Page 70 of While You Were Trending

Giving Ginny plenty of space from me if she wants it.

And she clearly does.

Very, very clearly.

This crush?

It’s not reciprocal. I need to leave her alone.

Flow drops to her belly and whines a whine that turns into a howl.

Ginny cocks a brow at her. “Oh,youwould prefer to stay with me today?”

Flow whimpers three times with a huff between each.

“Okay,” Ginny says. “Since you asked politely. You can come with me to the house.”

Flow leaps to her feet, tongue hanging out, entire back end wagging as she rubs her body all over Ginny’s legs.

Ginny smiles at her, and my heart melts into a puddle of broken dreams.

“C’mon, then,” Ginny says to Flow. “We need to take Lav back to her house, and then you can come with me to mine.” She glances at me. “Has she been fed?”

“Yes.”

“Any treats?”

Flow barks and wags harder.

“They’re in her bag.” I pull her doggy backpack off my shoulder and hand it over.

“Leash?”

I pass that over too.

Ginny nods to me, then smiles at Shade. “Have a nice time today.”

“Be good,” I tell Flow.

She grins, then trots to the door with Ginny and Lavender, who rubs my dog’s fur and whispers something to her as they leave.

When I stop watching the door shut behind them, Shade’s watching me again.

“Dude,” he says.

“What?”

He shakes his head. “Be a little less obvious.”

I’d love to. “Eat. We have work to do.”

Before long, we’re done with breakfast and headed to the barn, where we meet Cricket to tackle the barrel lift.

“Guess what?” Cricket says to me. “It started already. So we get to learn to drive the forklift.”

Pip’s here today, dressed in teeny jean shorts and a neon green tube top that covers her nipple areas but not much else. Her platinum hair is short, but wavy, and she has mischief in her eyes.

“Gonna start my engine for me today?” she asks me.