42. Declan
Chapter forty-two
Declan
I open my front door, ready to jog to Serenity's apartment, only to find the object of my thoughts standing on my walkway.
She's bouncing excitedly on her toes and in her hand is a leash, the other end attached to a chubby chocolate lab I've never seen before.
She hands me the leash and I can't help but return her happy smile.
She steps back and I'm about to ask her where she stole a dog from, when she steps forward again and kneels, petting the happy dog.
"Oh my gosh, your dog is so cute!"
I smile at the brilliant girl before me. She's devised another meet cute for our story. Then, I do wonder where she stole the dog from.
"What's his name?" She asks, petting the panting dog behind the ears.
I check his collar and find a tag there. "Hank, apparently."
"It's so weird when people give dogs human names."
"I agree completely."
She stares up at me from where she's kneeling, and I fall a little more in love with her. She subtly nods her head in the direction of where we run.
Right. The scene.
"We were just about to go for a run, would you like to join us?"
"I'd love to! Thank you. The park is beautiful this time of year."
We turn to begin our run but before we take off, I lean forward and whisper into her ear. "But please tell me you didn't buy a dog just for this?"
She shakes her head, chuckling lowly, the scent of her freesia shampoo is a comfort. "The animal shelter on M street lets volunteers take their dogs for runs so they get some socialization and exercise. I'm just borrowing him for today."
Satisfied, we start our run together. She's gained a lot of endurance since the first time we ran together nearly six months ago now. We jog together in comfortable silence, and I watch her from the corner of my eye, loving her company.
She's so fucking beautiful, and charming, and sweet. It's a side of her I've never seen before. I've seen anxious Serenity, and scared and serious, even happy. But right now, in the early Spring sun, she's fucking radiant.
We finish up our run back at the house and I'm tempted to invite her in. Magda's been asking about her, and the house feels empty without her in it, but I know that's not what she wants. She wants cute stories to tell our grandkids, so I do what feels like the most unnatural thing in the world and watch her walk away.
But that starts our morning runs together. Every morning, she meets me with Hank, and we run our normal lap together, chatting easily and falling a little more in love.