Chapter Thirteen
It’s never good when you wake up with a groan.
After getting home the night before, Justin had taken a seat at his desk to work on his manuscript. He’d stared at the blinking cursor for the longest time. He finally wrote some new words and then backspaced until they’d been completely erased.
He blamed his lack of inspiration on the puppy constantly interrupting him.
Sunny had dogged his every step. And even though he’d taken the puppy out every hour, she still had not one but two accidents on the living room carpet.
Luckily, Merry had supplied him with some sort of cleaning spray for such occasions.
Come the morning sun, Justin didn’t even have his eyes open when a wet tongue swiped across his face. With a groan, he lifted his arms to fend off the rambunctious puppy. He knew without asking what the pup wanted—to go outside…again.
Sunny pawed at his arms until he moved them. And then there were more puppy kisses. Lots and lots of sloppy kisses. What exactly had he gotten himself into?
As he got out of bed and jumped into the shower, he tried to figure out how he let three women talk him into taking care of this puppy. He must be losing his edge.
After dressing and seeing to the puppy’s needs, it was time to drop Sunny off at Felicity’s place before he went to work.
Of course, when he went to put the puppy’s collar and leash on, Sunny decided to make a game of it.
Justin would reach for the puppy, and the little girl would run behind the furniture.
Not only was Sunny small but she was fast.
“Sunny, come here. I’m going to be late.” He was never late. In fact, he was normally early.
By this point, he was down on his knees. When the puppy came close to him, he reached out so far he fell to the side. He landed on his side with an oomph!
He never should have agreed to take the puppy. What a mistake! Now, he needed to outsmart Sunny. With the aid of throw pillows to block her escape path, he finally wrapped his hands around the puppy.
“You need to listen,” he said. When the puppy whimpered because she wanted down to play some more, he said, “Oh no. We’re done playing for now. And don’t look at me with those big brown eyes. It isn’t going to work on me.”
As though she understood him, Sunny hung her head low. Without any more incidents, he put on her collar and leash. He looked at the coat and boots that had also been in the bag. Did dogs really wear those?
Not remembering his brother, the vet, ever putting those items on his numerous dogs, Justin didn’t bother with them. With the puppy’s leash in one hand and the bag of puppy stuff in the other hand, he headed out the door. Even though Sunny had short legs, she kept pace with him.
Felicity’s mom lived one floor down from him. He thought of taking the elevator, but it was always a wait this time of the morning. The steps were faster.
There was an open staircase in the middle of the building. He thought Sunny would like going down the stairs. When they reached the landing, Justin started down the stairs and noticed Sunny was no longer beside him.
He stopped and turned around. There was Sunny at the top with her front paws out in front of her, as though using them as brakes. He already knew she could do steps. She’d been doing them outside, so why wasn’t she doing them now?
“Come on, Sunny.” He gave a gentle tug on the leash.
Sunny didn’t move. Well, that wasn’t quite true. She sat down as though telling him there wasn’t anything he could do to get her to go down those stairs.
“Sunny, come on. I can’t be late for work.” He’d never hear the end of it from his brother, who had a thing for punctuality.
He gave one more gentle tug on the leash. Sunny was no longer looking at him. The next thing he knew she laid down.
With a resigned sigh, Justin retraced his steps. He scooped up the puppy and held her to his chest. Not a second later, she tucked her head under his chin. He had a feeling that was Sunny’s version of a hug. The corners of Justin’s mouth tugged upward.
Sunny stayed snuggled to him as they made it to the second floor.
He turned right and found the correct apartment at the end of the hallway.
He rapped his knuckles on the door. He still couldn’t believe Felicity was back.
Not that she would be staying long. After all, she had her big fancy job in the city.
There was nothing in Kringle Falls that could rival that.
He wanted to be happy for her, but there was a part of him that wondered what would have happened if they’d have gotten engaged all of those years ago. Would they be happy? Would their child be in this year’s Christmas play?
Kids? Really? When he realized just how far he’d let his thoughts stray, he admonished himself. Besides, none of it mattered. She hadn’t stayed back then, and she wouldn’t stay now.
When no one answered the door, he knocked again. This time he put a bit more force into it. Then he waited and listened. He didn’t hear anyone.
