Page 41 of Nicks and Cuts
“Is worrying about it going to change it?”
“No.” he knew that, but that didn’t stop him from chasing the thoughts around.
“Have you texted Riley?”
“No…because I’m scared that if I do, she will tell me Spark is fine.”
“So what is worse, not knowing or knowing?”
Shannon finished his now cold coffee. “I think they are equally bad.”
“But only one moves you forward.” Dante drew in a breath, knowing that he needed to say it. “I want to move forward.”
Shannon stared at him. “What does that mean?”
“Exactly that.” Dante stabbed his pancake. “I know you came here to be on your own, but I can’t imagine going back to being on my own.” He glanced up. “I’m asking you to stay.”
Shannon swallowed. He didn’t want to leave, but he wasn’t ready for what that meant. How had he fallen into a relationship without even dating? “You can’t ask me to move in when you haven’t taken me on a date.”
Dante nodded. “The quiz night is next weekend.”
“You’re just going to rip the bandage off in front of the whole town?”
“The whole town won’t fit in the Foggy Basin Brewing Co, but yeah, do it once and let the gossip do the rest.”
Shannon didn’t want Dante to do the equivalent of blowing up his life. “There’ll be no back-tracking.”
“Good, since I’m moving forward. And you are going to rip off your bandage and text your sister.” He pointed at Shannon’s phone.
Shannon groaned. “I’m putting it off until I’ve finished the pancakes. They’re too good to waste.”
“Ah, so you do like my cooking.”
“I never said I didn’t.”
“I saw the suppressed eye roll at yet another roast several times,” Dante said between bites.
He considered denying, but if they were going to do this, he needed to be honest. “That was before I appreciated that the leftovers could be dinner, or sandwiches, or turned into something else.”
Sure, it wasn’t exciting, but dinner didn’t need to be exciting every night. Excitement was instability’s dressed up cousin.
He picked up his phone. “Okay, I’m going in.”
Dante gave him a nod. “I’ve got your back.”
Shannon smiled. “You already did by suggesting the local vet.”
“It was obvious.”
“Not to me. I was trying to figure out how to say no without being an asshole.”
“You paused before agreeing, and that is a good first step.”
Dante was right. He had paused before agreeing, which was something he wouldn’t have done in the past. He’d have panicked, worried about the dog, or his younger sister, or whatever drama was unfolding and diving right in like he could fix everything, even if it wasn’t his responsibility. “Let me do step two while I’m on a roll.”
He pulled up Riley’s number.
Hey Mom said Spark needed surgery and ongoing meds, what’s going on?
