Rob wasn’t sure when Kari fell asleep. She had been a bit stiff when they first settled in to watch the movie, but had become increasingly relaxed.
Relaxed enough to nod off and sleep through the sirens and shouting on the screen towards the end of the movie. When it was over, Rob tried to ease her to a lying-down position, but that woke her. Her head jerked and her eyes flew open.
“Good grief. I can’t believe I did that,” she said, her hand rubbing her chest.
“Why not? You’ve had a big day. It was a movie you’ve seen before. Not surprising at all that you’d nap.”
She looked sheepish. “I hope you enjoyed it at least.”
“I did. Very funny. Dated, but funny.”
“Yeah. A movie from the ’40’s is never not going to be dated.”
“True.” Rob’s phone buzzed and he looked at it. “Text from Mia. Wants to know if it’s a good time to talk.”
Kari shot to her feet. “You should talk to her. I’ll go get ready for bed.”
“Are you still embarrassed about earlier?”
“I will be embarrassed about that until I’m eighty-five.” Kari hustled out of the room, red-faced but smiling, and Rob shook his head, tapping Mia’s contact information.
“Daddy.” Mia answered.
“How long do you want me to keep him?”
Silence on the other end of the line. “How did you know?”
“You always call me ‘Daddy’ when you ask me to take Hugo. You don’t need to butter me up. You know I love that mutt.”
“Um. Well, here’s the thing.”
“Spit it out kiddo.”
“The last time you took him? The thing I didn’t want to tell you about for fear of jinxing it?”
“Yes…” Anxiety spiked through him. Was something wrong?
“I was interviewing for an editorial assistant position. And I didn’t think I’d get it, so I didn’t want to tell anyone. But I got it.”
“Honey, that’s great news. But what does it have to do with Hugo?”
Another pause. “The position’s in New York.”
“Ah.” Rob’s stomach dropped to his toes. He always knew Mia might move away someday. He had thought he was prepared for that to happen.
He’d thought wrong.
Mia went on in a rush. “I have a place to live already lined up. Corinne—you remember my friend Corinne from college? She’s got a place in Astoria with two other girls and they’re looking for a fourth for the last bedroom. But the lease says no dogs.”
“So you want me to take Hugo indefinitely.”
A long pause. “Yeah.”
He could picture his daughter, winding a curl around her finger and wrinkling her nose, her classic fidget when she was nervous or unsure. He wished she was here so he could hug her, reassure her. Maybe even reassure himself.
“I know this is crappy timing, Dad. And if I can get a different living arrangement in a year or so maybe I can take him back.”
Rob laughed a little and shook his head. If he had wanted a dog of his own, he would have gotten one. But now…no, there was no choice. He was going to have to do this. “When do you need me to take him on?”
“Not for another week,” Mia said.
She made it sound like a long time. “Damn,” he muttered. “I have to go to out of town for an overnight trip right after that. For work. He’s going to have to go to a kennel while I’m gone.” He blew out a frustrated breath. It was one thing to take advantage of him for occasional dog sitting. This was next level.
“Oh.” Mia’s voice was small and he felt like a heel. “He’s never been to a kennel before.”
“I know. But what else am I going to do? Jeez, I wish you hadn’t blindsided me with this.”
“I’m sorry, Dad. Really. But it’s the opportunity of a lifetime.”
“I can see that. Okay. We’ll talk further about this later.”
“Say hi to Kari for me. I’m glad you’re dating her.”
“How do you know we’re dating?”
“She was in your kitchen with no bra on. I’m pretty sure that’s more than just being friends.”
“Damn. She was sure you’d caught that. She was mortified.”
“Tell her it just makes me like her even more.”
“It will probably only make her more mortified.”
“Bras are evil. She’s a smart lady. But I knew that already. She picked you.”
“Take your flattery and go, kiddo. We’ll talk tomorrow when I’ve had more time to get used to the idea of having a dog.”
“Thanks, Dad. I love you.”
“Love you too. Congratulations on the job,” he said.
“Thanks.”
Rob stood for a long time after the call ended, staring out his front window at the darkening street.
Kari slid into the bed and picked up her book, Rob’s voice murmuring in the other room. He was far enough away that she couldn’t hear the actual words, but he sounded agitated. Kari wondered what could be working him up so much. Mia hadn’t seemed like she was in trouble or upset when she’d come over earlier.
The unmistakable cadence of a call finishing met her ears and then…silence. Kari wondered if she should go out, find out what was wrong.
Or maybe she should just mind her own business. Yes. That was probably the right thing to do at this point. She hastily opened her book when she heard his footfalls in the hallway and pretended to read, looking up when he entered the room, running his fingers through his hair, his expression exasperated.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Not particularly.” He sat heavily on the bed, the mattress bouncing.
