Burning Desire

Chapter 29

On the way back to Phillipsburg, I stopped to get some moving boxes and then took the puppy into the pet store to find her a bed, get some training pads, and buy some extra food. I tried to see if there were any toys or treats she was interested in, but she was so tired and slept practically the entire time. I took a wild guess on a couple items and hoped she'd like them.

As I was pulling into the driveway, Kacey texted me to let me know that she'd already landed a new job in Jersey City. Turns out, Angie had been looking for someone with an eye for interior design, and with Kacey's experience, often having helped Lindsey stage houses, Angie had decided she'd be perfect for the job.

I smiled at the text. One less thing to worry about before the move!

My smile faded when I noticed I had five texts from Jesse reminding me that he hadn't heard from me and he missed me. He wanted to know if he could bring takeout and we could watch a movie together.

I looked over at the sleeping puppy in my passenger seat. Maybe I could use a hand with her for the first night...

I decided to give Jesse a call.

"Finally!" he teased, answering on the second ring. "I thought I wasn't going to hear from you."

"I'm sorry. I got busy with the adoption and picking up some supplies at the pet store," I told him. "I just got home, though. If you'd still like to come over, I'd love to see you. There's some things I want to talk to you about anyway."

There was a brief silence on the line and then Jesse asked if everything was alright.

"Yeah. Everything's great." I tried to assure him. "I just want to fill you in on what's been going on the last couple days."

"Okay," he said like he didn't believe everything really was fine. "How does seven-thirty sound? I can bring Chinese – or whatever sounds good to you."

"That sounds great."

After we hung up, I found myself staring at his name on my phone screen. Yeah, everything was fine, but something just felt off about us. I didn't understand it. We'd been great the last time we'd been together, but in just two short days, it felt like everything had somehow changed in our relationship. I didn't feel the butterflies as intensely at the sound of Jesse's voice and I didn't understand why. I tried to shrug it off, thinking surely that weird feeling would go away once I was in Jesse's arms again.

While I awaited his arrival, I busied myself with setting up an area in the house for the puppy. I laid down her bed and tried to explain to her that the training pad was her in-house bathroom. I gave her some water and a couple treats, which she happily dove into. Then I introduced her to her temporary backyard while I retrieved the boxes from my backseat, all the while trying to come up with a name for her.

When I returned to the backdoor to let her back inside, the lightbulb went off in my head. She came barreling towards me across the yard and the sinking sun on her back brought out all the shades of color in her fur. She had more reddish tones than blonde.

"How 'bout Ruby?" I asked her, kneeling to pick her up. "Do you want to be named Ruby?"

She licked my nose and I took that as a yes.

I spent the rest of the time waiting on Jesse packing up most of the toiletries in my bathroom, a lot of dishware in the kitchen, and my entire CD and DVD collection except for one movie I left out to watch with Jesse. Every time I left a room, Ruby followed, carrying a tennis ball in her mouth.

At seven-thirty on the dot, the doorbell rang. Ruby followed me to the door, and before I could let Jesse in, she leaped onto his pants, hugging his leg like a little kid.