Robbie thanked her, mentioning she was planning on staying, and then headed for one of the open corner seats.

  “You know, it would have been okay if you’d corrected the vet and told her we weren’t together,” Robbie said, slipping her laptop out of her messenger bag.

  She wasn’t surprised Robbie brought it up, but she didn’t know what to say in response. The truth was, she’d felt fine with the doctor’s assumption and the receptionist’s as well. “I’m fine with people thinking we’re together. I’m not okay with you paying for this.”

  “I feel responsible, but honestly, I’m not in the right headspace to fight over who pays.”

  The comment stopped her. “I don’t want to fight either.”

  “We can split the bill later if it makes you feel better.” Robbie met Devyn’s gaze. “I want Angel to be okay. That’s all I care about right now.”

  She dropped her shoulders, the will to argue gone. “Angel’s been the center of my world. This past year especially.” She glanced at the two open seats on either side of Robbie. “I know you’re right and I should go home and there’s nothing for me to do here, but I don’t know if I can leave.”

  “Do you trust me to call?”

  She nodded.

  “Then there’s tomato soup and cheesy bread waiting for you at home. If anything happens, it won’t take you long to get back here.” Robbie waited for her to agree before adding, “You don’t have to go to sleep, but we both know I’ve been keeping you up late these past few nights.”

  “Actually, I’ve been keeping you up.” She smiled, despite everything. “You have no idea how few people I trust in this world.” She leaned down and kissed Robbie, not caring that they weren’t alone. “Thank you.”

  “I haven’t done anything yet.”

  “Yes, you have.”

  She started crying the moment she stepped out of the waiting room. Angel was in good hands, Robbie would call if anything changed, but still the tears came. As she drove Robbie’s rental car home, she knew the tears weren’t only her worries about Angel. She walked into the empty house, found the dinner Robbie had made for her, and then admitted the truth.

  “I don’t want her to leave.” She stared at the sticky note and the words “yummy dinner” with a cartoon heart on the container of tomato soup. Robbie would be gone in ten days. She’d tried to push it from her mind every time she thought of the ending that would surely come. Tonight had made her realize exactly what she would lose. A chance for something real with someone who had thrown her world into chaos—and then stayed to reorganize everything.

  “But she lives in Seattle and I live here.” She set the container of soup in the microwave, careful to remove the sticky note. She had a collection of notes from Robbie in the junk drawer on the far side of the fridge. She’d argued she was saving them as a reminder for what was owed, but she knew it had nothing to do with settling any balance. Robbie would refuse her money anyway. She simply wanted the notes because Robbie wasn’t staying and the notes were what she’d have in the end.

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If Robbie was there, she’d make some joke about how she could tie her to the bed and not let her leave. The problem was, things went beyond sex and had for a while. After tonight, she couldn’t pretend anymore. “I’ve totally fallen for her.”

  The microwave beeped as if weighing in on her declaration. She took the soup out and stirred, not resisting the temptation to inhale deeply. Of course it smelled amazing.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The time passed quickly enough, but there wasn’t much news. Robbie sent Devyn nearly the same update every hour—no word yet—until eleven, when she added she wouldn’t message again unless something changed. She hoped Devyn would sleep but knew worry might keep her awake. Angel had looked so sick and weak. And the possibility of having to go to surgery still hung in the air. Unfortunately there’d been no sign of the doctor, and given how busy the waiting room stayed, Robbie doubted she’d be able to pop out for a chat.

  After Devyn had left, a dog that had been hit by a car was rushed in, followed by a cat wailing in distress. In both cases, Robbie’s heart went out to the families. She chatted with a guy waiting to have a fishhook pulled out of his retriever. They both felt lucky in comparison.

  As she watched the other two families file out crying, she couldn’t help thinking about the last time she’d been at the ER for a dog—for her Pixie. She’d known walking into the waiting room she might not leave with a dog in her arms. The memory brought back an onslaught of tears she didn’t do a good job of hiding. When the receptionist came up to her with a box of tissues, she pulled herself together enough to thank the woman, but her heart felt heavy even after the tears had stopped.