Kari put her book down, nervousness fizzing in her veins. She’d been right before. Mia didn’t like her. “What’s the problem?”
“It appears I’m about to have a dog.”
Kari tried to process this. Failed. “What?”
Rob lay back on the mattress and his head landed in her lap, eyes squeezed closed. “Mia’s moving to New York. She has a new job. She can’t take Hugo. So doggy granddaddy is about to be a doggy daddy.”
“Oh. Wow.” Kari studied the stressed lines of Rob’s face. His brows were drawn together, his brow furrowed. Without thought, she ran a finger over his forehead, then pulled it back. “Sorry.”
His eyes came open. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I just feel like I should stand back when it comes to you and Mia.”
His hand came up, wrapped around her wrist, warm and gentle. “That felt nice. You can keep doing it if you want.” His eyes closed again.
She wanted to. She let her gaze wander over his face, the dark hair threaded with silver that sprang back from his forehead and temples. Reaching a tentative finger out, she traced it over one eyebrow, then the other. He took in a deep breath, held it for a bit, then let it go. She stroked his forehead as if she could iron out the grooves there. He smiled a little and the lines relaxed a bit. Emboldened, she let her fingers trail down his cheeks, massaging the hinges of his jaw with gentle pressure.
“God, Kari. That’s amazing.”
A stuttering laugh escaped her. “I’m hardly doing anything.”
One eye slitted open and he squinted at her. “You’re doing everything. Do you know how long it has been since someone has touched me like this?”
She faltered, her hands hovering over his face. “Um. No? Like what?”
His eyes closed and he sighed a tired laugh. “Comfort. Caring. I didn’t even know I needed this. And here you are.”
Tears prickled Kari’s eyes. His words brought her back to her mother’s last illness, the long days of watching her slip away and the realization that came with it: Kari would never get the kind of caring that only her mother could give her again. She stroked Rob’s face, smooth skin and harsh stubble under her fingertips.
His hand wrapped around her wrist again. “Hey. Are you crying?”
“No. Yes. Maybe.”
He sat up, pulling her against him, rubbing her back with one broad palm. “Hey there. What’s wrong?”
Kari sniffed. “I thought I was supposed to be comforting you.”
“It can work both ways. Did I upset you somehow?”
“No. I was just missing my mom. And that sounds ridiculous.”
He leaned back, wiping under her eyes with his thumbs. “No. It doesn’t. Of course you miss her. She was your mom.”
“I mean, I miss my dad too. But I’ve had more time to get used to him being gone…”
His hand cupped her cheek, warm and comforting. “Hey. It’s been a long, emotional day. Let’s get some sleep. You’ve got another big day to face tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s right. The dinner.” Kari’s stomach did a nervous flutter. Sam. Her new boyfriend. And now this new dimension to her relationship with Rob…it all seemed complicated now.
Rob rubbed her shoulder. “Sleep. We’ll tackle tomorrow in the morning.”
Rob woke up in the middle of the night with a start, heart racing. Something was off. The bed felt funny. Then he remembered.
Kari.
Her soft breathing on the other side of the bed was deep and regular. Rob re-settled himself on his side, eyes straining in the darkness to pick out her form under the covers. It felt strange to be sharing a bed with someone after so many years. Not bad, necessarily, but strange. He rolled onto his back and stared at nothing, wide awake in spite of his slowing heartbeat.
Maybe they shouldn’t have taken this step. His original reasons for ignoring his attraction to Kari were sound. He liked her. He didn’t want to fuck things up with her. And now he liked her even more and wanted to fuck things up even less.
Mia would tell him he was being defeatist, focusing on an end that was not inevitable. But Mia was an eternal optimist. Look at her going off to New York to pursue her dreams. And leave him dealing with her dog, possibly for the rest of Hugo’s life.
The echoes of the past were all too easy to see. New relationship, suddenly moving fast. And then being responsible for a life. It wasn’t perfectly parallel, thank God. He and Liz had mistaken youthful attraction for love and only after a few years did they finally come to the galling truth that they didn’t even like each other very much. And a kid was a thousand times more everything than a dog.
But it was parallel enough to leave him sleepless and staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night.
And what was he going to do with Hugo during his business trip? The dog would just have to go to a kennel for once. Which…good grief. He was going to have to research kennels, find a good one, make a reservation, and actually drop that poor, already stressed out animal off in the hands of strangers.
But that was later. He had Kari’s dinner to go to tomorrow. For now, he was going to have to be the…what? Boyfriend? The word sounded ludicrous, applied to a forty-eight-year-old man.
He glanced over at the shadow of Kari’s sleeping form and something inside him twisted. She was counting on him. She trusted him. She’d shown him how much she trusted him today in more ways than one. His jaw tightened.
He didn’t care what it was called. He wasn’t going to let her down.