Déjà Date by Susan Hatler

belong to you?”
    “Yes, she does.” I smiled proudly, my gaze dropping to where my pooch was sniffing Nate’s boot. “Her main hobby seems to be licking whatever she can get her tongue on, though, so consider yourself warned.”
    He knelt down beside my little pup, and started scratching both sides of her long neck with his fingers. “What’s her name?”
    “Haven’t picked one yet.” I watched Nate get all affectionate with my dog, and his actions only ignited the flame in my belly. He really needed to stop before I started getting affectionate with him . “I just picked her up from a dog rescue last night.”
    “Sweetheart, you finally got another dog.” My mom’s mouth spread into a wide smile, and she brought both of her hands to her chest, twisting her pearls. “That’s wonderful.”
    “It’s also task number one on Dad’s Carpe Diem list,” I said, giving her a meaningful look. In addition to wanting to know what Nate was doing here, I really needed my mom to listen to reason regarding my inheritance. “We need to talk that list. Um, alone.”
    Still rubbing his hands over my pup, Nate tilted his head up, squinting. “That a hint for me to take off?”
    “Well, I—” I was in mid-sentence when the neighbor’s tabby cat, Muffy, suddenly darted across the porch, letting out a loud Meowrr! when she caught sight of my pup.
    Apparently Muffy was more enticing to my new pooch than Nate was, because she chased the cat unexpectedly, yanking her leash out of my grip.
    “Hey!” I shouted as the end of the leash followed my hyper pup, who dashed after Muffy. I watched in shock as my wiener dog disappeared down the sidewalk at full speed, her browns ears flopping up and down. “Come back, girl!”
    She ignored me, of course.
    I gripped the sides of my head, starting to panic. “What if she runs into the street and gets hit by a car?”
    “I’m on it.” Nate’s voice sounded heroic to my ears as he darted after my galloping hot dog, his muscular legs pounding up and down against the pavement in true super hero fashion.
    “This is a disaster!” I cried out, glancing quickly at my mom’s wide-eyed expression before I dropped my purse and keys to hurry after them. As I pumped my arms as fast as I could, I found myself wishing I hadn’t worn heels today. Each painful clomp against the cemented walk had me rethinking dressing like I’d stepped out of a magazine.
    Forget that other women found my appearance intimidating, dressing up was just not practical when your disobedient dog took off randomly after the neighbor’s cat with no regard to her safety or my feet—not to mention my feet had already been aching after standing in heels for thirteen hours at the bakery yesterday and six hours so far today.
    I rounded the corner, glancing up and down the street, but nobody was in sight. Not the cat, the dog, or Nate. My heart squeezed. Where had they gone? Taking off my shoes, I trotted to the end of the block, then scanned my surroundings. Across the street at my favorite park, I spotted them. My wiener dog had literally treed the cat, and Nate now had a hold of my crazy dog’s leash.
    As I made my way across the street, Nate led my pup over to the swing set. He sat in my favorite swing, while my pup dug her nose in the sand beneath him. Then her ears pricked up as I approached, and she trotted over to me, wagging her tail.
    Relieved that she was safe, I squatted down next to her, cupping her face in my hands. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.”
    In answer, she nudged her nose in my palm and began licking there. I let out a breath, waiting for all of the tension to ease out of me. It didn’t. Now that my dog was safe, I still had my mom to deal with. And Nate. I glanced over at the swing.
    The corner of his mouth turned up. “Looks like I’m a handy guy to have around, after all. Wouldn’t you say?”
    “In this case, I would most definitely agree.” I smiled, then tied the leash around