Chapter 168

• Except one. “Well,” she trailed off, feeling foolish and strange talking about it. Her cheeks turned the brightest shade of red. “There was this one time when I brought a stray puppy home and kept him in my room till Dad found out, and the rest is history.” She was already beaming just thinking about it. “I was twelve, and he had to be a couple of months old. But he was so darn cute. I used to call him cutie, and he would come running every time I called for him. He was a damn quick learner.”
• The weight on her shoulders had eased somewhat by the time she finished.
• It was only then that she realized he had purposefully led her to recollect a fond memory.