Page 71 of Sit, Stay, Love
Sera’s jaw dropped open for the umpteenth time in the last ten minutes. Was he throwing her out?
He pushed past her again, back through to reception and held open the door to the carpark.
He was throwing her out.‘Right,’ she said. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow. Is that okay?’
He blew out an exasperated breath. ‘When did you ever have to ask if it was okay to call me?’
Sera sat in her van, staring off into the distance, clutching the steering wheel.
Toby was going on a date.A date. She’d known him for two years and he’d never once gone on a date. Well, there was that one time her motherset him up with her hairdresser. And there was that girl at the chicken shop who asked him out for a coffee. But not adatedate. A real, grown-up going-out-to-a-restaurant-with-an-attractive-older-woman date.
She gnawed her thumbnail.
But it was good, wasn’t it? That he was dating. He should be dating. He deserved to be dating. She was dating. Sort of. Actually, she had no idea what she and Ethan were doing. But that shouldn’t affect what Toby did.
So why did she feel sick? Her stomach had been churning from the moment she saw Toby gazing at the woman called Kate, all lovestruck and sooky-eyed like a teenage boy. Nope. That wasn’t right. He hadn’t looked like a teenage boy at all. He’d looked like an incredibly tall, hot and horny man about to devour the woman alive. She’d seen women look at him like that before, but she’d never seen Toby look at another woman the way he’d looked at Kate.Another woman?Did she mean a woman other than her?
She shook her head. Why was she being so weird? Why did the thought of him dating someone make her throat burn as if she’d just downed a hot curry? Was she—
‘Oh. My. God. I’m jealous.’
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t get that,’ Siri answered.
‘Shut up, Siri,’ she said, and put her van into drive.
Chapter Thirteen
Sera was in her office with the Rose’s Rescue donation account open and her father on the phone. She was still in a mood, the same mood that had come home with her from Toby’s place, tagged behind her all night, curled up next to her in bed and poked her in the stomach over and over while she tried to sleep. She half-expected it to be in the kitchen flipping pancakes for her in the morning, finger waving with overly white teeth.
‘Dad. You shouldn’t have done that.’
‘Done what, poppet?’
‘Donated five grand. You can’t keep giving me money.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘You may have used Woodward as your screen name – you could have chosen a less famous journo to name yourself after, by the way – but you also put in your email for the receipt. And, I know your credit card number.’
‘Damn. But I’m not giving it to you, I’m giving it to the dogs and cats. And it’s a tax deduction.’
‘Daaad,’ she whined.
‘Seeeraaa,’ he mimicked back at her.
She laughed. ‘Thank you. It’ll help a lot.’
‘I can’t have you worrying about money all the time, and I can’t have you giving into your mother. If you love that place, we’ll have to make sure you get to keep it. You’re so much happier now that you…’ He hesitated. ‘Have purpose.’
If her mother had said those words to her it would have stung, because it would have come from a place of judgement. But she had no doubt that her father was proud of her.
‘Thanks, Dad.’
‘How’s everything else going? How’s your actor friend?’
‘I’m seeing him in a bit. He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s taking Buffy to a group training session.’ She thought for a moment. ‘Hey, Dad, can I ask you something?’
‘Shoot.’
