“Listen, the ACC is coming around tomorrow to collect the vote jars so they can start tallying votes.”

  Harper glanced at Bob in the seat behind her. He was staring straight ahead. At what, she wondered, as he couldn’t see very well. “Okay.”

  “And . . . they are going to want Bob back for any potential adoption interest he might have generated.”

  The words want Bob back hit Harper in the chest like a wrecking ball.

  “Harper?”

  “I’m adopting him,” she blurted out.

  “What? Really? But I thought you were getting a big promotion and moving out of town.”

  “Yes! I am. But maybe I won’t. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, but I’m not giving Bob up, Carly. I’m not.” She looked at Bob again. “We have a thing.”

  “Harper, we—”

  “Oh! I’m at work. I’ll call you later, I promise.” And she hung up before Carly could say another word to talk her out of it.

  When she entered the offices—sprinting into them, really, her speed born of her sheer fear that someone would come and take Bob—she nearly collided with the reception desk and the young woman seated behind it.

  “Hi!” The pretty blonde stood up and extended her hand. “I’m Andrea. I’m the new receptionist.”

  “Are you, like, actually a receptionist?” Harper asked, wanting to be perfectly clear this time.

  Andrea laughed. “I am actually a receptionist. Ooh, look at your dog! What’s its name?” She made the mistake of leaning over and putting out her hand for Bob to smell. Bob growled, and Andrea jerked her hand back, looking at Bob with alarm.

  “Don’t mind him. He growls but he doesn’t bite. His name is Bob. I’m Harper Thompson.”

  “Oh! So you’re Harper. Soren called and said he wants to meet at ten this morning.” She handed Harper a piece of paper with the note about the meeting.

  “Thanks.” Harper walked across the reception area to her office. She could see Kendal in his office, bent over some papers on his desk. He didn’t look so perfectly put together this morning. His tie was crooked and his suit jacket looked wrinkled.

  Veronica was here, too, standing at the coffee machine, yawning as she waited for it to brew.

  Harper tried to catch up with some work while Bob snoozed by the window. But she couldn’t concentrate—she was distracted by her thoughts racing around Olivia and Jonah and Bob and life in general. When her phone buzzed—Andrea announcing that Soren would see her now—Harper stood up. “Come on, Bob. Let’s see what our fate is.”

  Kendal and Veronica were already in Soren’s office, on cushions. Harper lowered herself onto one, too. Bob was having none of that nonsense. He walked to the fern in the corner of Soren’s office and sniffed it, then trotted back to lie next to Harper, facing away from them all, his rump pressed against her knee. Whatever was going on in her head, that press of dog calmed her.

  Bob began to snore.

  She glanced at Kendal. He gave her a sheepish smile.

  Soren was seated cross-legged, dressed in a caftan and knit cap. “Excellent, we are gathered.” He smiled. “Fate finds a way into our hearts, does it not? The destination is reached by chance.”

  “And that means?” Harper asked impatiently.

  “Always the most direct, aren’t you, Harper,” Soren said, clearly unamused that she would not allow him this moment. “It means that I have come to considered conclusions.”

  She thought Kendal sat a little higher on his cushion.

  “Accountable independence,” he said. “With responsibility comes—”

  “For God’s sake, just say it,” Veronica whined.

  Soren looked completely deflated. “Very well. Harper, you are promoted to executive vice president in charge of development. Pack your bags for Rochester.”

  The news was so unexpected, so the opposite of what she thought would happen, that Harper couldn’t speak at first. “What?”

  “Kendal, you are now the vice president of administration and operations. You will be heading our Austin stores, including the underperforming flagship on South Congress.”

  “Wait, what?” Harper looked at Kendal, then at Soren. “I think you have to give it more than a month to call it underperforming. We’re doing well!”

  “Thank you, Soren,” Kendal said.

  “What about me?” Veronica asked.

  “Veronica, you will continue to be Veronica.”

