Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty-Two

Calvin

E very cell in my body is on high alert. My breath slows, my heart rate soars. Caroline's eyes are searching mine like she is asking an unspoken question. What is this unexpected thing between us?

I recognize the query because it's the same as mine. The pull to kiss her is intense and I know I'm about to lose the internal battle. Jeopardize years of friendship for a moment of desire?

I'm right back where we were earlier this afternoon. The kiss I've been kicking myself about in the hours since.

My own voice is crooning in the background, the song slowing to its end. Caroline is back in my arms, a default where left to our own devices, we revert to this state of being.

The shouting in my head quickly turns to a whisper and I draw her closer, inch my head lower. Caroline stiffens a bit but rather than move away, she closes her eyes, licks her lips.

Arf!

We pause a beat, neither of us seemingly ready to move away.

"Do you have a dog?" she whispers, her halting breath reaching my lips.

"I don't think so."

Caroline's eyes open. The flicker of a smile touches the corners of her mouth. All I want is to kiss every millimeter of that smile.

Arf!

I step back, take a breath, trying to regain my bearings and bring my heart rate to normal levels. Caroline has that effect on me.

I squint out the window, Caroline at my side. The storm isn't letting up. The sole car on the street is halfway buried by the snow drifts.

Caroline points, the tip of her finger tapping the frosted glass. "What is that?"

I take a closer look and am stunned. Something is moving in the snow a few feet from the window. It has a tail. That's no squirrel.

In a heartbeat I have my boots on.

"Be careful," Caroline says over my shoulder.

I grab my wet coat and lope over the snowbank that accumulated just outside the front door. I trudge across my lawn, leaving foot-deep boot prints in my wake. Caroline is back at the window, gesturing wildly at the space ahead of me.

There, in a self-made snowy den in front of the crawl space beneath the house, sits a puppy, its alabaster fur blending in with the driven snow. Only its dark eyes and nose stand in contrast to the surroundings. It's shivering like a leaf.

I scoop up the little pup, place it under my coat and hurry back inside.

Caroline is waiting with a blanket. "Oh wow. The poor thing," she says, swaddling the trembling pup. "Do you recognize him?"

I shake my head. "No tags. Could belong to a neighbor. He must have been hiding under the house when the snow started. It's a miracle he's alive."

I say, "We need to scan him for a chip."

"Sure it's a he?"

I turn him over. "Yup, a he."

"He looks like a Labrador Retriever."

I find my phone on the sofa, ready to call the nearest vet, then remember there's no service.

Caroline sits on the floor next to the fireplace and sets the pup in her lap. He's still shaking.

I go to the kitchen and fill a bowl with water, then find a pack of cheese Aunt Pearl put in the fridge. I cut up a slice of mozzarella into small pieces and bring them and the water to the living room. The pup gobbles up the cheese in an instant and I go to get more. By the time I'm back, the pup's tail is wagging and he's happily slurping the water.

I shake my head in amazement. "That's one resilient doggie."

Caroline gets a funny look on her face. "Resilient." She pauses. "Until we find his owner, how about we call him Rezy?"

"Love it."

I sit on the floor next to the pair and pull the throw off the sofa, wrapping all of us beneath it. Caroline cuddles close. The record is playing, Can't Take My Eyes Off You. It's the cover I did of the Four Seasons ballad, a very long time ago. It's the last track but I'm not getting up to flip the record because Caroline and Rezy are dozing off. And never in my life have I been this comfortable in my own home.