  “Angel will be fine,” she whispered to herself. He’d walk out of the ER with his tail held high. Devyn wouldn’t have to go through what she’d experienced. Not yet anyway.

  Work was the last thing she felt like dealing with, but it was a good diversion. She started the security updates right at midnight and crossed her fingers there wouldn’t be any hiccups in the system. When Matt’s number flashed on her phone ten minutes later, her stomach clenched. She’d avoided any direct conversation since she’d started sleeping with Devyn, and as much as she believed who Devyn slept with wasn’t any of Matt’s business, she still didn’t want to talk to him about it.

  “Hey,” Matt said, his voice groggy with sleep. “We’ve got a maintenance window for that, uh…you know, the thing.”

  “I’m already on it.” Ordinarily she would have teased him more, but their exchanges felt complicated now. Because, by the way, I’m having sex with your ex-wife. “Security updates are installing now.”

  “Ah, man, thanks.” He groaned. “Your uncle introduced me to his whiskey collection, and I was out cold by round two. He’s got some seriously strong shit. I thought my head was gonna explode when my alarm went off.”

  “I think it’s funny how much you two have bonded.” She’d gotten a call from her uncle earlier that day and he’d mentioned how he was looking for a houseboat Matt could rent long term and how he hoped he could find one close. She’d teased her uncle for having a crush on a straight guy, but he’d cheekily returned he wasn’t the one with the crush. She hadn’t asked if her uncle meant Matt had a crush on him or if he was referring to her crush on Devyn. She also hadn’t told him things had progressed and her feelings were way more complicated than a crush.

  “He’s got me cooking dinner and playing cards every night with him.” Matt yawned. “Tomorrow we’ve got a big poker game with his friends.”

  “I know that crew. You’ll be broke by the end of the night.” She checked her laptop at the sound of a ping from a completed scan. “All right, Matt, go back to sleep. I got this.”

  “Thanks, dude. One more thing I owe you for,” Matt said. “I’m screwed when you need a favor. I’ll have to do whatever you ask.”

  “Watch that whiskey. You sound like hell.”

  She ended the call and blew out a breath. Would it count as a favor if she asked him to not be mad she’d had sex with Devyn? She wasn’t the type to keep secrets, and as much as she argued it wasn’t Matt’s business who Devyn slept with, her conscience wouldn’t let her off the hook entirely.

  She tossed her phone on the empty seat next to her and then scrubbed her face. In a few weeks, she might be neighbors with Matt if her uncle had his way. She wasn’t sure she could handle being around Matt and not Devyn.

  Her phone rang a minute later, and she answered with, “What’d you forget to tell me?”

  “Was I supposed to tell you something?”

  Devyn’s voice jolted Robbie. Devyn. Not Matt. She cursed silently before saying, “I’m sorry. I didn’t look to see who was calling me. Thought you were Matt.”

  There was a long pause before Devyn said, “I can’t sleep. I know I should be sleeping, but Angel’s not in his bed and the house feels empty.”

  Robbie’s chest tightened. She wanted to wrap Devyn in an embrace and curl up next to her so she’d fall asleep. “I didn’t sleep right for a month after I had to let my dog go.”

  “What was your dog’s name again?”

  “Pixie.” Robbie let the memory of the last few weeks with Pixie settle over her and then said, “She was a lot like Angel when she was younger. But she lived on a houseboat, so she chased birds instead of squirrels.”

  “Did she ever catch one?”

  “No. She was all bark and no bite. She did get into a fight one time with a duck—she lost.”

  “Oh, poor baby.”

  “Don’t worry. She was fine.” A smile worked up to her lips as she remembered the duck who’d been Pixie’s nemesis. “The duck loved to hang out on our dock and Pixie obviously hated that.”

  “Obviously. Jack Russell.”

  “Exactly. So she got it in her head that if she barked enough, she’d chase him off.”

