Chapter Nine
She enjoyed his company.
The following day, Holly found herself thinking of Colin every time the shop grew quiet. She told herself she wasn’t falling for him. They were just old friends. They’d shared a childhood next door to each other. Nothing more.
He’d grown into a mighty fine man. He was devastatingly handsome. He was thoughtful. And he was fun to be around. How was it that someone hadn’t already snapped him up?
She’d enjoyed spending time with him. The truth was that she’d spent her free time alone since her grandmother passed on.
These days she rarely hung out with her friends.
The last time she saw Belle, they’d had coffee, and that was the day they’d first met Candi.
These days the only people she spoke to were the customers in the shop.
It wasn’t that she’d ended up in this position intentionally. At first, she’d needed alone time to process the loss of her grandmother. And then she’d gotten so caught up in settling the estate and keeping the shop open she hadn’t had the time or the energy to socialize.
Maybe that was why she found herself looking forward to Colin’s visits. And then there was that moment in the barn. Had he been thinking about kissing her? Or was her imagination working overtime?
When the front door jingled, Tater Tot started to bark. She shushed him. Lucky for her, he listened to her…at least, most times. Still, she had to deal with another customer. Please, let them leave quickly.
When she looked toward the door, there stood Belle with a bag in her hand. She lowered the hood of her coat. “I brought lunch.” Then her gaze searched for the source of the barking. “Do you have a dog?”
“Uh, yeah. Well, kind of.”
Belle approached her. “How do you kind of have a dog?”
“Arf-arf!”
“See for yourself.” Holly released Tater Tot from his line. He barked as he raced around the counter.
She followed him. When he spotted Belle, he made a beeline toward her. He stopped in front of her and craned his neck to look up at her. He started to bark again.
Belle knelt down. “Hey, cutie. What’s your name?”
“It’s Tater Tot,” Holly said.
“Wait. Is this one of the puppies that came to Kringle Falls with Odie?”
“Uh. Yeah.”
Belle’s smile broadened. “That’s great. We can have puppy playdates.” The excitement was evident in her voice. “We can include Candi with Tank. And then the puppies will be back together.”
Tater Tot’s tail wagged so fast his backend moved side to side. He inched forward, all the while sniffing the air. Belle held her hand out to him. They made fast friends.
“I don’t know about the playdates,” Holly said. “I won’t have him much longer.”
Belle looked at her with a wide-eyed stare. “Wait. What?”
“I’m just fostering him until Merry can find him an appropriate home. She had one, but there was an emergency, and they couldn’t take him. So, we’re just waiting for her to locate another family.”
Belle looked down at Tater Tot, who was rubbing all over her, and then she looked back at Holly. “Please tell me you’re going to keep him.”
Holly shook her head. “I, uh… I can’t.”
“Sure, you can. Look how good he is. I’m guessing you two already have a routine.”
As Belle was speaking, Holly continued to shake her head. She kept telling herself all of the reasons why it wouldn’t work. But she was finding that as the days went by, she had less reasons not to keep Tater Tot. Still, she wasn’t sure she was ready to open her home as well as her fragile heart.
Holly locked the door to the shop and put the “Out to Lunch” sign in the window. Then they moved to the little office in the back.
Belle took their salads out of the bag. “You wouldn’t believe my day so far.”
Holly got a couple of waters out of the little fridge next to the desk. “I don’t know. You wouldn’t believe my week.”
Belle sat down and handed her a plastic fork and napkin. “Well, I got pulled over by the sheriff.”
Holly nodded. “I heard. And I’ve been spending time with Colin.”
“I heard that too.”
“You did?”
“There’s nothing that goes unnoticed in this small town. And the fact you’re hanging out with one of the Bishop brothers—the one you had the biggest crush on—only made tongues wag faster.”
Heat rushed to Holly’s cheeks. Wanting to turn the attention away from herself, she said, “Why did you get pulled over this time? Please tell me you weren’t speeding on those icy roads.”
“No. Of course not. No. He pulled me over because my tail light was out.”
“Oh. Well, that isn’t so bad. Is it?”
Belle sighed. “Maybe if it was anyone but Parker Bishop. I swear that man sits around just waiting for me to make a mistake. This time it wasn’t even my fault. How was I supposed to know my light was out?”
