, her laugh a little thin, like she absolutely wasnotgoing to mention it.

Did Scout think they were...together? He opened his mouth to make it clear they weren’t, but before he could get a word out, they were interrupted by a yelp coming from one of the photo areas.

“Excuse me, I need to check on that.” Scout darted off, leaving him and August alone in the waiting area.

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