  “Completely logical. And ducks can be annoying little shits.”

  Robbie chuckled. Of course Devyn would side with Pixie. “One day, the duck finally had enough of Pixie’s barking and went after her. She was so surprised that she lost her footing running away and slipped right off the dock.”

  At Devyn’s gasp, Robbie quickly added, “It wasn’t a big deal—she’d fallen into the water before and knew how to swim—but her ego took a hit. I had to fish her out of the water while the duck laughed.”

  “Angel would have been mortified.”

  “Pixie totally was. For about an hour. Then she was right back to barking at the duck.”

  Devyn laughed and Robbie felt her smile stretch her cheeks. When Devyn’s laughter stopped, she sighed softly and said, “Thank you for that.”

  The line went quiet and Robbie shifted back in her chair. She pictured Devyn’s room and the bed they’d shared for the last several nights. Then she imagined Devyn lying on her back, staring up into the dark. The room was impossibly dark. How no light got in was a testament to blackout curtains. At first she’d found it unnerving to not be able to see her own hand if she held it in front of her face, but she’d quickly come to like the peacefulness of the pitch black. She realized she was timing her own breath to Devyn’s on the other end of the line when Devyn shakily exhaled.

  “It’s hard waiting, but I know he’s going to be okay.” She didn’t know for sure, but she had a sense that this time everything would work out. At least for Angel.

  “Thanks for being there,” Devyn said. “If there’s any update—”

  “I promise I’ll text right away.” She waited until Devyn ended the call to set down her phone. Then she stared at the dark screen for a long moment, wondering how her heart had decided on Devyn so quickly. As much as she wanted to believe things would somehow work out for them, her conscience kept reminding her about the sex-only agreement. Sometimes things didn’t work out.

  A little after two in the morning, she got up to fill her paper cup with her fourth round of watered-down coffee. Aside from a woman praying over rosary beads because of her sick poodle, the waiting room had emptied out and she was struggling to keep her eyes open. The tech who’d checked Angel in hours ago met her at the coffee station with an upbeat look.

  “Good news. We took another set of x-rays and Doctor Andreas wanted me to tell you that things are moving. Nearly all the little bones are in the colon.”

  “Really? That’s…disgusting. And amazing!”

  The tech laughed. “I know he’s feeling better, too, because he didn’t try to bite when I took his temp this last time. Then I turned my back and he tried to steal one of my Cheetos.”

  Robbie cringed. “I’m sorry—about the Cheetos and about him biting.” She’d been surprised at Devyn’s comments about him not letting strangers touch him, but now she’d seen how fast he could turn into a shark. “We should have warned you.”

  “Oh, I’m used to it.”

  “Still not cool.” Robbie made a mental note to drop off a big bag of Cheetos in apology. “So does this mean surgery isn’t likely?”

  “Yep. As soon as he poops, we think you’ll be able to take him home.”

  She’d never been so happy to hear the word poop. As she headed back to her seat with her refilled coffee cup, she debated the text to send to Devyn. If Devyn had fallen asleep, she didn’t want to wake her. But she knew how worried she was. Finally, she decided on a brief note, hoping Devyn would quickly read it and fall back asleep. She’d been amazed at how fast Devyn fell asleep and even joked with her about it. Devyn had claimed sleep was usually a struggle, but she’d added with a smile that apparently sex fixed everything.

  We got an update. Angel’s feeling better and XRAYS show bones are in colon. Waiting for him to poop.

  Devyn’s response was immediate, which confirmed she’d been awake and waiting for word. Thank God. Text me when (poop emoji) happens.

  Robbie smiled as she read the text and then pocketed her phone when her laptop dinged to announce the next round of updates were complete. She had at least another hour of work to do, scanning the system and testing for problems, but as she tried to focus on the screen, her thoughts zipped back to Devyn.