  She shrugged. “Cool.”

  “What . . . but Soren . . .” Harper’s heart was racing along with her mind. Soren had teased this thing out for so long that she wasn’t ready for the decision. “I thought . . . I guess I thought—”

  “Thoughts are merely opinions based on something occurring suddenly in your head.”

  The actual definition of a thought, Harper mused.

  “Take the largesse that is offered and congratulate the universe for a job well done.” He lifted his hands. “Go. Go, my tutees, and carpe diem.”

  Kendal was the first one out the door, walking swiftly to his office. He picked up his phone. Veronica stood, then gave Harper a look. “Guess you got what you wanted.”

  Yes. Harper had achieved her goal. She looked at Soren. “Thank you.”

  “Yes, yes, of course,” he said, waving her off.

  Harper and Bob returned to her office. She felt stunned. She had been so sure it would be Kendal that she had begun to envision another reality. But this was the reality she had prepared and worked for. She didn’t know what to do, exactly, so she picked up her phone and called her parents with the good news. No one answered. She began to text Jonah with the news, but something, like her heart beating a million miles an hour, stopped her. She turned, and through the glass wall, she saw Soren out of his office now, speaking to Andrea, leaning over the desk in that ridiculous caftan. That man literally drove her crazy.

  But why was it her? Kendal was better at the development ideas than she was. She could see that. She knew Soren saw it. So why did he choose her? Did he want to get rid of her?

  She thought of the Lucky Star, of all the people there. The family, the regulars. She would be leaving Deja Brew and the Lucky Star behind to build and open a bistro that made no sense to her. Harper had always assumed she didn’t want a community, she wanted victories. She wanted opportunities. Was that really true? Or had she just been looking for something, anything, to belong to? Whatever she’d been doing, it didn’t feel right anymore. She didn’t want just any opportunity. She wanted the right opportunity.

  She looked at Bob, at his kilt, already twisted around. “What do you think about cold weather?”

  Bob sighed and closed his eyes.

  Harper glanced at the reception area again. Kendal had come out, too, and she imagined he was relaying his disappointment to Soren at not being chosen.

  An internal clock, deep in her heart, began to tick down. Things were rumbling around, rearranging themselves. Harper slowly stood up. “Oh God, Bob,” she said softly, “I’m about to do something that is wildly out of my comfort zone.”

  Bob lifted his head. She put down her phone. “Don’t do this, Harper,” she muttered to herself. “You’ve worked really hard for this. You set your goal, you achieved your goal, and now you’re going to just throw it out the window? And then what?” She looked at Bob. He wiggled his bob of a tail.

  She was in the grip of pure gut instinct. Something was screaming at her not to walk away. She opened the door and entered the reception area. She braced her legs apart and folded her arms. “May I say something?”

  Soren shot her a look. “We’re in the middle of something here.”

  “Yeah, and I think it might be pertinent. Soren, thank you so much for the opportunity, but I can’t accept this promotion.”

  Soren slowly turned from Kendal and stared at her. Kendal looked wildly flustered and kept looking to Soren, then Harper, then back again. Even Veronica came out of her office to hear it.

  Harper said it again, only louder. “I don’t want the promotion.” A small laugh escaped her at the sheer absurdity of it all. “I don’t want it! Why did I ever think I did? I honestly don’t know, I think it’s some big character flaw, and I’ll work on it, but anyway, I’m just going to keep my job here if you don’t mind.”

  “But . . .” Kendal looked confused. “That’s my job now.”

  “Yeah, but you want this job. You can have it, Kendal! You’re obviously the best person for it.”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t want to go to Rochester. I want this job. Your job. I want the job I got.”

  Well, this was news. She’d never actually asked Kendal what he wanted. She looked at Soren. He shrugged apologetically. How strange it all was—one minute, she’d been promoted, and the next minute, after suffering under Soren for nearly five years, she was out of a job. And the strangest thing of all was, she wasn’t terribly upset.

