“I’m sorry, Allie.” He shook his head. “I can’t keep stringing my heart along like this. Pretending it doesn’t matter that we’re so different. I want to have a kid or two someday.”
“So do I.”
“But I can’t imagine myself ever being okay with a dog anywhere near my child. Then I’ll resent you for making me feel even worse about my phobia by letting our child love your dog. I just can’t get past this. And I can’t maintain a long-distance relationship. I’m not the soulmate you deserve.”
“And I’m not your soulmate.”
“But I’ll always love you, even so, Allie. And I’ll always want the very best for you. Wherever you are.”
“Same goes for me.”
“I think Baxter McClelland could be the one for you. That’s why I was such a jerk around him.”
“I can’t think about that...about the past or the future. I’m feeling too horrible about the now.”
He set his key and a check on the corner of my desk. “I know you said you didn’t want to introduce your favorite type of dog to the mix. But knowing that I’d at least given you something you’d cherish was the only way I could stand to walk away.”
“You’ve already given me so much to cherish, Russell. You’re such a lovely, loveable man. And I’ll cherish my memories of us.”
Our eyes met. He didn’t want to actually say the word “goodbye” any more than I did, I realized. Russell simply turned and walked out the door. My new puppy licked the tears on my cheeks.
Note from Allie Babcock
Leslie O’Kane is a dog lover, a certified decorator, a tennis player (although she has a caustic relationship with the net), and a hula-hoop dancer (but keeps bruising herself).
Although Leslie has been a published author for more than 18 years, she has issues with self-promotion and is in a 12-step program to overcome her fear of newsletters, blogs, and publicizing her books through social media.
Please help me push Leslie onto the next step by visiting her website and signing up for her New Book Alert or sending her an email at [email protected], and, if you are so inclined, “like” her Facebook page.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this book, please write a review; apparently such things help authors to sell books and encourage them to write more. If you send a copy of your review to her email she will send you a deeply felt personal thank you.
P.S.
If you enjoyed this book, you might also enjoy Leslie’s laugh-out-loud funny Molly Masters Mysteries, which begins with Death Comes eCalling. Fans of HGTV might also like her Domestic Bliss Series, written under the pseudonym Leslie Caine, which begins with Death by Inferior Design.
Acknowledgments
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to my wonderful, talented, writer friends, especially Francine Mathews, Claudia Mills, Phyllis Perry, Elizabeth Wrenn, Marie Desjardin, Christine Jorgensen, Lee Karr, and Kay Bergstrom. I couldn’t write anything at all without the support of my family, especially Mike, Carol, and Andrew. There are dozens more people whose names aren’t listed herein and deserve mention; please forgive me and know that your names and many significant contributions are written in my heart.
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Also by Leslie O'Kane
Allie Babcock Mysteries
Give the Dog a Bone
Woof at the Door
Of Birds and Beagles
Dog Drama
Life's Second Chances
Going to Graceland
Women's Night Out
Finding Gregory Peck
By the Light of the Moon
Molly Masters Mysteries
Death Comes eCalling
Death Comes to Suburbia
Death of a Gardener
Death Comes to a Retreat
Death on a School Board
Death at a Talent Show
Death Comes to the PTA
Short Story Featuring Allie Babcock
A Dog-Gone Christmas
The Body Shifters Trilogy
The Body Shifters Begins: Jake Greyland: A Short Story
Standalone
A Dog-Gone Christmas
Of Birds and Beagles Page 20
