“Same,” Marisa added, and their search subject flipped from Adley’s parents to the wine booth. During their search, they happened upon the poutine food truck and all progress came to a grinding halt.
“I need poutine,” Scottie said. “I just realized it this minute.”
“Same,” Adley said, and they all laughed and got in line.
Maybe this night wasn’t going to be so bad. Maybe coming out and being around people was exactly what she needed.
Adley was gazing around the park while Scottie and Marisa chatted about Jaden’s hair, and he stood impressively still while Scottie examined it. She had barely finished her thought about this all being a good idea when she felt eyes on her. It was a weird sensation when you knew somebody was looking at you but couldn’t find who right away. She spun in a slow circle and…there. Blue eyes.
Her heart began to hammer. Her stomach flip-flopped. Her palms began to sweat. And she couldn’t look away.
Sabrina looked different, though. She had Sprinkles in her arms, leash gathered up in one hand, and she looked…nervous? Uncertain? Worried? The puppy wiggled and squirmed in her arms as she stood still.
“What are you looking at?” Scottie asked, following her gaze. “Oh, she’s pretty. Wait. That’s her. Right? Is that her?”
And then Marisa was looking and made a smallohsound and then Jaden wanted to know what they were all looking at.
“Something’s wrong,” Adley said.
“What do you mean?” asked Scottie.
“I know her face. She’s worried.”
Scottie snorted. “Pshyeah. She’s homing in on your turf. Sheshouldfeel weird.”
Adley shook her head. “No, that’s not it. I’ll be right back.” And before she could think about it and before Scottie could talk her out of it, she was walking across the grass, sidling between people, bumping shoulders, and then she was there. Standing next to Sabrina, gazing down at her.
Before she could say a thing, Sabrina said in a flurry of words, “I shouldn’t have brought him, I thought it would be good for him, socialization, the vet said to socialize him, but I think this is too much, he’s just shaking like crazy, and the fireworks haven’t even started yet, I’m a terrible dog mom, oh my God, what was I thinking?”
The first thing she wanted to do was make Sabrina feel better, and that annoyed the crap out of her, but she couldn’t help it. “It’s fine. Don’t worry. Here, give him to me.” She took the dog out of Sabrina’s arms. He was definitely shaking, but also, the prospect of a new human to sniff seemed to distract him a bit, and he licked her face as if he remembered her. “Hi, buddy. How are you?” she said softly to him as she petted his small head. “Is this too much for you? Too many people? I know. I get it. It’s too many people for me, too.” She continued to stroke him and talk quietly to him, and before long, his shivering stopped.
Sabrina ran a hand down his back, and it was all Adley could do not to stare at it, at that beautiful hand with the long fingers that did crazy intimate erotic things to her body once upon a time.
“How’d you do that?” Sabrina asked, yanking Adley’s attention away from her hand and back to the current state of things.
“Dogs feel what you feel. He was probably sensing your nervousness, and that made him nervous. If you stay calm, chances are, he will, too.”
“You know a lot about dogs.”
“I had one up until about a year and a half ago.”
“You did? I didn’t know that.”
“Well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
Before Sabrina could respond to that or the snark it was coated in, Scottie appeared with wine, God bless her.
“You guys looked like you could use this.” She handed them each a plastic cup of white wine that Adley was pretty sure would be mediocre at best. “Hi, I’m Scottie Templeton.” She held out a hand to Sabrina.
“Sabrina James. Nice to meet you. And thank you so much for this.” She shook Scottie’s hand, then held up the cup. “I can definitely use it.”
“I can always tell when a customer is freaking out about something,” Scottie said.
“You a bartender?” Sabrina asked.
“Hairstylist. Same thing, really.” And Scottie laughed and so did Sabrina, and Adley didn’t know whether to relax and laugh along with them or throw her wine in Sabrina’s face and stomp off with Sprinkles. She opted for Door Number Three—she smiled politely and sipped and said nothing as Scottie talked about how Jaden had wanted to go on a couple more rides and while Marisa was great on them, Scottie always bowed out because nobody wanted some strange woman throwing up on them.
Dusk was sliding slowly into actual dark as Scottie chatted up Sabrina, and Adley stood with Sprinkles now sleeping in her arms, watching the crowd, glaring at couples holding hands because how dare they be happy? Not fair. Her wine almost gone, she caught Sabrina’s eye by accident and looked away quickly. She had to or she’d fall into them. Get lost in them. She couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t.
