Page 78 of Puppy Love

“You let her choose the color.”

“Of course I did. I don’t know what looks good on a goddamned dog.”

Sophie’s eyes twinkled. “He and Bubbles get the all-clear from me, Oscar. Let them loose to do their thing.”

Harrison had been under the impression that he and Sophie had doing a pretty good job of keeping their relationship from showing, but Oscar watched their interaction with narrowing suspicion in his eyes. Sleeping with Sophie probably ranked up there with hurting Sophie in terms of Oscar’s ultimatum, so Harrison decided to change the subject.

“What were you saying about my dad?” he asked.

“Eh?”

“Earlier, when you walked up, you asked me what Sophie had done to my dad.” Harrison paused. “If it’s about the candles, you’re asking the wrong guy. She’s turned him into some kind of essential oil convert. I have no idea how.”

“It wasn’t difficult,” Sophie said primly. “You should never overlook the healing properties of aromatherapy.”

Oscar chuckled, but he shook his head. “No, that’s not it. I asked him out for a drink last night, but he turned me down. He said he had plans. I can’t remember the last time he had plans.”

“Maybe he had a date,” Sophie suggested.

Harrison snorted, recalling her ridiculous Tinder suspicions from earlier, but Oscar turned to her with interest. “You think? I was wondering the same thing.”

“Wait—what?” Harrison asked.

“Um.” Sophie was careful not to meet Harrison’s eye. “It wouldn’t be too weird, would it? I mean, he’s notthatold.”

“Old, no. A miserable old bastard, yes.”

“He has been looking awfully…sunny lately,” Oscar admitted. “And when I went to visit him at the bar a few weeks back—you know, Harrison, when you said he’d gone out early in the morning—he wasn’t there. Meg says she’s been seeing a lot less of him these days.”

“Aw. Maybe hefeelssunny,” Sophie suggested.

Both Oscar and Harrison laughed at that.

“Sorry, Sophie, but Wallace Parks hasn’t been anything but doom and gloom since VHS tapes stopped being a thing. Come to think of it, Harrison, neither have you.”

There was Oscar’s look of suspicion again, all narrowed eyes and furrowed brow.

“He’s not wrong,” Harrison said with a grunt designed to allay suspicion. “Digital streaming is just another way for the government to keep tabs on your movements.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is either way. He’s a grown man. If he wants to date someone and be happy, I think he should do exactly that.” Sophie reached for Harrison’s shoulders in a move he misinterpreted as a gesture of affection. He stiffened, but she only reached for the buckle of his sling strap to unhook the dog.

The effect of this exchange, however, seemed to work wonders on Oscar’s suspicions. Harrison and Sophie laughing together might put up all his red flags, but Harrison awkwardly shying away from any and all physical contact was right on par with what the man expected from him.

He stood still and let Sophie finish extracting the dog, careful to look as unpleasant and annoyed as possible.

“What are you doing with her?” he asked with a quick glance at his watch. “It’s nearing five o’clock—quitting time. Unless you wanted to run through those training exercises one more time, we should be done for the week.”

“Oh, I know,” she said with her usual cheerful calm—that same cheerful calm that disregarded everything he said and did. “But I’d like her to explore the training grounds once or twice whilenotattached to you. You don’t mind, do you, Oscar?”

He waved her off with a fond smile, thus confirming Harrison’s belief that Oscar too was incapable of telling that woman no. Whether it made him feel better or worse, however, he wasn’t prepared to say. While it was nice to know he was no anomaly, it would have been nice to have at leastoneperson out there who could be trusted not to fall under her spell.

“Monday morning, Harrison,” Oscar said to him, all signs of that indulgent softness gone from sight. “Nine o’clock. Don’t make me regret this.”

“No, sir.”

Oscar looked as though he had more to say—or perhaps he was reluctant to leave Harrison and Sophie alone—but he eventually took off, heading through the field to where his Suburban was parked in the lot.

Harrison waited until the car had pulled away before turning to Sophie. “Are we really going to walk Bubbles around out here, or was that a ruse to get rid of Oscar?”