Was it possible he’d gotten it wrong? Was he supposed to take the puppy to the bookshop? He didn’t recall anyone mentioning that.
He knocked again. “Felicity?”
If she wasn’t home, what was he supposed to do with the puppy?
He could just see Michael’s face if he showed up at work with the puppy in his arms. He imagined trying to watch Sunny while he was working on the old snowplow.
The pup would be into everything. No. He was not even going to attempt taking Sunny with him.
He’d just have to track down Felicity. After all, she helped get him in this position.
He raised his hand to pound on the door when it swung open, scattering his thoughts. There before him stood Felicity. Her long brown hair was mussed up, as though she’d just gotten out of bed. And her eyes were sleepy, as though she hadn’t been ready to leave dreamland.
She wore a pair of pink shorts with an oversized gray sweatshirt with a New York City logo over the chest. She looked adorable. And the last thing he wanted was her to be all cute and attractive.
When his gaze met hers again, he felt drawn to her.
It wasn’t the first time he’d felt that instinctual pull toward her.
Far from it. But this was different. Back then they’d been kids, and things weren’t so complicated, but now they were adults, and complicated didn’t even begin to describe things between them.
However, that didn’t stop his gaze from slipping down her slender nose and past her pinkened cheeks to pause on her full, rosy lips. He wondered what it would be like to kiss her now? Would it be the same as before? Or would it have changed with time too?
“Arf! Arf-arf!” Sunny jarred him from his runaway thoughts as the puppy tried to jump out of his arms in order to reach Felicity.
“Sorry.” She ran a hand over her hair, mussing it up even more. “I was up late working on the costumes.”
He nodded. Though he wasn’t surprised. He remembered how Felicity used to throw herself into projects. If it was important to her, it would be nothing for her to stay up most of the night working on it. It appeared that part of her hadn’t changed.
When Felicity held out her arms for the puppy, he handed over Sunny. The puppy immediately bathed Felicity’s face in puppy kisses. It brought a smile to her face.
Felicity backed up. “Come in.”
He shook his head. There were too many reasons for him not to go inside—including the fact that he couldn’t stop staring at her. It was like he was trying to memorize everything about her before she disappeared from his life again. Not that he should care. She had her life. And he had his own life.
“I can’t.” He held out the bag of puppy supplies. “Here’s everything you should need for her. And just an FYI, she isn’t housebroken yet.” He struggled not to roll his eyes but failed. “Let’s just say last night was a challenge.”
With a smile that lit up her eyes, Felicity looked at Sunny. “Were you giving Justin a hard time?” Then Felicity turned to him. “She said she just has to get used to you and your place. And she’s sorry.”
He found himself wanting to believe her, which was utterly ridiculous. First, Felicity wasn’t a dog whisperer like his brother Colin. Second, it didn’t matter because Sunny was going to be adopted. The sooner, the better.
“Just remember you said that, because you have her all day. Good luck.”
When the puppy got too wiggly, Felicity placed Sunny on the couch. She turned her attention back to him. “Would you like to come in for some coffee?”
He shook his head. “I can’t.”
“You’re leaving so soon?”
Wait. Was she saying that she wanted him to stay? No. That couldn’t be right. But even if he had the extra time to hang out, it wasn’t a good idea.
Just then he noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned in time to see Sunny running past him and down the apartment hallway.
“Justin, what is it?” Concern echoed in Felicity’s voice.
“Sunny! Sunny, come here.” He took off down the hallway.
“Oh no! Sunny!” Felicity’s footsteps sounded behind him.
Who knew a little dog with short legs could move so fast? And Sunny was showing no signs of slowing down.
At the end of the hallway, the elevator doors were open. There appeared to be no occupants. Sunny ran inside, and the doors closed behind her.
He ran until his hands hit the now-closed doors. This couldn’t be happening. He was going to be late for work. And the thought of explaining all of this to his older brother was not at all appealing.
“Look. The elevator is going down,” Felicity said.
By the time he turned to her, she was already running for the stairs. He fell in step behind her.
“Why did she run?” Felicity asked.
“How would I know?” This is not what he bargained for when he agreed to care for the pup. If they lost her, he had absolutely no idea how he would face Merry.
“She can’t get that far,” Felicity said, as though in response to his thoughts.