Lord Vader barked on the other side of the door, and Boone’s muted chuckle came through the door. A second later, the door swung in and Lord Vader, a very solid yellow lab, came barreling onto the porch, his whip-like tail whapping against the porch railing and then Dylan’s leg.

“Hey, buddy. Hey.” Dylan laughed as he scrubbed the dog down. He glanced up at Boone. “Cubs tonight.” He lifted the six-pack of Mountain Dew he’d brought. “It’s been a long week. I think I might drink all of these myself.”

Boone stepped back, his eyes searching Dylan’s. “Rough week? I thought you won the Saddleback bid.”

“I did.” Dylan stepped into Boone’s house, Lord Vader right at his side. The dog panted, perpetually wearing a smile that Dylan couldn’t resist. He felt all the negativity that had been swirling inside his mind and staining his mood lift away. Maybe he should get a dog.

Then he’d have to move, as his building didn’t allow pets. Dylan thought, not for the first time, that perhaps it was time for him to settle down. Buy a house. Find someone to live in it with him.

His job was pretty stable now, especially after Asher had said he’d train Dylan through every aspect of his duties, and Dylan sighed as he put the soda on Boone’s kitchen counter.

“So why the rough week?”

Dylan gave his best friend a look and reached for a piece of all-meat pizza. “My mom said to invite you to dinner on Sunday.”

“Can—?”

“Yes, Nicole is invited.” Dylan tried not to sound upset about it. He wasn’t, not really. He went into the living room and sat on the couch. Boone followed with the entire pizza box and all the soda.

“So this is a woman problem,” he said as he sat on the other end of the couch. The baseball game Dylan had come to watch was already on the TV in front of them.

Dylan had never kept his dating disasters a secret from Boone, and he didn’t see a reason to this time either. “Yeah, this is a woman problem.” He slid a glance at Boone, who cracked the lid on a can of soda with a crackling hiss!

“I sort of, maybe, went out with Camila Cruz earlier this week.”

Boone tried to breathe while he was drinking, which resulted in a coughing choke that took several seconds for him to clear from his throat. “Dude, some warning would’ve been nice.” He wiped the front of his shirt, where some soda had spilled. “This is a new shirt.”

“I said it was a woman problem.” Dylan handed him another paper towel, a bit of amusement running through him at Boone’s stained shirt.

Boone tossed the paper towel down. “How do you ‘sort of, maybe’ go out with someone?”

“She took my number, wouldn’t give me hers, and hasn’t texted or called me since.” Dylan sighed and slumped back into the couch. “I did call her, but just got her voicemail.”

“How long has this been going on?” Boone swiped off the cowboy hat he wore all the time and ran his fingers through his hair before putting it back on.

“Since Tuesday.”

“And I’m just hearing about it?”

“I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Dylan,” Boone said in his not-this-again voice. But instead of telling him he was welcome anytime, that Nicole didn’t mind, blah blah blah, he said, “I thought you didn’t like Camila Cruz. She’s the plumber, right?”

“I don’t, I mean, yeah, she’s the plumber, and she’s….” Truth was, he’d never looked Cami’s way because of their first altercation. But maybe he’d misjudged her. Maybe he simply thought she was pretty.

“You like her,” Boone said. “When did that happen?”

“Maybe on Monday?” Dylan guessed. “I don’t know. She was putting in a bid when I was, and she was the only friendly face there, and…I just—I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her since.”

Boone handed him a can of soda. “So you maybe went out with her on Tuesday, when you won the bid.”

“She won too, for Rogers Plumbing.”

“Oh, good for them.”

Boone was completely missing the point. “We have nothing in common.” He heard the words in her voice, and the soda tasted like weak tea. “She even said so, and today, at the build site, she was all crabby with me. Like we hadn’t even driven to Amarillo, or eaten her gourmet veggie-only pizza, or held hands on the way back.”

“Whoa, hand-holding on the first date.”

Dylan ignored him. He’d always moved faster than Boone had—at least until he’d met Nicole. Boone had fallen fast then.

He stared at the TV, not even seeing who was up to bat or who was pitching. He wasn’t sure how Cami had penetrated his life so quickly. First, he was giving up meat on pizza and now he didn’t care about baseball.