  Something was changing. It was that feeling of nostalgia and excitement all over again, but this time, surrounded by the hope of something new. Something inside her was about to break, and a new season was coming in. “Well,” she said. “This is a turn of events we didn’t anticipate, am I right?”

  * * *

  At about the same time, across town, Jonah came out of Edgar’s office feeling a little sick. He still couldn’t believe what he’d just done. He’d gone in to tell Edgar that he couldn’t do it. But he left with a start date in Madrid in one month.

  After his conversation with his dad, Jonah had tossed and turned all night, thinking. Thinking about Harper being in Rochester, Minnesota. Thinking about his parents. About the Lucky Star. About his degree and his dreams. And then he’d awakened to the light of a pale blue winter sky.

  Edgar was thrilled and so were the other partners. He agreed to be back at work in two weeks before heading for Madrid.

  He headed for the Lucky Star to tell them the news. But first, he drove by his house to let Truck out for a few minutes.

  He didn’t know how he’d break the news to Harper. It seemed almost too simple—after an amazing meeting and a fantastic relationship, they were going to either figure out how to keep up their relationship thousands of miles apart or . . . or go their own ways? But wasn’t that life? You met people along the way, some stayed forever, and some passed through.

  He’d believed she would stay forever. He had hoped she would stay forever. And in the end, it was he who wouldn’t stay.

  Truck was bouncing off the walls when Jonah came in, running from one end of the room to the other, then trying to bounce off Jonah. Jonah leashed him, pulled on a knit cap, and went outside. They didn’t make it to the sidewalk before a car screeched to a halt at the curb. In the passenger window he saw Bob, staring straight ahead.

  Jonah walked over to Harper’s car, alarmed. He bent down to the window. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

  “I got the job!” she shouted.

  He smiled as she threw open the door and got out. Truck immediately jumped on her, his front paws on her shoulders. She laughed and pushed him down.

  “Congratulations.”

  “Thanks! But wait, there’s more,” she said. She darted around to the passenger side to get Bob out of the car. Jonah and Truck joined them on his lawn.

  “I knew you’d get it, Harper. He’d be an idiot to do otherwise.”

  “You were right,” she said breathlessly. “And he’s still an idiot.” She beamed at him, excited. “But I turned it down!” And then she laughed. She laughed loud and hard, to the point where she seemed a little maniacal.

  And for Jonah, the world stopped spinning for a moment. Everything in him went still as he tried to process her news. “You did what?”

  “I didn’t take it! I mean, I took it at first, because, duh, that’s what I’d been working toward, but it didn’t feel right, and I thought about it, and I came back and said I didn’t want it, but he’d already given my job to Kendal, and get this,” she said, leaning forward, “Kendal didn’t want it, either! He wanted my job! Which he’s keeping, so in a way, he still wins, but I’m totally okay with that. He’s very good at what he does.”

  “What?” Jonah nearly shouted.

  “I know, I was so reluctant to admit it, but it’s true, he’s really good, and now I don’t have a job!” She started laughing again.

  Jonah caught her arm. “Harper—you didn’t take the job?”

  “I didn’t take it. I’m not leaving! I mean, I have to find another job, but that’s okay, I’ll get something else, maybe even at the Lucky Star!” She laughed. “Why is your face so ghostly white, Jonah?”

  Jonah took his hat off, pushed his fingers through his hair, and tried to think of how to tell her.

  “I thought you’d be happy,” she said. She was brilliant right now, all smiles and happiness and hope. “Because I meant what I said. I love you. I love you so much and this is where I want to be. With you, Jonah.”

  “I love you, too, Harper. But I . . . I did take the job. I’m going to Madrid.”

  She looked as if she was waiting for the punchline. And when one didn’t come, the light began to leave her face. “Oh. But I thought—”

  “I know. My dad . . . he convinced me.”

  “Ah.” She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, and he thought maybe she was biting it. “So when would you leave?”

