Page 17 of Capture The Moment

For a minute there, she thought he was about to ask for a kiss, and her relief was palpable. “Sure,” she said.

“Great. Do you want me to carry your tote bag up to the door?”

“No. I got it,” she said, having held it in her lap on the drive home. And then she quickly exited the car, giving him a brief wave as he drove away.

The minute she let herself in, she dropped her tote bag and purse on the floor and scooped up Daisy, who had been barking enthusiastically at the front door. Rubbing her cheek against Daisy’s soft fur, she said, “I did it! I survived my first date!”

Oblivious, Daisy soaked up the attention and nuzzled her nose in Harper’s neck.

Later that evening, she’d just sat down to watch some television when the doorbell rang. Daisy, who had been sleeping by her feet, immediately jumped up and ran to the door, barking furiously. Some attack dog! Her bark sounded fierce, but she only weighed eight pounds, so there wouldn’t be much she could do to protect Harper should she ever need it.

Harper put her eye to the peephole just as Finn demanded, “Open up. It’s me.”

Rolling her eyes at his bossiness, she picked up Daisy in one hand and swung the door open with the other.

“You’re home,” he said, brushing the snow off his jacket as he stepped inside.

“Where’d you think I’d be?” Daisy squirmed out of her arms, sniffed Finn’s boots, and then walked haughtily away.

“Didn’t you have a date today?”

Shoving her hands on her hips, she said, “Is that why you stopped by? To check up on me?”

“No,” he said, following her into the living room and lowering himself into the La-Z-Boy.

She sat across from him on the couch, and Daisy jumped onto her lap, keeping her eyes pinned on Finn the entire time. “Well, then why did you?”

Finn didn’t appear to be the least bit offended. Cockiness will do that to a guy, although he wasn’t cocky—not really—extremely confident was more like it.

“I was in the area, and I thought I’d stop by and let you know I re-scheduled our appointment at the dealership.”

“You could have called instead,” she said, unsure why she was goading him.

“But then I wouldn’t have been able to see Daisy. And I know how much she loves me.”

Harper laughed while Daisy glared at him from across the room. “Funny, she had quite a different reaction to Will earlier.”

“Oh yeah?”

Why she’d brought it up, she had no idea. But knowing Finn, he would probably take the news in stride. “Yep. She really took to him. Begged him to pick her up and everything.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“Really? Why not?”

“Daisy probably sees Will as non-threatening.”

Harper’s eyes grew wide. “Somehow, I don’t think you mean that as a compliment.”

Finn shrugged. “For one, he’s not a very big guy. And two, he probably doesn’t own a dog, right?”

“Right, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“Daisy smells Hunter on me, and she’s territorial, so she probably perceives me as a threat.”

Hunter was Finn’s dog, a cute black and white Beagle with big floppy ears who was less of a hunter and more of a lap dog. “I guess so. But you’ve been around Daisy a lot, and Will’s a virtual stranger.”

“No accounting for taste,” Finn said dismissively.