“Maybe you should call her,” Boone said.

Was he not listening? “I already have. She didn’t answer, nor did she call back.” He popped the K on the last word, proud of himself for using a word like “nor” too.

“You have an emergency after-hours number for the plumber. Who do you think answers that?” Boone reached for his laptop, which sat on the coffee table where Dylan rested his feet.

“I don’t know,” Dylan said.

“Let’s find out.” Boone clicked and typed, a smile taking over his whole face in a way that Dylan found half annoying and half hopeful.

He turned the computer toward Dylan. “One way to find out.”

“I’m not calling that.” Dylan looked at the screen though, the numbers right there for their twenty-four-hour service line.

“Your loss,” Boone said, stretching his feet out in front of him and focusing on the TV. He even closed the laptop and put it on the coffee table. “I really hate the Cubs.”

“Yeah, me too,” Dylan said, his thoughts still revolving around Cami and sneaking through a back door to talk to her tonight.

He didn’t notice the outs, the strikes, the home runs. Nothing. Maybe an hour passed before Boone said, “Call her. You’re no fun when you’re not even paying attention to the game.” He stood up and stretched. “You want to keep the dogs?”

“What?” Dylan glanced up at him.

“I’ve asked you about ten questions.” Boone grinned at him. “Call. Her.” He fished his keys out of his pocket. “And keep Vader for a couple of nights.” He started for the door.

“Wait.” Dylan jumped to his feet and followed his best friend toward the exit. “Are we going out to Three Rivers tomorrow?”

“I’m renovating the back room of the animal hospital.” He rolled his eyes. “The city provided the funding and says it needs to be done by the new year. Nicole and I are just getting it done as fast as we can.”

“All right,” Dylan said, wondering if Cami ever rode a horse. Being from Amarillo and all, she’d surely be at least a bit familiar with the animals.

Boone left, and Dylan really couldn’t concentrate after that. All he wanted to do was hear Cami’s voice and sit across from her as she told him about the old specs and how so much of her time had been wasted.

His heart squeezed. He’d have been so mad if he’d been operating on outdated plans and lost the time he could’ve used to take care of other jobs.

“Come on, buddy,” he said to the dog. “Let’s go for a walk.” He leashed Vader and snuck him down the stairwell and out onto the street, leaving his phone sitting on the coffee table.

He made it about a block before he wanted to go back. While autumn had arrived, the air was still oppressively hot and while Dylan didn’t mind hard work, he also didn’t appreciate walking dogs.

“Oh, they’re so cute,” a woman said, causing Dylan to blink to focus on the one in front of him.

She crouched down in front of Vader, who licked her face as if she were a delicious ice cream cone. But Dylan knew Ebony Price, and she was only sweet to a point—usually until she found out how much money someone had.

She’d never targeted Dylan, and he wondered if she really was just happening by or not. She straightened, and she was wearing workout clothing—yoga pants and a tight lycra tank top. Her hair was back in a ponytail, and earbuds dangled from her ears.

Pulling them out, she said, “What’s his name?”

“Vader.” Dylan looked at her, trying to be attracted to Ebony, at least a little bit.

He felt nothing.

He wanted to call Cami now, more badly than ever. “Come on, Vader,” he said, pulling on the dog’s leash. “We’ve got to go.” He put as much kindness into his smile as he could. “Sorry, just getting him out for a minute before I meet someone.”

“Oh, okay.” Ebony played with the end of her ponytail and didn’t move out of his way. So Dylan turned around and went back toward his apartment, every step urging him to go faster and get back to his phone quicker.

“You can’t have that animal in here,” Mrs. Charles called to him from down the hall as he hurried Vader toward his apartment.

“I’m just here for a minute,” he called back, fumbling with the doorknob. Inside his apartment, he filled a bowl with cold water for Vader and picked up his phone to check if he’d missed any messages or calls.

Of course he hadn’t. Why did he want to talk to Cami so badly when she obviously didn’t feel the same?

“One way to find out,” he said, echoing something Boone had said earlier. Dylan flipped open his laptop and punched in the number for the after-hours plumbing line, hoping he wasn’t making the biggest mistake of his life.