  Lately it was impossible not thinking of Devyn. She told herself she couldn’t get attached about a dozen times a day and chastised her mind every time the words love and Devyn popped up together in her thoughts—even if it was something silly like thinking she loved the way Devyn bumped into her and pretended it was an accident. Or how she loved Devyn’s laugh. And how much she loved that Devyn always wanted one more kiss after they had sex.

  Tonight, she didn’t bother with the mental gymnastics her mind did to keep her heart in line. For one thing, she was worried about Angel. For another, she was worried about Devyn. She understood how close a bond someone could have with a dog. But had Devyn let Angel be the center of her world because she didn’t want anyone else close? She couldn’t ask that question—or any of the others that fell into the too-personal-but-not-about-sex category.

  Aside from Elena and Mari, Devyn had openly admitted she didn’t have other friends. And she’d said that she’d had no interest in dating. The question of why the divorce had come about rattled round in Robbie’s mind. Matt seemed like a good guy—not as perfect as who she’d picture Devyn with—but not terrible. What had made Devyn hate him enough to end the relationship?

  She shook her head, reminding herself she didn’t need to know the whys of the divorce. As much as she wished she’d have some place in Devyn’s life when she went back to Seattle, she’d agreed to not get attached.

  Two hours later, she shook herself awake when the door to the hospital treatment area swung open and the same vet tech who’d chatted with her earlier appeared with a plastic Ziploc freezer bag in her hands.

  “Guess who pooped?”

  Robbie reflexively covered her eyes. “Please don’t show me.”

  “You don’t want to see all the little bones?”

  “Not even a little bit. My girlfriend’s the doctor and she could probably stomach it, but not me.” Girlfriend. The word had slipped out. Thankfully Devyn was not around to hear it.

  “I can save it for her. It’s pretty impressive.”

  “Does that mean Angel’s cleared to go?”

  “The doctor’s ordered one more set of x-rays. I’ll let you know as soon as those are reviewed.”

  Robbie downed the last of her now-room-temperature coffee and stood to pull out her phone. Waiting room chairs weren’t ergonomic and every muscle groaned. She didn’t care. It’d been worth it to stay, and now all she wanted to do was share the good news.

  * * *

  Robbie jostled awake at the sensation of someone touching her shoulder. It took her a moment to realize where she was—Devyn’s bedroom—and what she was holding—a can of dog food.

  “I’ll admit I’ve got questions,” Devyn said, a half-smile quirking her lips.

  Robbie sat up and looked around. “Where’s Angel?”

  At the sound of his name, he hopped up into the bed, raced a circle around Robbie, and then let out a howl. When Robbie laughed, Angel’s whole body wiggled as he wagged his tail.

  “Someone’s definitely feeling better,” Devyn said. “I came home and found the two of you snuggled up here together. Angel woke up faster than you did.”

  “He’s had less to stress about,” Robbie said, setting the dog food on the nightstand and stretching before falling back on the bed. “What time is it? I’ve got to give him that medication at eight.”

  “Seven thirty. I got home a little early.”

  After Angel had passed the bulk of the bones, the vet had agreed to let him go home as long as he was closely monitored. That was what she was supposed to be doing. She ran a hand through her hair, knowing it was a tousled mess, and said, “I’m guessing you wouldn’t hire me to be a nurse.”

  “Because I found you sleeping with the patient you were supposed to be watching? Or because I couldn’t handle working with someone I wanted to sleep with?” Devyn arched an eyebrow. “I saw you made him a little chart for his meds, and you’ve been tracking what he’s eaten. I’m certain you’d be an amazing nurse if you wanted the job.”

  Robbie shook her head. “I’m not cut out for nursing. I’ve been so worried.”

  “Look at your patient.” Devyn nodded at Angel, who had found one of the stuffie toys Robbie had brought into the bed.

  Earlier he’d ignored the toy, settling in alongside Robbie and only sleeping. Now he tossed it in the air and attacked it as it landed on the covers, happily growling as he shook the fox stuffie side to side.

  “He’s definitely feeling better,” Devyn said. “Were you going to feed him some of that?” She pointed to the can of dog food.