  “In a month.”

  “Mmm.” She nodded, taking it all in. She looked away. She walked away. But then she turned and came back. “Oh, but hey, congratulations!” She was trying, he could see, to sound cheerful. But her eyes said something different. The light in those green eyes had been completely doused.

  Jonah shoved his hands in his pockets. Truck was dancing around him, wanting off his leash to say hello to Bob. Jonah dropped the leash, and Truck leaped for Bob. But Bob had an itch on his backside and was twisting around in a circle trying to get to it.

  “I just thought that . . .” Harper cleared her throat. “You know, I thought maybe you and I . . .” She gestured between the two of them.

  “Me too,” he said. “But then you were going to Rochester.”

  “And you were staying here,” she mumbled. She slowly squatted down, then sat in the grass.

  Jonah sat beside her.

  “I thought this was my fairy tale.”

  “I thought it was mine, too. But listen, it’s six months. It’s not like I am moving away for good.”

  She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “A lot can happen in six months. What if you meet some amazing astronaut?”

  “I don’t think there will be any astronauts. But what if you get an amazing job or start dating someone new?”

  She covered her face with her hands.

  Jonah put his arm around her. “It’s not the end, Harper. You can come and see me.”

  “I would love that. But if I get a new job, I don’t know if I could.”

  Jonah sighed and pulled her into his side. “We’ll figure something out.” He seemed to say that a lot, and never with any confidence. Six months seemed like a lifetime in a new relationship.

  Six months seemed like a lifetime without Harper. And he could tell by looking at her, she thought the same thing.

  Thirty-Two

  The day before the formal crowning of King Mutt, Harper officially adopted Bob. For the actual crowning, she dressed him in a tuxedo shirt. He growled the whole time and tried to nip her fingers when the neck hole of the shirt wouldn’t fit over his head. She snipped it, then put it on him again. He allowed it. “I know you’re having second thoughts,” Harper said to him. “You’ve made that perfectly clear. But until you can get a job and support yourself, you are stuck with me.”

  Lulu was also adopted on that day. Not by Jonah, but by Amy. “She wouldn’t be happy with anyone but me,” Amy said. “And living with Truck? Please.”

  Harper couldn’t disagree. Good old Truck loved the smaller dogs a little too roughly. Lulu did indeed look very happy when they went to sign the adoption papers.

  Duke had not been present at the ACC when Amy and Harper were there, but everyone assured them that Duke was on the verge of being adopted. “We had a list four miles long,” one of the men said cheerfully. Amy and Harper held their misfit dogs a little tighter.

  Today, they were all meeting at the Lucky Star and walking to the Mardi Gras crowning of King Mutt. Truck was coming, too, and Harper had warned Jonah he better be in the festive bow tie that she’d bought him for the occasion.

  Jonah’s cousins were in town, too, having come to show off the baby and make the final arrangements for Belinda and Marty to move to Chicago.

  As for Harper? Yesterday, she’d handed over the keys to Deja Brew to Kendal. He’d seemed almost contrite and then said something remarkable. “I regret we didn’t always see eye to eye. I really like you, Harper.”

  They were sitting in swinging baskets, and there was a draft somewhere, and the coffee machine was making a weird noise, and the customers were all tourists—she could tell by the shopping bags from up and down Congress where tourists did their shopping in trendy little stores. It was remarkable how glad Harper would be to be free of this place. “I really like you, too, Kendal. You’re good for Olivia.” She smiled. “And you didn’t like me because I was an ass to you. I don’t like to lose.”

  He laughed. “Me either. So what are you going to do?”

  “Me? I’m going to look for a new job and house-sit for my parents while they go on a long European river cruise. Who is taking the Rochester job?” she asked curiously.

  Kendal gave her a look. “I think maybe Andrea,” he said. “Soren keeps hinting at it.” He glanced around them, then leaned forward. “I think Soren and Andrea might be sleeping together.”