Page 58 of Role Model

“You’re mean.”

She laughed. “Seriously, I like him. And he’s sweet to you, which I also like. So even if he just wants to walk dogs with you and bring you coffee, I support it.”

Harris relaxed. “Thanks.” He grabbed his latte off the table and went to the door. “See you in a bit.”

“I’ll send you the best Troy photos.”

“Yeah. Because it’s your job.”

“And your job is to walk a puppy with Troy Barrett. Go.”

Harris was going to argue that this wasn’t his job at all, but that would waste valuable walking-a-puppy-with-Troy time, so he left.

“So is it acceptably eggnog season now?” Harris asked. They were halfway down the first length of the arena parking lot, Troy holding Chiron’s leash. Harris was holding the latte, trying not to drink it too quickly.

“Yeah. It’s Christmas next week.”

“Eggnog has a one-week window?”

“It has a zero-week window for me.”

“There must be a Christmas treat you like, though.”

Troy shrugged. “Turkey?”

Hoo boy. Harris decided to change the subject. “The Toronto game seemed intense.”

“It was pretty rough.”

“I couldn’t believe it when Ilya punched Kent.”

Troy’s lips curved up. “That was awesome.”

“What did Kent say to him to make him lose it like that?”

Troy’s jaw worked for a moment, then he said, “Nothing really. Just typical bullshit.”

Harris wasn’t sure he believed that, but he let it go. “Was it awful, being back in Toronto?”

“It was weird. And pretty terrible. I thought I was going to be sick before the game. Ilya talked me down, actually.”

“He’s good at that.”

“Mm.”

They finished a lap of the massive parking lot, and Harris was about to start a second one after tossing his empty cup into a garbage can, but Troy stopped walking.

“Um,” Troy said.

Harris waited. Troy handed him the leash, then reached into his own jacket pocket.

“I got you something.” He said it like one word, then thrust a small, shiny object at Harris.

“You did?”

Harris took the object and saw that it was an enamel pin in the shape of an apple. With a little rainbow heart in the middle.

His own little rainbow heart fluttered in his chest. He beamed at Troy. “Where did you find this?”

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