An unkind smirk pulled at the edge of Charlotte’s mouth. She blamed the pilsners she had at the reception when she drawled, “No wonder it didn’t work out.”
He laughed without any real humor. “Yeah, I should have known. But my mom just got another Pomeranian.”
“Really? How many dogs does she have now?”
Reece gave her a bleak look. “Four.”
Charlotte snickered. “That’s a lot of dogs.”
“It’s four times the amount of poop that one dog produces, yes.”
“Maybe she was lonely?”
Reece grimaced. “I don’t think that was it.” Charlotte raised an eyebrow, and he hesitated before elaborating. “I moved back home a few months ago. Jess was the one on the lease.” He started a staring contest with the dog. Misty did not seem invested in the competition, twisting around to lick Charlotte’s chin.
“How’s that going?” Charlotte kept her voice as neutral as possible. She didn’t judge him for moving back home—between the student debt crisis, stagnant wages, and the bonkers cost of rent in most cities, it made good sense to live with family—but she knew he probably judged himself. Reece had never wanted to stay in St. Louis. She’d already assumed this was his living situation when he mentioned working at the clinic.
“The lack of privacy isn’t ideal,” Reece admitted. “But it’s nice. I’m saving a lot of money…” He trailed off, giving her a nervous look.
“There’s no shame in living at home. That’s way smarter than the mountain of debt I took on when I moved to New York.”
“Yeah, but you were just starting out,” he objected. “I’m twenty-seven.”
“Who cares? I bet your mom is glad to have you there with her. The dogs too.”
Reece nodded, his cheeks pink. “His name is Hammer, by the way. The new Pom.”
“Oh my goodness.”
“He weighs four pounds, Charlie. Four pounds. Hammer.”
“That’s just cruel.”
Reece grinned and shook his head. Charlotte’s face ached from smiling full and wide across her face. “Your mom is an icon,” she said, trying not to fixate on how long it had been since she last grinned until her cheeks felt sore. “I aspire to that level of momitude.”
“You always wanted a pug, right?” Misty wiggled her butt into Reece’s lap, and he loosely wrapped his arms around her.
“Sort of.” Charlotte licked her dry lips and noticed how Reece’s eyes got stuck on her mouth. A rude corner of her brain enjoyed his attention. “Pugs have a lot of medical issues, so I switched my allegiance to corgis.”
“Corgis can be mean,” Reece warned her. “They’re aloof. Very fluffy butts, though.”
She nodded soberly at his advice. “My hours are too rough for me to get a dog right now. And my roommate Kit isn’t really a dog person.”
“Kit sucks,” Reece said decisively, despite never having met Kit, or heard of her, before.
Charlotte snorted. “Kit does suck.”
“I always thought you and Jackie would wind up living together again. You guys are so close.”
“If only!” Resentment snuck into Charlotte’s voice as she elaborated. “We were going to move to Brooklyn together, but then she got that job in L.A.”
A very good job in public radio, Charlotte reminded herself. A very good job in public radio that Jackie quit a few months later, frustrated by the amount of unpaid overtime she was asked to do, but still. In her industry, Jackie had to go where the jobs were.
Life in New York would be so much easier with her best friend by her side, but Charlotte knew she shouldn’t be bitter. Besides, Los Angeles agreed with Jackie. The warm ocean air softened the abrasive edges of her big personality, and if she ever got sick of working in public radio, podcast startups were hiring like crazy out there.
Reece didn’t comment on her tone. “Is she here yet? I haven’t seen her.”
“No, her flight got delayed. The weather.”
He frowned. His eyes drifted back to the spilled wine on her thigh, and her fingers clenched around the lip of the bench. “So you’re flying solo?”
“I’ve got people.” She nodded toward the building behind her. “Amy and Nina are inside.”
He tilted his head and tried to read her face. His concern was so obvious that she shrank away. “I needed some air,” she explained. “Too much to drink, I think.”
It wasn’t a lie. She didn’t look forward to standing up again.
“We’re heading back to Randall if you want to tag along,” he offered. “I’m handing Misty off to Garrett in the lounge.”
She reached out to stroke Misty’s fur back from her eyes. The pup gave her wrist a hearty lick.
Charlotte would follow Reece anywhere he wanted to go. She wanted to talk about dogs and his family and what he did in St. Louis for fun, who he was now.
Plus, she knew that if she was left alone, every shitty memory of Ben would pounce and drag her down into the concrete. The late nights sitting outside her apartment building with Ben’s accusations echoing in her mind. The tinny sound of his voice pouring out of an iPhone speaker: You idiot, you ruin everything.
“I bet the vending machine still has Oreos,” Reece coaxed. His voice was silky smooth, incongruous with the childish invitation.
“Let me check my texts,” Charlotte hedged.