“You do have a point.”
“So, tell me about you and Colin?” Belle’s eyes lit up with interest.
“There’s no Colin and me.” She sighed. “He’s been assisting me with Tater Tot. I don’t know anything about dogs. So, he’s been helping me figure things out.”
“Things, huh?” There was a sing-song tone to her voice.
“Stop. It’s not like that. You know he was never into me.”
“So you say. But that was when you were kids. It’s different now. You’re both grown up, and there’s no age barrier. What else have you two done together?”
Holly found herself opening up about him helping her bake cookies and sharing a couple of meals. And then the words came tumbling out about the almost kiss last night.
“So, now I don’t know what to do,” Holly said. “I don’t know if I read things right last night or not.”
“Uh-huh.” Belle leaned back in her chair and was quiet for a moment. “Here’s what I think you should do…”
What should he do?
All day long, Colin was thinking up reasons to go see Holly. So far, he hadn’t come up with a legit reason to go knocking on her door. Still, he wasn’t giving up.
He’d seen her surprise at all of the animals when she’d visited his place.
She’d tried to hide her reaction, but he could tell she felt overwhelmed.
It wasn’t the first time it had happened.
In the past, he’d excuse the reaction and assure himself that his girlfriend would get used to having all of the animals around.
At first, they would think the dogs, cats, and assorted pets were cute.
But as time went by, they realized that most of those animals were staying permanently, and the ones that left for new homes would be replaced by other animals with equally heartbreaking stories.
It was at this point that his relationships fizzled out.
He knew it would take a very special woman to fit into his world. He was starting to think she didn’t exist. So, he’d given up on women and instead turned his full focus on helping animals.
His thoughts turned to that moment when he’d almost kissed Holly. He’d been so tempted. If she hadn’t moved, he would have given into his desire and pressed his lips to hers.
Just the thought had his heart thumping. But kissing her would change their relationship. It would then include expectations and obligations. This is the point where all of his past relationships had started to go off the rails.
Maybe if he could keep things friendly, he could keep Holly in his life. Now that they’d renewed their friendship, he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it.
He shoved aside the thoughts as he ducked out of the clinic after seeing his last patient. He didn’t do any of his office work. He didn’t hang around and speak to the staff like he normally did.
He planned to spend some time with his own animals while he worked to come up with even the flimsiest excuse to go see Holly.
He tried to tell himself he wasn’t falling for her, but that wasn’t the truth.
He was falling head over heels. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time.
He’d never felt like this about a woman.
He knew he had to take his time with her. He didn’t want to scare her off. And he knew she had old wounds when it came to letting down her guard with people. But he wasn’t just anyone. He was one of her oldest friends. That had to count for something.
He raced upstairs to change into some casual clothes before wrestling with the dogs. He had to be careful they didn’t get too rowdy in the house. He didn’t want them getting hurt.
Knock-knock-knock.
The dogs barked as they ran for the door. “Thor! Spuds! Harley! Come.” After a few more barks, they came back into the living room. “Sit.” He had to tell them a couple more times.
Some more knocking drew his attention back to the front door. That was strange. He wasn’t expecting anyone.
“Coming!” He got up off the floor and moved to the front door. He swung it open and blinked. “Holly, what are you doing here?”
She smiled at him, which made his heart thump. In one arm, she held Tater Tot in a little red and green plaid coat, and in her other hand was a pizza box. She held it out to him. “I brought dinner.” Then her smile faltered. “Unless you’ve already eaten.”
“I haven’t.” He pushed the door open wider. “Here. Come on in.”
She stepped inside, and the three dogs rushed to the door. When the dogs barked, he told them to quiet. They listened to him as he closed the door.
He smiled as he led her to the kitchen. His smile faltered when he saw the stack of dirty dishes in the sink. And his unread mail scattered over the table. “Uh, sorry about the mess. I wasn’t expecting company.”
She sent him a reassuring smile. “Don’t be sorry. It just makes you more human rather than some sort of super hero.”
“Super hero?” He couldn’t help but laugh. No one had ever called him that. He shook his head as he gathered himself. “I’m no super hero.”
“That’s not what a lot of pet parents say. I’ve heard them sing your praises all over town. You’re always on call for emergencies. It’s great how you always putting your patients first.”